In the days after the attacks of September 11, 2001, initial recovery at the Pentagon was supported by a mix of fire fighters, first responders, and military personnel. Among them was current Syracuse Law student Jared Hansbrough L’29, at the time a Marine Captain, who volunteered to join fellow Marines in casualty recovery efforts over the ensuing week.
On Sept. 13, the group recovered a Marine Corps flag that was standing in the wreckage, perched on the edge of a 4th floor office that had been split in half by the gaping hole left in the Pentagon. The flag had somehow survived the attack unscathed. The group returned the flag to the Marine Corps, where it would symbolically become a reminder of the events of that week. What began as a quiet act of service became a symbol of resilience and commitment to country — and a story that continues to inspire more than two decades later.
The Hon. James E. Baker, Director of the Institute for Security Policy and Law and Professor at Syracuse Law and the Maxwell School, also knows that flag. It once stood behind the desk of his mentor and close friend, Peter Murphy, his son’s godfather and longtime Counsel to the Commandant of the Marine Corps. At 9:37 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001, Peter was standing in front of it when Flight 77 struck the Pentagon. Though injured, he returned to work the next day, determined that the law was as present on Sept. 12 as it had been on Sept. 10 and Sept. 11.
The flag was subsequently carried to Afghanistan and into space on the shuttle Endeavor before being returned to Peter. Today, it is displayed at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, a lasting tribute to Peter’s service, the service of Marines, and most of all to the victims of 9/11.
Judge Baker said, “Peter, who was from New York, would have loved knowing that Jared had found his way to the law and to Syracuse, or as he might have put it, that Jared had chosen to continue to support and defend the Constitution as a lawyer.”
After more than two decades of military service followed by public service at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Jared is now pursuing his law degree through the online hybrid JDinteractive program, preparing for a career in private practice. Today, we honor Jared’s story, and the courage, sacrifice, and service of all who responded in the wake of that tragic day.
Read more in the Washington Post from Sept. 14, 2001.