Healing Field in Oak Brook honors 9/11 victims through display of 2,977 American flags

A field of 2,977 American flags – one for every person killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks 25 years ago – is on display through Sunday in west suburban Oak Brook.

The Healing Field at the Oak Brook Polo Grounds is a memorial designed to humanize everyone who died in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. For those visiting, it's a vivid memory of where they were on 9/11.

It's a day no one will ever forget.

"I think, like all of us, we were questioning. You had that fear, you had that uncertainty, and it just kind of brings you back to that day," Oak Brook Fire Chief Kevin Fleege said.

This massive field filled with American flags offers a glimpse of how many lives were lost on 9/11 – 2,977 flags represent every first responder and civilian killed.

"Goosebumps. It's just brings back a lot of memories, and I just feel for all the families," Janice Lapinski said as she visited the Healing Field.

Also among those visiting the display on Friday was Denise Bachmann. It hit home for her. She was a flight attendant for 46 years.

"It was very hard to go to work after that. It took me a while to get back, the first step on that airplane. Those are the airplanes I worked on, the 757," she said.

Whether you knew someone who died on 9/11, or you remembered where you were, one thing is for sure, we were all impacted in some form.

"I think, when you see it represented here, it just shows you the magnitude of what had happened," Fleege said.

The Healing Field will stay up through Sunday.