WATERLOO -- The Exchange Club of Waterloo is sponsoring a special 9/11 commemorative event the weekend following Labor Day, and organizers are asking for help.

The club is hoping citizens will purchase some 1,000 flags that will be displayed outside Veterans Memorial Hall. The tribute is meant to honor U.S. military personnel who have died since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America.

"We came up with 1,000, commemorating all the lost, everyone that has died serving in Iraq and elsewhere," said Pat Cole, one of those working on the event. So far, close to 900 American soldiers have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past three years.

The flags will be displayed Sept. 10-12 at Soldiers and Sailors Park outside Veterans Memorial Hall. Special commemorative programs, with music and speakers, will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Sept. 10 and from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Sept. 12. Specific schedules, speakers and musical performers for each day's program have not been finalized. At the end of the Sept. 12 program, individuals who purchased flags may collect the banners for personal use in their homes and businesses.

Proceeds from the flag sales will benefit Veterans Memorial Hall and be used for equipment for the Waterloo fire and police department honor guards. Sponsorships for the event of $1,000 also are being sought.

The project, called the Healing Field, will be held concurrent with Patriot's Day weekend. Each 3-by-5-foot flag will be mounted on an 8-foot pole. Black Hawk County engineer Richard King and retired John Deere engineer Charlie Lott are heading the effort to assemble the flags.

The Healing Field is believed to be the only such observance in the state that weekend, said Exchange Club member Frank Magsamen, Black Hawk County emergency management coordinator and co-chairman of the event along with longtime Waterloo professional photographer Dick Cole.

Individuals who want to buy a Healing Field flag should call Jenny Henninger at 233-9935. Those interested in purchasing commemorative T-shirts with the Healing Field logo for $10 in regular sizes should call Jackie Kugler at 230-7127.

Sponsorship inquiries are being directed to Dick Cole at 233-7780.