Bolts of lightning covered the beach in the early hours of the morning of September 11, but SEA FM kept going with its plan to form a human flag to commemorate the September 11th US terrorist attack.

As early as 5am, crowds of people streamed onto the beach to join SEA FM’s Breakfast Crew Paul & Suki for “the mammoth task set by 90.9 SEA FM.”

The call went out one week ago for Gold Coasters to help pay respects to the friends, families and loved ones of the people who lost their lives in the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon on September 11 2001.

Within an hour, hundreds of people adorned the beach in their red, white and blue and by 7am the 3000 target looked pretty secure. In fact the final numbers were about 5000, with over a thousand onlookers.

Gold Coast Mayor Gary Baildon, overwhelmed with the response, welcomed, thanked and congratulated all present that made the trip and “went to the effort to show someone, somewhere in the world that they cared.”

‘The Star Spangled Banner’ was sung by Venetta Fields, followed by Julie Anthony and the assembled crowd singing the Australian National Anthem.

No large gathering of people would be complete without a Mexican Wave, which made the flag look as though it were blowing in the wind. Over an hour in formation and still no one wanted to move…until given the signal by the 101 doves that flew into the sky signifying peace and the one-year anniversary of the event we were there to commemorate.

SEA FM Program Director Ross Turner thanked the strong force of SES, Voluntary Marine Rescue, St. John’s Ambulance, Coastguard and Queensland Fire and Rescue teams that assisted in marshalling and organization on the day.