Middlefield town justice Ray Burr went to Los Angeles last week to see the Flag Across America Run, organized by his son, Mike, come to an emotional close on the beach under the portraits of many who were lost on September 11.

The run took place over 32 days, beginning at Logan Airport in Boston when Massachusetts governor Jane Swift handed the American flag over. In the beginning, Burr ran between thirty and forty miles a day. The Flag Run, sponsored by American and United Airlines, wound through places like Cordell, Oklahoma, where a tornado turned the town to ruins only weeks before.

Oklahoma City, with a memorial of its own tragedy, was an emotional stop for the runners, Mike Burr said. Some family members of the Oklahoma City bombing victims ran with posters and other items that they later left by the cement seats commemorating the lives of their lost loved ones.

Ray Burr was happy to have gone to Los Angeles with members of his family, some of whom ran or walked the last mile. Mike was the master of ceremonies. Parents of the victims of September 11 spoke about the lives of their sons and daughters.

"It takes quite a bit to get me going," Ray Burr said. "But it was really emotional."

A variety of state flags were carried for the final leg of the run, which covered 3,876 miles. A pamphlet was handed out at the ceremony, and on the back, the following was written:

"Each person, with tears in their eyes or snapping a salute, had a personal reason to attend the run. Some had lost family or friends in the Trade Tower collapse. Others felt a surge of national pride and defiance... We will not allow tragedy to deter us from living the American dream."

The document mentioned the various reactions of people across the country, some of whom may have been separated from September 11 by distance, but all of whom were affected by the collective pain of the attack. A police officer from Mississippi said the run was "stitching the nation together."

Ray Burr, who has seven children and sixteen grandchildren, lives in Middlefield. Being a retired fireman, who was moved by the presence of the Los Angeles Fire Department with bagpipes. The run came to a close on Veteran's Day. Mike Burr graduated from Cooperstown Central School in 1972. He is a retired Navy pilot and currently flies for American Airlines.