For members of the military, there are few places more fitting for a ceremony than beneath the diamond formation of A-4 Skyhawks in the Blue Angel Atrium. This is especially true for the time of reflection and celebration that marks retirement from active duty, when a serviceman or woman can look out upon the array of aircraft he or she once flew or worked on one final time before bidding a final farewell. Many such ceremonies have been held in the museum, but the retirement of Master Chief Aviation Ordnanceman James “Will” Wilson on Friday, 18 January 2008, was one to remember. A veteran of thirty years of service, he chose to make his retirement ceremony the venue for a truly special presentation to the museum. It came during the flag ceremony, when shipmates passed a folded American flag down the line in a deliberate cadence of turns and rendering of salutes to the words of “Old Glory.” The flag they held with such care was a special one for on 11 September 2001, and subsequent days it flew proudly atop the island of the aircraft carrier George Washington (CVN 73) when she deployed to the waters off New York City in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks that destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Center. As the final words of “Old Glory” were read, the flag reached the hands of Master Chief Wilson, who had obtained it while serving in CVW-17, which was embarked in George Washington at that time providing air defense of New York City as part of Operation Noble Eagle. He then passed it to a member of the museum staff, saluting it one final time before it became part of the museum’s collections. No artifact has ever been donated in such fashion, and it was indeed an honor for the museum to be a part of Master Chief Wilson’s farewell to the fleet.