Flag flown at U.S. Embassy Nairobi

Nairobi, Kenya 1998

This flag graced the office of Colonel Ron Roughead, Chief of the U.S. Liaison Office in Kenya, at U.S. Embassy Nairobi. On August 7, 1998, in coordinated attacks by al Qaeda terrorists, U.S. Embassies Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, were devastated by car bombs. After the attack, the Embassy Nairobi Marine Security Guards made an initial sweep of the embassy building searching for survivors and recovering victims. The Marines found this flag in Colonel Roughead’s office along with a roll of masking tape. Knowing that the flag on the pole outside the entrance to the Embassy had been blown off by the blast, they taped this flag to the exterior window frame. During the initial days after the attack, it was a symbol that the U.S. embassy and the personnel were still standing proudly even though they had been hit very hard.

  • Source/Credit: Gift of Colonel Ron Roughead
  • Catalog Number: 2018.0014.01
  • Created: 1998
  • Acquired: 2018

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Flag flown at U.S. Embassy Nairobi. c. 1998. National Museum of American Diplomacy, https://diplomacy.state.gov/items/flag-flown-at-u-s-embassy-nairobi

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Flag flown at U.S. Embassy Nairobi, c. 1998, National Museum of American Diplomacy, Washington, DC, https://diplomacy.state.gov/items/flag-flown-at-u-s-embassy-nairobi

APA Format

(c. 1998). Flag flown at U.S. Embassy Nairobi [Object]. National Museum of American Diplomacy, Washington, D.C., United States. https://diplomacy.state.gov/items/flag-flown-at-u-s-embassy-nairobi