Opinion: A new flag is going to fly over the White House. My dad would be proud

Editor’s note: Sarah Levinson Moriarty is a fellow with New America’s Future Security Program. She is one of seven children of Robert Levinson, the longest held hostage in US history. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. View more opinion at CNN.

CNN
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March 9, 2007, was one of the worst days of my life. It was the day I found out that my father, Robert Levinson, had been taken captive by the Iranian regime while on Kish Island, off the coast of Iran. It was the day before his 59th birthday, and I was going to see him the following weekend for a big family celebration.

My dad was a man who was larger than life — kind, smart and a true patriot. His 6-foot, 4-inch frame took over a room, and the light of joy radiating from him took care of the rest.

A father of seven and a devoted husband, he was a career FBI agent, and later a contractor for the CIA, who loved our great country. I was so lucky to have Bobby Levinson as my dad. Then, suddenly, in one brief moment that March 9, he was stolen from me.

On the same day one year later (2008), after constant platitudes, waiting, fighting, anger and frustration, we had no answers from the Iranians, or the US government for that matter.

Fast-forward two years later to March 9, 2010, as I was preparing for my upcoming wedding to the love of my life, and we still had no indications on where my father was, what the Iranian regime wanted from him, and what we could do.

I was desperately hoping our government would help get my dad home to walk me down the aisle, something almost every little girl dreams of. I was hopeful the wedding would create more of a sense of urgency in the US government to save my father.

On March 9, 2016, an agonizing six years later, I was looking after my firstborn son and recovering from unrelated surgery and a work trip overseas. I had to fly to Florida for our Help Bob Levinson Ninth-Year Anniversary rally. I was the only one of my six brothers and sisters not to make a speech because it was too hard to get the words out. I came down with pneumonia when I got home.

We were still reeling from my dad not being included in the January 2016 deal with Iran. The “cooperation” promised in that deal never materialized.

March of 2020 brought a new level of pain for my family when we were called to the White House and told that the best intelligence the US government had to offer clearly indicated that my father died in captivity. We were thankful to our government to have some semblance of closure finally. However, as the world began to shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic on March 9, 2020, our family shut down in grief.

Now, as March begins four years later, a total of 17 years in all now, we are still mourning my father. The agony of losing someone in such a horrific way — and someone you loved and admired so deeply at that — never quite goes away, and we are still desperately trying to bring his remains home to us.

This March 9 will be different though.

At the end of 2023, a new law was passed that codified a hostage and wrongful detainee flag (created by a collaboration of multiple hostage families) into law, and established March 9 — yes, my dad’s March 9 — as National Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Day.

The flag will now fly above the White House, State Department and Capitol on this day as well as on Flag Day (June 14), the Fourth of July and any day in which Americans held captive overseas come home to our great country. My dad would be so proud.

It is my hope that we will rally together as a country on March 9 to show our support for this amazing new national day of awareness through public and virtual flag displays, social media posts, charitable donations or volunteering, and better awareness of international travel risks. 

On this inaugural National Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Day, much work remains to be done. Six Americans are still being held hostage by Hamas after its October 7 terror attack on Israel. And Russia has continued to detain several US citizens over the past few years, including former US Marine Paul Whelan, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and amateur ballerina Ksenia Karelina (a dual US-Russian citizen).

China also continues to hold businessman Mark Swidan, Chinese-American businessman Kai Li, and pastor David Lin.

Let us use our collective voice to make an impact on March 9, 2024, and every March 9 from this year forward — for those fellow American nationals currently held hostage, for those who have come home from captivity and for those who, like my father, never made it back.