Last Memorial Day, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey presented a unit of the Marines with flags that had once flown at the World Trade Center.

On Thursday, Col. Richard Mills returned to ground zero to hand back the flags, which had accompanied his 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit during missions around the world, including recent combat in Iraq.

Mills said that when he originally accepted the flags in honor of those killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attack, he made two promises on behalf of the Marines: "First, that we would carry them wherever we went."

And second, "that we would do so with honor."

"I'm here this morning to report that mission accomplished in both areas," Mills said at a ceremony overlooking the site where the World Trade Center stood.

Mills presented the folded flags to Port Authority Chief of Department Joseph Morris. The Port Authority lost 37 police officers and 38 civilian employees among the nearly 2,800 victims of the trade center attack.

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