The Mount Carmel flag design based on video footage

by Matthew D. Wittmer

My recreations of the flag are based on video and still photos taken of the actual flag that was flown in front of Mount Carmel during the 1993 siege. Images taken of the flag during the siege accessible to me was only with cameras that were miles away using zoom lenses. These cameras were stationed at various vantage points to photograph the building proper, so the flag is often quite small in those photos. To add, the wind was often blowing the flag at various angles in all kinds of different light situations in the footage that remains of the building. This makes having a full view of the actual flag quite mysterious. There is not a perfect image of the flag that clearly reveals all of its details. The snake on the original flag consisted of a reflective silver material. The flag itself was made of satin as per my discussion with one survivor, Kathy Jones, who had worked on sewing it.