World's Tallest Flagpole Proposed For Maine; Billion-Dollar Project Would Honor American Veterans

COLUMBIA FALLS, Maine (CBS) -- The nonprofit Wreaths Across America wants to put the tallest flagpole in the world in part of rural Maine.

The "Flagpole of Freedom Park" site in Columbia Falls would become the only spot in the United States to honor all 24 million American veterans in one place. The flagpole would be built on a hill so the top would reach 1,776 feet above sea level. It would also have two observation decks and a museum.

Around the flag would be 55 individual remembrance walls with the names of every single veteran in U.S. history etched in them - "the equivalent of 411 Vietnam Wall Memorials."

"It's right in the flight path of the planes that go back and forth overseas," Wreaths Across America's Morrill Worcester said. "This pole is going to be flying the last flag that they'll see. And also it's the first flag they'll see when they come home."

Phase one of the project will cost $1 billion and would be paid for with private donations.