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Michael Esmond, 74, donated $7,600 to pay 114 residents' past due utility bills Most of the people he helped were in danger of having their utilities shut off  In 2019, he had donated $4,600 to help 36 households in the same situation  Esmond said the gesture had more meaning this year, due to the impact of coronavirus and the damage done by September's Hurricane Sally  He said he chose to donate his money to paying off utility bills because he had once had his heat cut off in the 1980s  At the time, he was raising three kids and temperatures dropped to single digits

A lot of firemen over there. the flag. it's gone. so it's gone the first day. it's gone within the first six hours. >> they always assumed that this happened after the picture was published. the picture was first published on the 12th in new jersey. and on the 13th in "the new york post." >> correct. >> so then the question is who took it and why. >> i can't see anybody climbing up there and grabbing it without somebody hey, what are you doing? even though people are busy doing other things. but it should be pretty simple to see a flag if it's there. >> stars, stripes. it might stick out if it...

Blowtorching all night. >> it does surprise me it's only five hours later. like you said, someone saw it up there. maybe it was wrapped up. maybe it wasn't functioning right and said let's get a better spot for this, and moved it to a different location, put it on a fire truck or something. >> you're saying the flag was still at the site when he went to get it. >> when the mayor -- when the navy wanted the flag, we were under the impression that the flag was still on the flag pole on the site where they raised it. >> so when the guy from the fire department sent the guy from the press down to ...

Whatever happened with the flag. i think it's been all over the country. pinpointing where it went, i couldn't tell you. >> i didn't connect the boat with this until like weeks later. when i was talking to that "new york times" guy, he saw them take the flag, and he took a picture of it. and i have never been able to figure out who he is. >> there is some -- a lot of hope that the flag will be found. i just cannot believe that anybody -- >> we're going to see this guy soon. >> okay. and who is he? >> we just tracked him down. >> and he's got a flag in his hand. you think that's the flag? >> co...

>> this is the image there. >> yeah, yeah, yeah. >> you see the rescue boats there. >> and i went on to photograph them loading the wounded firefighter on to one of the boats. and he survived, thankfully. and he contacted me later, asking if i could share some of my photographs so that he could try to piece together what happened to him that day. because he didn't remember. >> on my walk, i kept asking people for film. so i went around, and then i was at the sailing club where all the boats are docked. and that's when i saw this guy, who was apparently freelancing for "the new york times." i n...