Two years ago, Matthew Hunt sketched a rough draft of a 9-11 memorial logo meant to honor the thousands of lives affected by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Fast-forward to today: His design idea has morphed into a billboard that was erected on Sept. 2 in Pennsylvania.

He said his drawing pays tribute to all three 9-11 sites: the World Trade Center's twin towers in New York, the Pentagon in Virginia and United Airlines Flight 93, which 33 passengers and 7 crew overtook and crashed in Somerset County, Pa. A star within an outline of the state marks the crash site near the rural southwest town of Shanksville.

Hunt said his layered design is the only one of its kind.

"I was thinking about it and I thought, 'I've never seen a design that included all three locations,' " Hunt said. "So I looked online to see if there were any with all three of them, and there were none. And I looked at hundreds."

He described his drawing as simplistic but powerful.

"I used a book of stamps, folded in half, to draw the twin towers," said Hunt. "Then I used my business card to draw the Pentagon. Then I laid my business card across the towers to help draw Pennsylvania. People are amazed when I tell them how I created it. They say it's really crisp and clean and impacting."

The red, white and blue billboard reads "Always Remember the Heroes of 9/11/01."

Four aircraft strikes killed nearly 3,000 people that day, making it the deadliest attack on American soil by a foreign entity.

Years of 'Thanks'

Hunt, 46, lives in University City. In 2007 he founded of A Rose of Thanks, a nonprofit that has sent more than 30,000 thank-you cards to U.S. armed services members.

Hunt, who served in the Army, has set up displays throughout the nation, attending such red-carpet events as the Golden Globe and Emmy awards ceremonies.

He and his crew of 10 volunteers also frequent local events and host monthly displays at Carolina Mall in Concord, where visitors can personalize cards for troops.

Hunt works two jobs and funds the nonprofit himself, with the help of donations. He said he purchased the billboard to help commemorate the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

"Going forward, I hope this becomes like the (Nike) swoosh of 9-11," said Hunt. "This will help fund A Rose of Thanks, and it also will help fund the Flight 93 memorial."

Hunt sells T-shirts and other items with the memorial design on them and said a portion of those proceeds will be donated to the Flight 93 National Memorial fund, which was about $10 million short of its fundraising goal last month.

Hunt also uses the design on a card that can be personalized and sent to troops and first responders. The inside reads, "Thank you for putting your life and safety on the line every day, so that we might enjoy ours!"

Vice President Joe Biden is expected to attend the dedication ceremony of the Flight 93 memorial Sept. 10. Hunt said more than 2,500 cars per day are expected to pass his billboard on U.S. 30, about three miles west of the main entrance to the memorial.

Hunt said he is still amazed how quickly A Rose of Thanks has grown.

"It all started with just one card," he said.

That simple gesture for military serving overseas has grown into a national nonprofit that has touched more than 60,000 lives.

Recalling the attack

Hunt, who lived in Detroit, Mich., on Sept. 11, 2001, was driving to work when he first heard the news on a morning radio show.

"They were talking about a plane crashing into one of the twin towers at the World Trade Center," said Hunt.

"I was thinking about it in the back of my mind and thought, 'How in the world?' "

The radio hosts were speculating about what had happened, he said, and then a female radio announcer reacted to the second plane hitting the other tower.

"They were watching it on CNN," said Hunt. "I didn't see it, but I heard it through their eyes, and it was just devastating - it didn't register, it didn't click, it didn't make sense."

He eventually arrived at his office, where co-workers had already set up the office's only TV - a five-inch black-and-white model - to watch live news coverage.

Hunt said he watched television reports throughout the day but didn't start to understand the magnitude of the attack until after work.

"I watched the coverage for about four or five hours when I got home that day, and all I could think was, 'Damn,' " he said. "They must've planned that for a while, because they took four planes at one time. When you think about how simple it was, it's just crazy."