Thursday city officials unveiled a re-furbished plaque downtown that salutes the students who spent hundreds of hours filling sandbags and building walls on both sides of the river.
Preservation Commission member Frank Ege found the plaque earlier this year under the old I-74 Bridge, corroded, with trash around it, and forgotten.
"And I thought you know this just really doesn't belong in a place like this. Back in 1965 there were so many young people, and other people that came out to sandbag. And it just seemed like there had to be a better place for it."
Mayor Sangeetha Rayapati says the plaque reminds her that people can put aside their differences and work together.
"We have the ability to create hope and joy and protect one another from danger. We have the ability to be selfless in the face of disaster."
The plaque is one of four made soon after the 1965 flood - one has been lost, one is at the foot of the Centennial Bridge in Rock Island, and the third is at the Bettendorf Police Department.
Attending Thursday's ceremony were five of the "young people" who helped fight the flood in downtown Moline, including saving the water plant from being inundated. Also a son of the man whose likeness appears on the plaque.
It's located along the bike path, and just to the west of the circle at the base of 17th Street.