This year’s 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony will be live-streamed so Fayette County residents have an opportunity to tune in while also social distancing.
Coordinated in part by Fayette County EMA, Fayette County Veteran Services, and the First Responder Community of Fayette County, the ceremony will take place at the gazebo on the courthouse lawn this Friday at 9 a.m.
“In an effort to prevent a mass gathering, we will stream this event live on the Fayette County Emergency Management Agency Facebook page,” Melissa Havens, Fayette County EMA director, wrote via email recently. “Please remember to wear a mask and/or social distance if attending in person.”
“I think it’s important for the community to know I’m actually not leading this commemoration ceremony,” Havens wrote. “I’m merely doing what I do in my job everyday — coordinating the logistics in the background. This commemoration continues to be supported and presented by elected officials, first responders, veterans and local residents. That’s what 9-11 did for our community. It brought all of us together, and we want to encourage things to remain that way. We all benefit when we work together as one.”
Havens added that this past year, everyone has been through a lot, but encouraged the community to not forget that everyone was created to be happy, healthy people living peacefully together.
“I’m hoping that this ceremony will be a kind reminder to folks that we are here for each other, we need each other, and no one is alone in Fayette County,” Havens said. “Even if we have to do it from a distance, we are going to remain one strong community, showing resilience as we continue in our ‘new normal.’”
In 2018, Washington Court House City Manager Joe Denen welcomed the crowd and took a moment to give a brief timeline of events of the attack on Sept. 11, 2001 during the ceremony.
“At 7:59 a.m., American Airlines flight 11 left Boston headed for Los Angeles. 20 minutes into the flight, flight attendants alert ground personnel that the plane has been hijacked,” Denen said. “At 8:14 a.m., United Airlines flight 175 left Boston also headed for Los Angeles. The flight is also hijacked. At 8:20 a.m., American Airlines flight 77 takes off from Dallas International Airport headed for Los Angeles as well. At 8:41 a.m., United Airlines flight 93 takes off from Newark International Airport en route to San Francisco. It has been scheduled to depart in the a.m. around the time of the other hijacked planes, and it is also hijacked. At 8:46 a.m., the hijackers aboard flight 11, crash the plane into floors 93 through 99 of the North Tower of the World Trade Center killing everyone on board and hundreds inside the building. At 9:03 a.m., hijackers crash flight 175 into floors 75 through 85 of the World Trade Center South Tower, also killing everyone on board and hundreds inside the building.”
Before noon, America would watch as both towers collapsed, another hijacked plane would strike the Pentagon and one more flight would crash in a field in Pennsylvania killing all crew members and passengers on board. In total, 2,977 people would be killed in New York City, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania during the terrorist attacks, with various first responders perishing as they helped to contain the chaos of the attack.
The information in this article was provided by Fayette County EMA Director Melissa Havens. Stay with the Record-Herald for coverage of the 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony in a future edition of the paper.
