City and county first responders, leaders and guests gathered at the gazebo on the courthouse lawn in Washington Court House Tuesday to remember the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001.
The remembrance ceremony started a few minutes after 9 a.m. on Tuesday with Washington C.H. City Manager Joe Denen welcoming the crowd.
“For a moment, think for me where you were on September 11, 2001,” Denen said. “It started as a particularly lovely day. It was clear, it was sunny.”
Denen 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. Twenty 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.
Youth pastor at Heritage Memorial Church, Jon Truex, was invited to say a prayer during the ceremony Tuesday. In his prayer he asked for continued healing, protection for the first responders as they continue to protect the community, and comfort for them to know that the community is appreciative of their efforts to help its citizens.
Following the prayer, Ed Helt sang “We are America,” and the Fayette County Honor Guard presented arms and a 21-gun salute for the lives lost during the attack. Finally, Tim Downing with the Washington Fire Department thanked the crowd for coming to the ceremony and asked they keep all of those who served or are serving in their prayers.
Reach Martin Graham at (740) 313-0351 or on Twitter @MartiTheNewsGuy
