The City of Marysville will host a 9/11 remembrance ceremony at 9:50 a.m., Saturday, at Decker Fire Station, 16300 County Home Rd., Marysville. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington. Above, in this picture from a previous 9/11 ceremony, firefighters gather in preparation for the ringing of the 5-5-5 bell ringing tradition, used when a firefighter dies in the line of duty. (File photo)
On the twentieth anniversary, the City of Marysville will remember the events and victims of the 9/11 terror attacks.
The city’s 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony is set to be held at 9:50 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 11 at Decker Fire Station, 16300 County Home Road.
“We are going to have some new things this year,” said Marysville Fire Chief Jay Riley.
He explained the service will begin at 9:50 a.m. “because that’s when the first tower fell.”
The Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center towers killed 2,753 people including 343 New York City firefighters, 23 New York City police officers and 37 Port Authority officers.
At the Pentagon, 184 people were killed when a hijacked plane crashed into the building.
In Pennsylvania, 40 passengers and crew members aboard another flight died when they took control of a hijacked plane, crashing it into a field rather than the terrorists’ intended, unknown target.
Riley said this year’s local remembrance ceremony will have a flag for each firefighter and law enforcement officer killed that day.
Brooks said that day underscored for many the idea that some people run toward danger while others are running away.
“The word hero gets thrown around a lot,” Brooks said. “Those people who ran into the building to save one more life, who fought their way into the cockpit over Shanksville, the ones at the Pentagon who tried to help, they were heroes. They need to be remembered with the reverence that is due (to) them.”
Brooks said he has three children, all of them born after 9/11. He said it is important for parents to teach their children about the day, because, as the cliché says, those who do not study the past will repeat it.
“We have to remember that to pass along the history and the darkness of that day,” Brooks said.
He added that, “I don’t think we thought any of it was possible, what happened that day.”
Brooks and Riley each said 9/11 is like the next generation’s Pearl Harbor Day — nearly everyone remembers where they were when they heard the news. Time is separated before and after 9/11.
Riley, who is speaking at this year’s event, said the ceremony is not long “but it is full of significance.”
The 9/11 ceremony will include the posting of the colors and Pledge of Allegiance, an invocation and the National Anthem. The flag will be lower to half-mast and, following a monument of silence, firefighters will present the 5-5-5 bell ringing tradition, used during the time of telegraph when a firefighter died in the line of duty.
Following the ceremony, three current firefighters — Steve Himmelgarn, Gus Jerew and Jeremy Rausch — will be promoted to Division of Fire lieutenants.
“We think it will be a nice remembrance and a nice event,” Riley said.