Tacoma firefighters today marked the six-year anniversary of terrorist attacks on the United States with a ceremony at Tacoma’s Fallen Firefighters Memorial located along the Ruston Way waterfront.
The 30-minute ceremony, entitled “Remembering 9/11,” included an invocation by Chaplain Wilby Casey, and speeches by Mayor Bill Baarsma and Fire Chief Ron Stephens. The fire department’s honor guard lowered flags to half-staff, and pipers performed “Amazing Grace” and “Danny Boy.”
“I’m proud we come together for this brief time to honor those who lost their lives,” said Mayor Baarsma. “Those memories are still fresh in our minds, of the day when our country lost so much. There’s a sense of vulnerability six years later. People are still suffering, and we should not forget.”
Chief Stephens commented, “[Today,] we honor those we lost, and take necessary action to prevent similar events from occurring.”
On Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked four airplanes and flew them into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon, and a field in southwest Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed.
