A day of remembrance
Students, teachers, staff and community members around the Santa Clarita Valley mourned victims of terror attacks and honored firstresponders and veterans Friday, joining the rest of the nation in observing the 14th anniversary of 9/11.
Almost 3,000 miniature flags were laid out across the campus of Trinity Classical Academy prior to its Sept. 11, 2001, anniversary ceremony — one flag for each victim killed during the attacks. The ceremony featured a moment of silence, several patriotic songs, a color guard and other presentations.
Trinity Classical Academy junior Nina Salazar and sophomore Kathryn Brooks, two of those who attended Trinity’s 9/11 ceremony, said they were just toddlers when the attacks occurred, and it was hard for them to gauge the significance of the event growing up.
Salazar said the magnitude of the mass killings didn’t resonate for her until she recently watched footage of the event and then helped place a flag for each victim on the school’s lawn.
She said at least eight rows were dedicated to the emergency responders who died during the attacks, which hit home because her father is a police officer.
“You never expect to see something like that,” Salazar said. “You know that it happened, but you don’t know what to make of it until you’ve actually seen it for yourself.”
Both students agreed that their generation and younger ones should always observe the events of 9/11.
“It’s so important for teenagers to fully try and understand what is going on and try to empathize the best we can (to ensure) things like this are never forgotten and use this as a way to grow as a nation,” Brooks said.
Similar ceremonies took place at James Foster Elementary School in Saugus and Skyblue Mesa Elementary School in Canyon Country.
HandsOn Santa Clarita held its 9/11 commemoration and ceremony Friday evening at the Westfield Valencia Town Center. The organization scheduled a volunteering event today from 8:30-12:30 p.m. at Dr. Richard H. Rioux Park in Stevenson Ranch.
Around the country, 9/11 was marked with what has become a tradition of lowered flags, wreath-laying, bell-tolling and, in New York, reading of the names of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terror strikes at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
In Washington, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama stepped out of the White House for a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., when the first of four hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center’s north tower on Sept. 11, 2001. Later Friday, the president observed the anniversary with a visit to the Army installation at Fort Meade, Maryland.
The Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville marked the completion of its $26 million visitor center, which opened to the public Thursday.
At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Ash Carter and other officials joined in remembrances for victims’ relatives and Pentagon employees.
Sacramento commemorated 9/11 in conjunction with a parade honoring three friends who tackled a heavily armed gunman on a Parisbound high-speed train last month.
The three Americans who stopped a gunman on a Paris-bound passenger train said in a TV interview that thwarting the attack makes them feel more connected to the Sept. 11 terror strikes.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.