Students and community members remember Sept. 11 with multiple events.
It has been 12 years since the World Trade Center was attacked in New York City, the Pentagon attacked in D.C. and the crash landing in Pennsylvania. The city of St. George and school officials are helping community members respect what happened.
A flag retiring ceremony was held this morning outside the Cox Auditorium where members of Dixie State University’s ROTC retired the school’s flag.
The ROTC lowered the old flag and replaced it with a new flag to fly over the campus. Once the new colors were raised, members of the ROTC participated in a seven-gun salute, and recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
Maj. Darin Gumucio, assistant professor of military science, said holding the flag retirement on 9/11 is special.
“We use this day to retire the flag because it is so significant in America’s history,” Gumucio said.
A concert, featuring country artist Eric Dodge, will be held at Centennial Park, located at 2200 East, at 7:30 p.m. and admission is free for the public.
According to a St. George city press release, city officials asked Dodge to perform because he decided to stop being scared of sharing his vocal talent and started pursing his dream after Sept. 11.
Kara Winsor, a sophomore dental hygiene major from Payette, Idaho, said these local events help unite the community and help everyone remember the love and unity that was shown on 9/11.
“When the attacks happened, everybody came together to make America strong again,” Winsor said.
While 12 years have passed since that day, Michael Nagy, a senior communication major from Charlottesville, Va., said he still remembers what he was doing when the attack happened.
“I was sleeping and someone called my roommate to tell him what happened,” Nagy said. “We watched the footage all day.”
Nagy said he called his friend who lived in New York immediately to check if she was OK, but the phone lines were so overloaded he could not reach her.
“I remember leaving her a message and hoping that she was OK,” Nagy said.
Just like Nagy, Sophia Grzeskiewicz, a sophomore psychology major from Fredericksburg, Va., remembers the day clearly.
Grzeskiewicz was only 7 years old and living right outside of Washington D.C. when the attacks happened, and she remembers being let out of school early and going over to her nanny’s house.
“My nanny’s husband was a corespondent in the Pentagon, and she didn’t know if he made it or not,” Grzeskiewicz said. “She was just on the floor with her two children, crying, waiting for news about her husband.”
The people affected by the tragedy is the reason 9/11 is so important.
“It makes us mad when the civilians we protect are attacked,” Gumucio said.
This was one of the largest terrorist attacks on American soil. That is the reason the ROTC honors the flag and the country that were attacked on that day.