In remembering 9/11 and the lives lost that day, we steel our resolve to ensure such an attack never again happens. And we remember the courage of all those aboard those hijacked commercial jetliners, particularly those who fought to retake control of their plane, which crashed in a Pennsylvania field.
Paraphrasing President Reagan’s words spoken after the space shuttle Challenger disaster (he was quoting a poem by John Gillespie Magee), we will never forget them — each man, woman and child, each rescue worker — who died that day and “slipped the surly bonds of earth” to “touch the face of God.”
North Kitsap Fire & Rescue firefighters invite Kitsap residents to “Honor the memory of those who died and no longer act for themselves by performing deliberate acts of kindness, community and compassion in their names.”
As they do every year, NKF&R firefighters are marking the solemn anniversary of 9/11 by hosting a free continental breakfast from 8-11 a.m. Sept. 11 at NKF&R’s headquarters station, 26642 Miller Bay Road NE, near Kingston. The breakfast, sponsored in part by Port Madison Enterprises and Clearwater Casino Resort, is free but donations will be accepted for the firefighters’ North Kitsap Community Partnership Fund.
The fund, to which firefighters regularly contribute, provides food, shelter, clothing, gas money, taxi fare, etc. to people in need. It also pays for the district’s safety initiatives, among them the smoke-alarm, bike-helmet, life-jacket and car-seat programs. The fund is overseen by a committee of department members.
A 15th anniversary 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Sept. 11 at Evergreen Rotary Park, site of the Kitsap 9/11 Memorial. The park is located at 1300 Park Ave., Bremerton.
Dave Fergus, architect and designer of the Kitsap 9/11 Memorial, will be master of ceremonies. Speakers: Bremerton Mayor Patty Lent, Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Bremerton, former Rep. Norm Dicks, and a Navy representative.
Local police officers and firefighters will serve as color guard. There will be music by the Farragut Brass Band. The flag will be raised from half-staff.
Walk among rows of hundreds of American flags at the memorial site. Touch 5,000 pounds of steel pulled from New York’s World Trade Center and limestone taken from the damaged Pentagon. Support the Kitsap 9/11 Memorial by becoming a park steward or by purchasing an engraved brick at the commemorative flag plaza. Go to www.facebook.com/Supporters -of-Kitsap-911-Memorial or email mtcbflash @msn.com.
This Sept. 11, let us honor those who were lost, and those who worked so valiantly to save lives that day, by recommitting ourselves to good in the world.
And let us never forget.
