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Firemen honor 9/11 victims
The Mountain Home Volunteer Fire Department set up its huge "Silver Wings" American flag at the entrance to the underpass Friday morning in commemoration of the 9/11 attacks.
A special display also has been set up all week at city hall honoring the firemen and police officers who died in the attack on the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
Besides displaying the flag in the El Rancho Parking lot, the fire department also set up a number of fire engines and pumpers in the island area of the underpass.
President Barack Obama plans to observe the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks with a visit to and brief speech at the Pentagon today.
Across the country, at the Pentagon, in New York City, and in other communities around the nation, a variety of memorial services are being planned to commemorate the eighth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on American soil that killed 2,974 people (excluding the 19 hijackers on the four planes involved).
The casualties included 246 passengers and crew on the four planes, 2,603 in New York City in the towers of the World Trade Center and on the ground and 125 at the Pentagon. An additional 24 people remain listed as missing. All of the fatalities in the attacks were civilians except for 55 military personnel killed at the Pentagon.
In the New York attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, 343 firefighters and paramedics were killed, along with 60 New York and Port Authority police officers. Ceremonies in New York today will include the reading of the names of all the victims of the attacks there.
In March, Congress passed legislation to officially designate September 11th as a National Day of Service and Remembrance. Citizens are asked on the anniversary of the attacks to honor the victims, heroes and volunteers of 9/11 by taking time to help others in need.
The attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, began at about 8:45 a.m. (EST) after four commercial airlines had been hijacked. The first airliner flew into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Eighteen minutes later the second plane hit the South Tower, and at 9:40 a.m. a third plane hit the outer ring of the Pentagon. A fourth plane, apparently targeted for the White House, crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pa., when its passengers overpowered the terrorists that had seized control of the aircraft.
At about 9:58 a.m., the South Tower collapsed, followed by the North Tower at 10:28 a.m., images that will live for generations in the American consciousness. The destruction was so extensive that 1,717 families of the victims have never received any remains.
In the weeks following the attacks aircraft from the 366th Composite Wing provided air cover at a variety of locations around the United States as part of Operation Noble Eagle.
The attacks prompted the United States to invade Afghanistan, where the Taliban government had provided support to the al-Queda terrorist organization, headed by Osama bin Laden, which had planned and executed the attacks.