About 200 people attended the city of Arnold’s third annual 9/11 memorial service held today (Sept. 11) at the Arnold Recreation Center.
“It was a very moving remembrance and one that the city was very proud of,” said Susie Boone, the city’s Parks and Recreation director.
The ceremony was held near the Arnold’s 9/11 monument that features a piece of steel that was part of the World Trade Center in New York City before the building was destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S.
An American eagle named Patriot, from the World Bird Sanctuary, sat perched on the Arnold 9/11 memorial during much of the ceremony.
The late Cricky Lang, an Arnold Ward 1 councilwoman who died last year after working to bring the steel to the city for the memorial, was remembered when her husband, Shawn, and their two children, Katlyn and Tyler, were presented with roses to place on the memorial.
Also, firefighters from Rock Community Fire Protection District rang a bell to remember those who died in the terrorist attacks.
First responders were honored when a U.S. flag that had hung in the city was presented to Rock Fire, which will pass it on to Rock Township Ambulance District the next year and the Arnold Police Department the following year.
Boone said the flag had been draped over the piece of steel when the city picked it up in St. Louis in 2011.
That flag had hung in the city since then, but had become tattered, so it was taken down, encased in a box and presented to the first responders, she said
Also during the ceremony, a color guard raised a 9/11 flag that the Daughters of the American Revolution had donated to the city.
In addition, Arnold Mayor Ron Counts spoke at the event. Boone and Molly Curcuru, also a parks department employee, read pieces about 9/11.
Another parks department employee, Teresa Kohut, sang “God Bless America,” and veteran and local resident Jack Poitras played taps.
Also, the Rock Fire chaplain led prayers.