A Ceremony of Remembrance today at 8:30 a.m.

The City of St. Augustine will continue the annual tradition of holding its Ceremony of Remembrance, a community gathering to remember those who died in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.  Historic City News will attend as we have each year.

Our readers are invited and encouraged to participate in the community ceremony which will be held at the St. Augustine Fire Department’s main station, 101 Malaga Street, Wednesday morning, September 11th at 8:30 a.m.  This year, the ceremony will also be available for live online viewing from the fire department’s Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/CityStAugFire

As in years past, St. Augustine Fire Chief Carlos Aviles would like to invite anyone who was personally involved or impacted by the events of September 11 to bring their memorabilia to the fire station to share – personal photos, mementos, or artifacts. These personal items will be placed on display prior to the ceremony to be viewed by guests.

The city’s first Ceremony of Remembrance was held just two days after 9/11 and has continued each year on the anniversary of the attack. The 15-minute program will include a presentation of the colors by a joint color guard comprised of the St. Augustine Police Department and St. Johns County Fire Rescue, an invocation by Prevention Chief and Fire Marshal, Bob Growick; musical presentations by St. Augustine Firefighter Engineer, Ed Purtill; and remarks by Director of the State Fire Marshal, Julius Halas, and St. Augustine Fire Chief Carlos Aviles.

The ceremony will conclude with a minute of silence at 8:45 a.m., timed to coincide with the time the first plane hit the first tower of the World Trade Center in 2001.

The Fire Department will conduct the “Striking the Four 5’s” by ringing its historic 1900 Fire Bell in four intervals of five rings each.  This is a time-honored tradition signifying the last alarm of a firefighter and will be performed in honor of the firefighters, law enforcement officers, military personnel and civilians who died on 9/11.