Emma Barclay was a year old when terrorists struck her nation. She first learned of the attacks last year.
"This past year I realized how important it is to remember all the lives lost," she said. "They were part of America. They were important to a lot of people."
Emma, a 10-year-old student at the Kessler School in Oak Cliff, was among the participants in a local project to honor the 9/11 victims. And this morning she attended a ceremony that recalled the deadly day.
About 75 people gathered outside the Bank Tower at Oak Cliff to pay tribute to the almost 3,000 people killed that day nine years ago tomorrow.
They saw a presentation of the colors by four members of the Sunset High School ROTC. They recited the pledge of allegiance and saw the raising of two yellow banners at 8:46 a.m., the local time when the first World Trade Center tower was struck.
They watched bagpiper Jimmy Mitchell, playing Amazing Grace, lead a procession of four Dallas Fire-Rescue officers. They saw Dallas firefighters place two flowery wreaths near a metal sculpture including steel salvaged from the trade center debris.
And they heard a few words from Dallas resident Paul Sabin, whose father, Charles Sabin, was among those who died at the Pentagon.
Sept. 11, 2001, "was one of our worst days and one of our best days," he said. "America came together, and with all of our differences we stood united.
"This is the unity I'm talking about," he said, thanking the crowd.
In conclusion, Emma Barclay and other students from the Kessler School and Harry Stone Montessori Academy unveiled a 6-foot-tall, acrylic model of the trade center towers.
Inside, written on slips of paper, were the names of those killed in the attacks along with black stones and colored blocks.
Dallas firefighters last week read and placed in the model the names of the 421 first-responders who died. The public -- including more than 400 students from the Kessler, Harry Stone and four other schools -- added the other names in recent days.
"I thought how important it was that we not let our children forget," said Ralph Isenberg, the bank tower's managing partner and organizer of its ninth-annual 9/11 remembrance. The model will remain in the bank tower lobby through September before being moved to other Oak Cliff sites.
Edwin Shafer, a 5th-grade teacher at the Kessler School, said that even though many of his students are just beginning to learn about that transformative day, they are becoming mindful of the implications.
"They are coming to understand how dangerous the world can be and how important our security is," he said. "We've done our best to instill in them the price of freedom."
(source:wikipedia)
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