Sept. 11 ceremony focuses on importance of remembering

Twelve years after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, reminders stand across the country. These symbols proudly exist for a purpose, Mountain Brook Fire Chief Robert Ezekiel said.

“They serve to preserve remembrance.”

Sept. 11, Vestavia Hills and Homewood joined with the City of Mountain Brook in dedicating a beam from the World Trade Center as a memorial. Erected outside the Mountain Brook City Complex, the steel stands in the shape of the Twin Towers to solidify the memory of that tragedy and the thousands who lost their lives as a result.

“Today to me is very personal and personal to those in fire service throughout the country,” Ezekiel said in dedicating the beam.

Allan Rice, executive director of the Alabama Fire College (AFC), served as keynote speaker for the event. Rice’s message to the hundreds of residents, administrators and emergency service personnel in attendance was that it’s the duty of each American to not let these reminders become relics and to remember their purpose.

He said the memorial at the AFC also includes steel salvaged from the Trade Center as well as 343 crosses representing the firefighters who gave their lives in service.

“These are not gimmicks,” Rice said. “They’re guideposts of remembrance, reminders of freedom. These symbols are significant because they symbolize national strength.”

The program featured the laying of wreaths around the memorial and a bell was rung in remembrance. Abrielle Mullins, a rising country singer and daughter of Mountain Brook EMS Division Director Chris Mullins, sang the national anthem, and Staff Sgt. Jacqueline Barnwell sang “America the Beautiful” and “Amazing Grace.”

“This is a day to remember,” Vestavia Hills Mayor Butch Zaragoza said. “We will never forget this day.”