SLO remembers first responders as ‘heroes’ on anniversary of 9/11 attacks
San Luis Obispo residents gathered at a local fire station Wednesday morning on the 23rd anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, to honor first responders who died that day.
“The victims and the first responders who perished will forever be remembered as heroes, both in our communities, in our hearts and to a great country,” San Luis Obispo Police Department Chief Rick Scott said.
The ceremony included a posting of the colors, a bell ceremony, a bagpipes performance and speeches from San Luis Obispo High School students and local leaders.
Attendees laid white roses on a 9/11 memorial outside of the fire station.
Dedicated in 2015, the memorial features a 1,500-pound steel beam from the World Trade Center and 403 metal posts embedded in an arc to honor each first responder killed in the attack, the news release said.
“After the visitors go home and the flags go back up to full mast (and) the flowers whither away, what is it that we do?” Scott said. “This is exactly what we do as a community and as a nation. We come together and we remember and we send that legacy forward to the next generation. That’s how we honor those that go before us.”
