Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
This year’s 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony will be a little bigger than in some years past as it’s not only the 25th annual event, but also marks the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists attacked the United States.
The theme this year of “Remembrance - Resilience - Service” will celebrate the spirit of Sept. 12, 2001, when the country came together as one, according to Mike Cox, Kosciusko County 9/11 Remembrance Planning Committee member.
“If you remember back on Sept. 12, it was kind of eerie to step outside because there were no planes in the air and people were watching TV, following up on what’s going on. But, at the same time, people were calling their families, they were calling their friends and neighbors, finding out if they were OK, (asking), ‘Do you need anything? What can we do for you?’ We’d like to kind of reignite that feeling with our program ... we’re showing the world that, hey, we’re still here and we’re still a free country and we want to stay that way,” he said.
Cox said they’ve done a ceremony every year. For 2002’s ceremony, the first one, he said they started planning for it in March or April of that year.
“Basically, there was just a group of people that were sitting around talking and thought we need to do something so that people don’t forget, and we decided to put on some kind of ceremony on 9/11,” he said. “We started working on it and then we came up with let’s do a parade, so the parade went from Boggs to the fairgrounds and we contacted the railroad and they stopped trains. Had several speakers that night. Had a really good crowd, I think we filled the grandstand. We had an array of emergency vehicles in the infield of the racetrack, and just a lot of people showed up. That was kind of when we decided we were going to do something every year.”
Every fifth year there’s a parade. The parade lineup this year is at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 11 at Boggs Industrial Park. The parade will start at 6:30 p.m. and go from West Center Street to Indiana Street and then Canal Street. The memorial service will be at 7:15 p.m. at the 9/11 Memorial monument at Central Park, 117 E. Canal St., Warsaw. Everyone should bring their own lawn chairs.
There will be some picnic tables because free hot dogs, chips and water will be available, courtesy of the Fellowship Missions food truck. Cox said they’re working on a possible ice cream social as well.
“We got a donation of money for the food,” he stated.
They’re hoping for the best weather, but, if not, the ceremony will be moved into the Zimmer Biomet Center Lake Pavilion.
Jenny Denney will sing the national anthem. Ed Rock will sing “Have You Forgotten?” by Darryl Worley and “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood. Cox will say a few words, and the featured speaker will be Mark Eaton, of Eaton Leadership Foundation and husband of Susie McEntire.
The ceremony will close with the ringing of the bell. There will be a reading of the line of duty deaths of county emergency responders. Johnny Butler will give a presentation on the Honor & Remember flags, and the Patriot Guard will surround the site with flags.
Boy Scouts may lead the pledge of allegiance. “We do that because we do want to get kids involved in the program, give them something to remember,” Cox said.
A ‘Monument’al Cause
Cox said they started working on the 9/11 monument in 2005. They held fundraisers and applied for grants. Including the base, engraving and everything, he estimated the cost of the monument was about $11,000.
“The first thing we had to do was find a location. We asked the county to put it on the courthouse square, and they respectfully declined because they didn’t want the landscape there to be overwhelmed with monuments. So, we turned to the city and the city said sure, so here we are,” Cox said, adding that they’ve been happy having the monument and ceremony at Central Park.
While the east side of the monument commemorates 9/11 and faces New York, the west side pays tribute to emergency service personnel in Kosciusko County who died in the line of duty.
Speakers & Funds
For speakers for the ceremony, Cox said they’ve been fortunate most years they haven’t had to pay them. Some of the speakers in the past have included then-Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer, former state Rep. Rebecca Kubacki, Sheriff Jim Smith, Ground Zero chaplain Maj. Robert Webster and others.
With this year’s speaker, Cox said they’ve received donations to handle most of Eaton’s costs. Mike Loher and his ML Community Impact Alliance will handle some of that, with anything else coming through the Warsaw Community Development Corp. (WCDC).
The 9/11 Remembrance Committee is not a 501(c)3, but they work through the WCDC who agreed to manage the committee’s funds and are a 501(c)3, Cox said. “We direct donations to them. Anybody that wants to make a donation, we tell them to contact WCDC, and they take it and add it to our funds and have been very gracious about that,” he stated.
On having Eaton as this year’s speaker, Cox explained, “He has a lot of insights. He’s got military experience. I’m excited to hear what he has to say. We gave him just a few guidelines and turned him loose. He’s a very passionate person about a lot of things, his faith and his country. I have no doubt it’s going to be a good presentation.”
One thing the committee would like to do in the future is have the traveling 9/11 display for the ceremony in Warsaw, but Cox said that’s kind of expensive, estimating the cost would be upwards of $17,000.
“It’s kind of like the traveling Vietnam Wall. You provide a space for them for several days and people can come and take it all in. I’ve seen it and it’s a striking display,” he stated. “That’s a future project we’re going to be discussing here soon. We wanted them here this year, but they pulled everything to New York.”
Attendance
Discounting the weather, Cox said attendance for the local 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony has declined over the years. “We’ve had, last couple years, pretty good weather, but, overall, the first one we had several hundred people. Second one, we probably had maybe a 100 people. It has gone down. Maybe part of that is our fault because we didn’t get publicity out in time for people to schedule, but this year we’ve got a dedicated person who’s working on that. That’s her focus right now, getting the word out,” he said.
With it being the 25th anniversary of 9/11, Cox is hopeful the turnout this year will be good.
“We’re inviting all the police, fire, EMS, military to participate in the parade and anybody else. Echoes of the Past is going to be in the parade. We’ve got a couple private floats that’s going to be in the parade. We really don’t know what to expect because we haven’t reached our deadline on registrations,” he said.
Completed registration forms for the parade can be returned to the committee at info@kcfreedomfest.org. There’s no charge to participate in the parade. For questions, contact Cox at 574-453-6042 or Mike Raymer at 574-371-6555.
