Sept. 8, 2011
Weekend events will commemorate 9/11 attacks
by Anne Krapfl
Sept. 11, 2001
On Sept. 11, 2001, 19 members of al-Qaeda carried out four suicide attacks using hijacked passenger jets. Between 8:45 and 9:40 a.m. (EST), the hijackers crashed two planes into the twin towers of New York City's World Trade Center and a third into the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. Hijackers aboard a fourth plane heading toward Washington, D.C. -- believed to be targeting either the U.S. Capitol or the White House -- crashed it in a field near Shanksville, Pa., around 10 a.m., after passengers tried to take control of the plane. Including passengers, flight crews and employees or rescue crews in the three buildings, nearly 3,000 people died.
The 9/11 Memorial, built at the World Trade Center site, will be dedicated Sept. 11 and opened to the public Sept. 12.
Sunday, Sept. 11, marks the 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States that killed nearly 3,000 people. The Iowa State community will join others around the country in observing the anniversary and paying tribute to those who died.
Central campus observances
At 9 a.m. from the carillon studio in the campanile, alumna Amy Brandau will play America the Beautiful. She then will ring the bells 10 times, one for each year since the attacks. Brandau is an academic adviser in the College of Engineering and studied the carillon with ISU carillonneur Tin-shi Tam as both an undergraduate and graduate student.
Student organizers representing ISU College Republicans, ISU Democrats and the Government of the Student Body have planned an outdoor evening commemoration that will begin at 8 p.m. north of the campanile. The keynote talk will be provided by U.S. Army Col. Craig Bargfrede, Ankeny, who recently returned from Kunar, Afghanistan, where he commanded an agribusiness development team. Prior to Bargfrede's address, ISU students will offer brief comments on their memories of 9/11 and the lasting effects of the attacks. Ames mayor Ann Campbell; Boone fire chief Justin Adams; state Rep. Lisa Heddens, Ames; ISU alumnus and state Sen. Jack Whitver, Ankeny; and U.S. Army veteran David Rehbein, Ames; also are invited guest speakers.
Vice president for student affairs Tom Hill will conclude the program and at 9:11 p.m. ask for a moment of silence to remember those who perished in the attacks. Participants then will be invited to light candles and process silently around the north half of the central green, where 3,000 small flags in the ground will honor those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.
College Republicans president and ISU junior Stephen Quist said that planners chose to hold the event in the evening when students would be more likely to participate.
A music/slide show of images from the four 2001 crash sites will begin playing at 7:30 p.m. Shuttle service from the Memorial Union parking ramp and east parking deck will begin at 7 p.m. for those who need assistance getting to central campus. Everyone from the Iowa State, Ames and surrounding communities is invited, Quist said.
Nearly 5,000 students, staff and faculty gathered on central campus Sept. 14, 2001, for a ceremony to observe the country's National Day of Prayer and Remembrance in the wake of terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. File photo.
War on Terror veteran
The athletics department will mark the anniversary with special events at both the Sept. 10 football game against the University of Iowa and the Sept. 11 soccer contest against Loyola University Chicago.
The athletics department worked with the Wounded Warrior Project to honor U.S. Army Specialist Zachary Durham, a 2008 graduate of Carlisle Community High School, who was shot April 23 near Kabul, Afghanistan, while trying to rescue the crew of a downed helicopter. Durham is now an Iowa State student in pre-journalism. He will be recognized in a football pregame ceremony, prior to the national anthem. There also will be a moment of silence to remember the 9/11 tragedies.
Immediately following the national anthem, the 132nd Fighter Wing, part of the Iowa Air National Guard unit located at the Des Moines International Airport, will provide an F-16 flyover above the stadium.
The Cyclone soccer complex east of the Lied Center will be lined Sunday with small U.S. flags. Firefighters, police officers and emergency medical services (EMS) professionals from Story County each have selected a representative to serve as an honorary captain for the soccer game. During a pregame ceremony, they will be introduced. The color guard that carries the national and state flags onto the field for the singing of the national anthem also will contain firefighters and police officers.
Following the national anthem, there will be a moment of silence observed before the 1 p.m. kickoff.
T-shirt promotion
The athletics department is encouraging soccer fans to bring an Iowa State T-shirt on which they have written a personal note of appreciation to emergency workers. The department also plans to provide about 50 T-shirts for this purpose. Athletics staff will iron U.S. flag screens on the shirtsleeves. These shirts will be delivered to fire, police and EMS stations in Story County as a unique "card" of gratitude for their service.
Football coach Paul Rhoads has recorded a video, for use Sept. 10, that encourages Cyclone fans to attend the Sept. 11 soccer game and bring an ISU T-shirt with them.
A memorial concert will begin at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Ames City Auditorium. The Ames Choral Society and Good Company women's ensemble are performing.
