Columbus remembers 9/11

CSU students singing national anthem at clock tower.
(Dave Bender)

Columbus State University's historic clock tower rang out at noon Tuesday as faculty, students and city residents gathered to remember the grim events of September 11, 2001.

Tony Oxford, president of National Security Associates is a security specialist who spent several weeks working with recovery crews at the World Trade Center site after the attacks. He told GPB News that the recovery operations left a deep impression on him:

“It was a very humbling experience, a life-changing experience, and it gives us an appreciation for America, what America stands for and why we live here - and why we continue to fight to keep America what it is today.”

An honor guard of Columbus fire and law-enforcement officials stood at attention near relics of the attacks, at an extensive multimedia exhibition.

Honor guard at attention near steel remains recovered from WTC site. (Dave Bender)

A central display featured a torn and twisted steel column recovered from the base of one of the twin towers.

A table featuring documents and relics from the attack on the Pentagon was set out in memory of Marjorie Champion Salamone, a Defense Department employee who was killed in that suicide attack. Salamone grew up in Pine Mt., and attended Troup High School.

"God Bless Fort Benning" flag. (Dave Bender)
A support group called, "God Bless Fort Benning," hung a commemorative 26-by-32-foot American flag in front on the exhibit's venue at The Cunningham Center. 700 children of service men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan contributed the panels of patriotic messages.

Busloads of high school students from Muscogee County schools attended the events, which included educational displays; community public safety exhibits and demonstrations; videos, artifacts and stories from “Ground Zero” in New York; musical performances. A vigil at 8 p.m. and military fly-over at 8:15 p.m are to close the exhibit, according to a university statement.

Col State 9/11 page.

CSU plans 9/11 memorial events

Columbus State University’s Cunningham Center will be the site for a day-long “September 11 Remembrance Day.”

Opening at 9 a.m., on Tuesday, Sept. 11, the event will feature educational displays; community public safety exhibits and demonstrations; videos, artifacts and stories from “Ground Zero” in New York; musical performances; and a closing vigil at 8 p.m. and military fly-over at 8:15 p.m, according to a university statement. Remembrance events will include:

• Ground Zero artifacts including a 1,700-pound piece of World Trade Center steel, rescue equipment, personalized notes and messages and flags
• Personalized items memorializing 9-11 Pentagon victim Marjorie Champion Salamone, provided by her mother, Lillian Champion of Pine Mountain
• Simultaneous and continuous large-screen video presentations of the “Inside 9-11” documentary; live news feeds from remembrance events in New York City, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania; and a compilation of local news interviews from 2001 with local officials and ground zero rescue workers.
• Hazardous device response demonstrations utilizing both a robot and explosives-sniffing canine
• Musical performances, from 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., by high school ensembles.

Columbus Consolidated Government, In conjunction with the activities at the Cunningham Center, CSU students will stage a brief, “CSU Remembers” vigil at the clock tower, starting at 11:55 a.m. and including a tolling of the tower bell at noon.

Groups expected to take part in the event include Columbus Consolidated Government, the Muscogee County School District, the Muscogee County sheriff’s and fire departments, Homeland Security, God Bless Fort Benning, the Columbus Museum, the Salvation Army, the Community Emergency Response Team, CSU’s Cunningham Center for Leadership Development, and the university’s Student Government Association and Student Activities Council.