Today marks the 18th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US. Events are being held nationwide to remember thousands of lives that were lost that tragic day on which a pair of planes crashed into the World Trade Center in up NYC, a third crashed into the Pentagon in Washington DC and a fourth crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The attacks were orchestrated by Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda.
Denise Downer-McKinney, Chief of the Rome Police Department, attests that she remembers 9/11 as if it were yesterday. She adds that so many lives were lost, from civilians to law enforcement officers and first responders. And the loss of lives due to 9/11-related illnesses has continued in the years since.
There is a whole generation that had yet to be born at the time of the attacks; Downer-McKinney asserts that it is important to educate these youngsters on what happened that terrible day.
Tragedy struck yet again for Downer-McKinney as her mother passed away on the day after the 9/11 attacks.
The Rome-Floyd County Fire Department has scheduled a ceremony for this morning at the new Firefighters Memorial Plaza by City Hall to mark the 18th anniversary of 9/11.