UCM to Observe Patriot Day With Ceremony on Sept. 11

The University of Central Missouri (UCM) will honor those who lost their lives in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks with the Patriot Day Moment of Silence event at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 11 at the UCM quadrangle.

 

The observance, which is expected to last about 15 minutes, is coordinated by the UCM Office of Military and Veterans Services in cooperation with the Warrensburg Fire Department and UCM’s Army ROTC Fighting Mules Battalion. 

 

Courtney Swoboda, director of military and veterans services, and a UCM service member student will offer brief remarks to open the ceremony. The UCM Army ROTC flag detail will lower the flag to half-staff, followed by a moment of silence. To close out the event, the Warrensburg Fire Department will conduct the ringing of the bell ceremony.

In addition to the remembrance event, the quadrangle will be filled with 2,977 small American flags in memory of the lives lost during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the hijacking and crash of a passenger airplane in a Pennsylvania field. 

The flags were placed Friday, Sept. 6 by Military and Veterans Services staff with the help of the UCM Army ROTC Fighting Mules Battalion and DET 440 Air Force ROTC cadets. The flags will remain through Wednesday evening, Sept. 11.

Members of the campus community and the public are welcome to attend the event, which UCM hosts annually to remember those who died in the attacks and to honor the heroes who served bravely.

 

In the event of inclement weather, the ceremony will be in the Ward Edwards Building atrium.

University of Central Missouri ROTC Fighting Mules Battalion and DET 440 Air Force ROTC cadets, along with staff and students from the Military and Veterans Success Center, place 2,977 flags on the quadrangle honoring each individual who perished during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.