This year’s 9/11 Remembrance was organized by the Snowflake Fire Department, and Chief Pat Hancock paid tribute to Fred Carnahan for the time and effort he put into organizing this event. A plaque was presented to Carnahan, and was accepted by Snowflake Town Manager Paul Watson and Taylor Town Manager Gus Lundberg.
In 2002 Ruth and Fred Carnahan wanted to make sure that the events of Sept. 11, 2001, would not be forgotten in Snowflake and Taylor, so they organized the 9/11 Remembrance, which was held in front of their home just north of Ninth Street in Snowflake for several years.
They invited police, fire and EMS personnel, honoring them for their service. The flag was raised on the flagpole in front of their house, a bagpiper played Amazing Grace, there was a speaker and, of course, the Siren Salute. It was a wonderful tribute paid to emergency services personnel.
Each year the Remembrance got bigger and bigger, so they asked if it could be held at the fire departments, alternating between Snowflake and Taylor.
This was the first year that the Carnahans didn’t organize the 9/11 Remembrance, but many thanks are owed to them for the service they provided to the community for the past 12 years.
Chief Hancock emceed the program. The Snowflake-Taylor American Legion posted the colors and raised four flags to half-staff, paying tribute to the four hijacked airplanes.
The audience said the Pledge of Allegiance and sang the National Anthem. There was a recording of bagpipes playing Amazing Grace while Police Sgt. Dan Rush, Firefighter Clifford Maxwell and EMT Karl Klefsky placed flowers in an empty boot and an American flag at a cross made by Daniel Prestwich. Then the Siren Salute sounded for a minute, 15 seconds for each of the four planes that were hijacked on Sept. 11, 2001.
The keynote speaker was Snowflake Councilman Kerry Ballard, who noted that he remembered Tuesday morning, Sept. 11, 2001 very well. He got up early to watch the local news and saw a picture of the North Tower of the World Trade Center with a gaping, burning hole. He saw the second plane hit the south tower and it brought it all home.
“How could that happen to the United States of America?” he asked himself. “I saw emergency services people go in the building; many would never return.
“It’s a sobering thought… all the people that gave their lives.”
Ballard said that the same is true for emergency services men and women in Snowflake and Taylor. “These people would give their lives,” he remarked.
The councilman noted that he always wanted to be a firefighter; three of his great uncles, an uncle and his father had all served with on the fire department.
Back in those days they would take their own vehicle to a fire. They didn’t have the equipment that our firefighters have today, but Ballard remembers one fireman putting on a small mask and running into a home where smoke was coming out the windows and doors. After a while he came out with a man.
That kind of bravery is still shown in our community and Ballard paid tribute to our local emergency services personnel.
Ballard told those attending that parents and grandparents should talk more about the flag with their families, and recalled that during his early years in school each classroom always had a flag, noting, “They still do that.”
He also talked about George Washington, the first of our 44 presidents, and said that the father of our country wanted to accomplish two things, make our nation strong and expand to the west. He accomplished both.
“We have a great country and it will remain great as long as we’re a great people,” he said, encouraging everyone to always remember Sept. 11.
The Snowflake High School Band played a medley of patriotic songs.
Assistant Chief Dale Call said that as he designed the program for the day, he reflected on the events of Sept. 11, 2001. The cover included a picture of flags and a headstone, and these words from the Constitution, “We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor.”
Inside Call typed the words, “We will not forget” with a picture of a Marine saluting a flag, which reflects honor, truth and justice. A picture of the World Trade Center Twin Towers prior to Sept. 11, 2001, represented the economic force America is in the world. The picture of four planes recalled the four planes that were hijacked that day.
The back of the program included the words to the Star Spangled Banner, because we are a great country, and to Amazing Grace to remind us that God is with us. There were pictures of those who serve, including policemen, firemen and emergency services personnel.
Call said as he made the program he couldn’t get the planes out of his mind, and how many lives were saved, particularly by those on Flight 93. He didn’t know if all of those on the plane were American, but considered them so “because of the values they had, because of the courage they had.”
“They stood up and protected people,” said Call, noting that they didn’t have the protective equipment. “They had nothing but conviction, nothing but their courage and they faced that.”
He referred to the words of the Constitution on the program cover and said, “They sealed those words with their blood and we’ll never know the countless lives they saved.”
