Hundreds of people gathered Friday morning at the Cumberland County Fire Department’s memorial at the county’s 9-11 memorial to honor the victims on the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Several firefighters and first responders from both Crossville and Cumberland County attended the event that began at 7:30 a.m.
The Cumberland County High School JROTC students raised the flag and Cumberland County Fire Department Chaplain Randall Dye led a prayer and thanked members of the Crossville and Cumberland County Fire Departments and emergency first responders.
Cumberland County Fire Chief Trevor Kerley led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Derek Carter of the Cumberland County Fire Department sang the Star Spangled Banner with all who attended.
Kyle Coleman offered a prayer and a timeline of the events on Sept. 11, 2001.
Kerley then thanked the public and invited anyone to speak.
There was a moment of silence at 7:46 a.m. to honor all the lives lost that day.
Cumberland County Mayor Allen Foster read the plaque that is on display at the memorial and offered remarks about the day. Retired Assistant Cumberland County Fire Chief John Hall wrote the inscription that is on the plaque in front of the display. Hall went to New York City one week after the attack and volunteered.
Cumberland County resident Dotty Verch, formerly of Albany, NY, made a presentation of two large, framed pictures to the Cumberland County Fire Department. One is the famous picture of New York firefighters raising the American flag, signed by all of those in the picture. The second picture is of the American Flag and all of the names of the victims written in gold. The pictures will be hung in the office of the Cumberland County Fire Department on Livingston Road.
A memorial bell was tolled by Nathan Wattenbarger of the Cumberland County Fire Department, honoring the loss of the 9-11 victims.
Jessica McCoy then sang God Bless America and Coleman gave a closing prayer.
Kerley invited the public to look at the memorial, which includes an 11-foot tall girder from the World Trade Center.
Tennessee was one of eight states that received steel from the World Trade Center. Cumberland County was chosen to receive the piece after the late Andrew Benson, a Cumberland County volunteer firefighter and employee of Tennessee Valley Authority, told retired Cumberland County Fire Chief and EMS Director Jeff Dodson about the opportunity to bring the piece of steel to Cumberland County.
He got the blessing from Dodson and Cumberland County and applied for the piece of steel.
Cumberland County has one of four 9-11 Memorials in Tennessee.
Benson was originally from New York and served in the U.S. Navy. He personally knew some of the victims in the Sept. 11 attacks.
The city of Crossville, Cumberland County and residents donated funds, time and resources for the project.
Architects with Upland Design Group donated their time designing the memorial for the steel that is now on permanent display for the community to see.
The memorial is in the shape of the Pentagon and has a wall on the southern portion constructed from Crab Orchard stone with stone that was left over from construction of the Art Circle Public Library. From left to right the wall contains the numbers of the flights that were hijacked by the terrorists in the order they were hijacked.
The center of the memorial contains the piece of steel from the World Trade Center that stands vertical with stepping stones leading up to the piece.
The Cumberland County 9-11 memorial is adjacent to the Cumberland County Fire Department’s main station at 1391 Livingston Road.
The memorial site is open to the public.