Lansing residents gathered at Wentworth Park, 100 N. Grand Ave., in Lansing for a memorial honoring the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. Sunday was the tenth anniversary of the attacks, which killed about 3,000 people and left the country shocked and scared.
Emotions ran high Sunday morning as people gathered around an American flag in downtown Lansing’s Wentworth Park to mark the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
More than 100 people gathered somberly in the park, 100 N. Grand Ave., to remember the nearly 3,000 lives that were lost 10 years ago, including 21 Michigan residents.
Men and women in armed uniform stood saluting the American flag, which was hung in front of the crowd by a crane, and several local fire department officials spoke about their memory of 9/11.
Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero said the Lansing Fire Department puts together a memorial to mark the anniversary every year, and he has been involved with every one.
Bernero said 9/11 was to young people what the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy were to people in the 1960s.
The sense of security and innocence that was lost after the Kennedys were shot was similar to the days immediately following Sept. 11, he said.
“For those who didn’t have fresh memories of those tragedies, this tragedy changed us,” Bernero said. “It did, in a sense, steal something from us. We had a sense, maybe it was an illusion, but we had a sense … that those things just didn’t happen, couldn’t happen here. We were too strong.”
Lansing resident Felma White was a casino manager in Louisiana 10 years ago. The casino was crowded that day, White said, and when the first plane hit, everyone was shocked but continued working.
“When the second plane hit, we all went screaming,” she said.
White said her panic only grew larger when her husband called to tell her he was not allowed to leave his workplace because it had been locked down.
“He couldn’t come home, and it was just horrible,” she said. “As a matter of fact, it was one of the worst days of my life.”
White, like many of the memorial attendees, was visibly shaken by the memory of the attacks and declined to comment further.
Retired Col. Terry Fobbs has seen the effects of 9/11 firsthand, as he has spent years serving overseas in the U.S. Army helping track down potential links to al-Qaida. He said even though Osama bin Laden was killed this year, al-Qaida is still a threat and the U.S. needs to remain vigilant.
“We’ve come a long way from the days of death and confusion of ten years ago, but we can’t let it pass as just another day,” Fobbs said.
Bernero said speaking at the memorial was difficult, but it was necessary to have a ceremony to remember the victims of the attacks.
“I always agonize the night before about what will I say,” Bernero said. “What could I possibly say that will be anywhere near appropriate to the occasion? (But) it’s an honor to do it. It’s important to do and to stand united.”
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