Rio Rancho will commemorate the 24th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks with two memorial events, a flag placement ceremony and an evening memorial service.
Volunteers will gather at 6:45 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9, at Vista Verde Memorial Park in Rio Rancho to place flags honoring all 2,996 lives lost in the attacks on New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania. The flag placement will take place at Vista Verde Memorial Park, located at 4310 Sara Road.
A “Never Forget Memorial Service” will follow on Thursday, Sept. 11, at 6 p.m. at the same location.
The events continue Rio Rancho’s annual tradition of remembering the victims and first responders who died in the attacks. Last year, dozens of people attended the city’s 23rd anniversary ceremony, where Mayor Gregg Hull and volunteers planted American flags for each victim.
“It is very important to me that we keep the memory of what happened alive,” Hull said at last year’s ceremony. “It really speaks to Rio Rancho’s commitment to keeping this memory alive and making sure that we never forget that all these people died on that day.”
Vista Verde Memorial Park features a Veterans Monument Park and a dedicated 9/11 memorial. Rio Rancho Fire and Rescue Chief James DeFillippo is expected to participate in the memorial service, continuing the department’s tradition of honoring the 343 firefighters who died in the World Trade Center attacks.
Both events are open to the public.
The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks killed 2,977 people at the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, when United Flight 93 crashed during an attempted hijacking.