Lexington ceremonies remember 9/11’s fallen

LEXINGTON, Ky (WTVQ)- The city of Lexington honored those who made the ultimate sacrifice on 9/11/01 through several events on Monday.

“Not only was it an attack on those three buildings and those planes, but it was an attack to all of us who carry ourselves high as Americans who love this great country,” says Lt. Col. Alan Overmyer, the department chair for the Army ROTC at UK.

The day began on campus, where the ROTC laid flags for each life lost on the planes, in the Twin Towers, at the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania.

“It’s our way of paying it forward and paying tribute to those memories of those who fell on that day and everyone who gave their lives, respond to the cries for help and rush to the sounds to help somebody else,” says Overmyer.

Later, first responders with Lexington fire and police held a wreath laying ceremony at the Police and Fire Memorial on Main Street. The ceremony included the playing of taps, a salute, and stories about how 9/11 inspired people to join the fire and police departments.

Organizers say while 9/11 is a very somber day, it changed the way first responders do their jobs.

“We learned from a lot of things, we learned a lot from 9/11. And our country is better prepared because of that. The fire department is better prepared. And that is important too. We also talk about how sad of a day it was, but there is a lot of good things that came out of that,” says Lt. Chris MacFarlane of the Lexington Fire Department MacFarlane also serves as President of the Fraternal Order of Firefighters.

Finally, at Halligans, firefighters and police from all over the state came together to read the names of every firefighter killed when they rushed to save lives.

“When you take that first step up the stairs, your thought isn’t ‘I’m not going to make it out.’ your thought is we’re going to save a lot of people, we’re going to have a good day. We’re going to complete this mission. They knew the possibilities, of course, and we all do. But when they took that first step, it was nothing short of “we’re going to save some people,” says Otis Cveticanin, the owner of Halligans and a retired firefighter.

Efforts to make sure we never forget those true American heroes.

“We must never forget because that’s whats going to continue to bring us together so that those events will hopefully never happen again,” says Overmyer.

There were also events in Somerset, Ashland, and Richmond.

Lexington’s 9/11 events will wrap up at 7 p.m. with the annual 9/11 Memorial Stairclimb at Kroger Field. You can register here.