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‘May we never forget’

Marshall holds memorial program on 9/11 anniversary

By Deb Gau 3 min read

MARSHALL -- Heidi Fier remembered exactly where she was when she first learned about the terror attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. She was at South Dakota State University, where she was serving as the commandant of cadets at the university's Air Force ROTC detachment.

"I was in the ROTC building, surrounded by cadets that were just starting that day," she said. "At first, it sounded and looked just like a tragic accident - a plane crashed into a building, you know, something terrible must have happened when it did that. But then the second plane struck, and it was the realization that our country was under attack."

The legacy of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was something Fier said she still sees 25 years later in her work as Lyon County Veterans Services Officer.

"For those who lived through it, September 11 remains seared in our memories," she said.

Marshall held a 9/11 memorial ceremony Friday morning. Area residents, including classes of local schoolchildren, gathered around the World Trade Center beam at the center of Memorial Park. The program included music, the hanging of a memorial wreath on the beam, and guest speakers. Law enforcement officers and firefighters from communities including Marshall, Ghent, Minneota, Cottonwood and Taunton were also present at the ceremony.

Fier recalled watching the events of 9/11 unfold on television, along with the rest of the nation.

"Around me were young men and women, some barely out of high school, that were preparing for a future service in uniform. I remember looking at their faces," she said. "There was confusion. They were scared. There was shock on all of us."

Fier said in those moments, everyone understood that their path going forward might be different than what they expected.

Fier said the legacy of 9/11 shows today in many ways, like the tighter levels of security at airports. After the terror attacks, many people also followed a call to serve in the military.

"Our military and veteran communities continued to serve," she said. "They had a heavy burden through long years, re-deployments, and came home with visible and invisible wounds."

Fier said it was important not just to remember the horror of the day.

"We also remember the courage and the compassion that followed. Firefighters, police officers and other first responders - they ran toward that danger without a thought," she said. "Oridnary citizens stepped up and helped strangers, opened their homes, gave blood, gathered money and looked for ways to serve in their communities that they could."

"As we mark 25 years, I invite each of you to ask, what kind of patriotism do we want to pass on to younger generations?" Fier said. "Let it be a patriotism defined less by what we oppose, and more by what we build together. A patriotism that honors sacrifice by strengthening communities and serving one another, and coming together as we did in those days after."

Fier called for a moment of silence in memory of the 2,977 people killed on Sept. 11, 2001, as well as all those who have continued to carry the burdens and live with the losses of that day.

"May we never forget what happened on September 11, and may we never forget how we chose to go forward in the days that followed," she said.

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