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Community Corner

In Photos: 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony

Hundreds of people showed up for the 9/11 remembrance ceremony at the Flight 93 Memorial in Union City.

"They were heroes for doing what they did β€” they saved lives," said Hayward resident David Wade as he walked his children down the row of memorial stones so they could lay a flower at each one, paying tribute to the people who perished as United Airlines Flight 93 crashed outside of Shanksville, PA.

More than 300 people, along with local officials and members of the Union City Police Department and Alameda County Fire Department, showed up for the 9/11 remembrance ceremony at the in Union City on Sunday. Many walked down the row of stones, pausing to reflect on each name engraved, as they attended the ceremony on the 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

During the ceremony, Union City Mayor Mark Green spoke about the "duty of citizenship" and how it applied to from the hijackers.

"They didn't sign up that day on that flight to be self-sacrificing people to prevent a bigger tragedy at the Capitol Building," Green said. "Yet spontaneously, they did the right thing."

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"We need to be looking to each other and inside of ourselves for more examples of this."

Green also recognized the public service officers who sacrificed their lives on Sept. 11 doing their job. "They had a job to do and they did it," Green said.

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Many called what the passengers on Flight 93 did heroic, but California Department of Veterans Affairs deputy secretary Trevor Albertson took it a step further.

"Just because you don't wear a uniform and you don't raise your hand and enlist doesn't mean you're not a warrior," Albertson said. "Those folks made themselves warriors that day."

The National Flight 93 Memorial had its dedication ceremony Sunday as well, but, for some, the real home of the memorial is in the Bay Area.

With a number of the passengers on San Francisco-bound Flight 93 from the Bay Area, Union City resident Ralph Mileham said, "It's extremely important to have (a memorial) in the Bay Area."

The ceremony included messages from project creator and project designer Robert Mowat, both who were unable to attend.

"It is my hope that you take with you an optimism and inspiration from these lives; these stories, once you know them, filled with loving
families, friends and accomplishments great and small," Mowat said in a message delivered by deputy city manager Tony Acosta. "This memorial illustrates the courage of every day people."

Maurice Bohrer of Anderson Bros. & Johnson/Michels Corps., the
company which donated the red granite for the memorials, cited American heroes such as John Henry and John Hancock when speaking of the passengers of Flight 93.

"The monuments we have placed here in their memory stand strong and unshaken just like they did on that plane 10 years ago today," Bohrer said. "The vigilant, the active and the brave have always fought for freedom against oppression."

After the official ceremony was over, many lingered among the red granite stones.

Jaclyn Vertullo, who worked with Flight 93 victim Nicole Miller, spoke to people stopping at her friend's stone, recalling some lighter moments they shared together, such as trying to sneak gum-chewing past their boss at a Chili's in San Jose, where they both worked.Β 

Vertullo was offered a pack of gum by San Lorenzo resident Rosemary Leb, and after laying it at her friend's stone, she said, "Anyone that knew her misses her. She was amazing."

See highlights from the 9/11 Day of Remembrance in the photo gallery above.

Bay City News Service contributed to this report.

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