9/11 victims remembered at 12th Annual Healing Field in Tempe

TEMPE –About 3,000 American flags were put on display Thursday at Tempe Beach Park to honor the victims of the 9/11 terror attacks.

Alice Hoekstra came to the 12th Annual Healing Field Thursday morning, holding a ribbon bearing the name of a 3-year-old girl who died on one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center.

“My brother was in the Pentagon on the day of the attack but managed to get out just before the plane hit. He lost a lot of friends in New York, Pennsylvania and the Pentagon,” she said.

“This is emotional for everybody. I like to think I’m doing the right thing.”

That right thing was helping attach ribbons and name cards for each victim on the flag poles.

Meg Farland’s visited the Healing Field for the first time Thursday after moving to the Valley about three months ago.

“This display is spectacular. The thing that really got me was watching the planes from Sky Harbor fly over us. It’s very special being here and reading these cards about the victims,” Farland said.

A ceremony will be held Friday morning at 6:46 a.m., and a candlelight vigil with music, prayer and guest speakers will occur Friday evening.

In addition to the ceremonies on Friday, a community Freedom Concert will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. It will feature American trumpeter Jesse McGuire, a cappella group MC6, the Tempe High School Band and Tempe choirs from Connolly, Fees and Gililland middle schools.

Related

Fauci’s decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment tees up a legal debate and a contempt voteAuthorities identify victims, suspect killed in stabbing that led to Gilbert Police shootingHome where astronaut Neil Armstrong’s boyhood dreams of flying took off is for saleTupac Shakur was killed in Las Vegas in 1996. Here’s who was there that nightDuane ‘Keffe D’ Davis, charged with organizing the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur, is on trial28 indicted in Arizona gun trafficking ring that funneled AK-style rifles toward Mexico