PARKERSBURG - To commemorate the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, more than 100 people gathered in front of Parkersburg High School on Tuesday morning.
"Right now, thousands are gathering, remembering the bravery and the sorrow," said Cindy Bullock, sister of Mary Lou Hague, a 1992 Parkersburg High School graduate who died in Tower 2 of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
This ceremony has become an annual event for the school and a way for people to honor the memories of those lost during the attacks on that day. At the time terrorists flew planes into the two towers of the World Trade Center, Hague was working as a research analyst on the 89th floor of the second tower.
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Photo by Jolene Craig
Cindy Bullock, sister of Mary Lou Hague, who died in Tower 2 of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, holds her hand over her heart while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance Tuesday morning in front of Parkersburg High School during the annual Sept. 11 memorial program.
Bullock said her family is thankful that PHS and the people of Parkersburg continue to remember her sister.
"We must use the events of this day to not only remember those lost, but use it as a way to make a difference in others' lives," she encouraged the crowd. "Pay it forward and remember what we have learned from Sept. 11."
The event took place in front of the school's flagpole with the help of the Parkersburg Fire Department, which brought a tower with a large American flag hanging from it in respect.
"This has been a wonderful tradition at our high school and it has truly become a community celebration of the lives lost," said PHS principal Pam Goots.
The ceremony, sponsored by the PHS Student Council, was open to the public.
Hijackers organized and funded through the al-Qaida terrorist network hijacked four airplanes on Sept. 11, 2011. Two of the planes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York City, one into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the fourth crashed in a field in southwest Pennsylvania after passengers retook the plane.
