As the wind whipped the American flag in front of City Hall back and forth, almost tipping the flagpole over, the crowd audibly winced seeing the flag so close to the ground.
An honor guard quickly responded and held the flagpole to keep it upright, and Gainesville’s annual 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony continued without further interruptions.
Mayor Harvey Ward said he wanted to allow “introspection” for residents, first responders and all those who attended the ceremony marking 23 years since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
In the U.S., Sept. 11 is observed as Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance.
“Remember where you were, but be certain of where you are today,” Ward said.
The city of Gainesville honored the victims of the attacks in a ceremony that lasted about an hour in the City Hall courtyard Wednesday morning at 8:35.
After the mayor’s opening remarks, the Rev. Graham Glover of Abiding Savior Lutheran Church and School led the crowd in prayer.
Glover said he joined the U.S. Army in 2008 because of the events that unfolded on 9/11.
“This day changed my life,” Glover said.
Then, the audience of about 100 people stood as the Gainesville Fire Rescue and Gainesville Police Department’s joint honor guard presented the colors before leading the Pledge of Allegiance.
Ward followed by asking for a minute of silence at 8:46 a.m., the time when the first tower at the World Trade Center in New York was struck, to remember the lives lost.
Alachua County Sheriff Emery Gainey then shared his personal testimony.
“Having a little interest in planes, I immediately recognized it was a large plane,” Gainey said. “And [I] immediately came to the conclusion that [it] could not have been an accident.”
Congregation B’nai Israel’s Rabbi David Kaiman, who was in Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001, told the story of what he had thought to be a normal day of work in New York City and how quickly it turned into something he could’ve never imagined.
“We stood on the corners in New York City, looking up at the towers and ambulances and fire trucks that were rushing from all quarters of the city towards that burning building and towards what we already knew was a place of death and destruction.”
Kaiman urged the crowd to live in hope and said he believed peace was possible.
The second moment of silence was at 9:03 a.m. the moment when the second plane hit the second tower.
Then, Gainesville Police Chief Nelson Moya told not a story from 23 years ago but from earlier in the day when he asked his 5-year-old daughter on the way to school if she knew why she was wearing her red, white and blue dress.
“It brings me great honor, although painful, to now have done my civic duty today to make sure that the next generations know and never forget,” Moya said.
Gainesville Fire Rescue Chief Joe Dixon also recalled how the Gainesville community united with patriotism in response to 9/11.
Bruce Frendahl, 71, attended the ceremony dressed head-to-toe in patriotic gear.
“I’m trying to make sure that people remember this, so that it doesn't happen again,” the Gainesville resident and University of Florida alum said when asked why he attended Wednesday.
He even said that he wrote a poem which he was hoping to read for the crowd entitled “Terror Town.” It recounted the terrible reality so many Americans faced during and after 9/11.
Ward closed the ceremony with an official proclamation of Patriot Day and asked residents “to observe this day with acts of kindness, generosity and service.”