9/11 memorial ‘remembering the fallen ... reminding us that we are a united nation’

The 21st anniversary of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 were remembered during the annual ceremony held at the California 9/11 Memorial in Clovis on Sunday.

Members from about 20 different central San Joaquin Valley law enforcement and military agencies attended the event which included hundreds in attendance at the memorial on Never Forget Lane.

The ceremony included playing of the audio dispatch reporting of the first plane to hit the twin towers in lower Manhattan, the ringing of a bell to represent the end of call, and the laying of five wreaths at the memorial to recognize New York’s fire department, police department, port authority, military and civilians lost in the attacks.

A recent expansion at the memorial site includes a Flight 93 tribute as well as a sapling from the original Survivor Tree, gifted from the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York. The Survivor Tree is a Callery pear tree, which became known as the Survivor Tree after enduring the terror attacks at ground zero.

Todd Beamer, a Fresno State physical therapy major and walk-on baseball player in 1987-88, died when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Beamer led the passengers in trying to overtake the hijackers.

Also killed in the 9/11 attacks was Navy Lt. Col. Otis Vincent Tolbert Jr., a Lemoore native who played football for Fresno State. He was killed when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.

The Clovis ceremony is about bringing the country together in a united way, said organizer and California 9/11 Memorial board member Jim Stemler, a retired Clovis Fire Department captain.

“Along with remembering the fallen, it’s also reminding us that we are a united nation,” Stemler said.

“We can put our differences apart, whether it’s religious or political, and become one if we choose to.”