McALLEN — “Everyone goes home.”
These words are mounted at the McAllen Fire Department for firefighters to read before leaving the station, reminding of the dangers of their job and encouraging one another to protect the public, and themselves.
As the city of McAllen honored the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the community is reminded of the over 400 first responders who did not return home that day.
The city, along with the rest of the nation, honored the fallen Saturday morning at the McAllen Fire Department during a time that is especially fitting considering the milestone anniversary, and as the U.S. recently pulled out of the war in Afghanistan which was prompted by the terrorist attacks.
“It was the events of 9/11 that led us to Afghanistan,” McAllen Fire Chief Jim Schultz said after the event Saturday. “All politics aside, it is very symbolic this year, on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, that we are not in Afghanistan. … the job has been done.”
For third-year firefighter Aaron Magana, the ceremony served as a symbol for a new chapter in U.S. history.
“We have to keep moving forward and remember those who have gone before us to make the world and our department a better place,” Magana said.
As a husband and new father, Magana said he has a newfound respect for the sacrifices first responders made in dying while protecting others, leaving behind their families.
“The thought of not coming home to my wife and kid is painful,” he said. “At the end of the day I try to make sure that these guys go home to their wives, their families, their kids. And now just having a kid [I realize] that a lot of those men that went in that day, first responders, had children to go back to in 2001.”
During the event, Assistant Fire Chief Juan A. Gloria prayed for the families and victims of 9/11.
The ceremonial ringing of three bells was conducted at the event to represent the end of service for those men and women who lost their lives as first responders.
After a 21 gun salute, followed by the playing of Taps, McAllen District 4 Commissioner Tania Ramirez shared the story of where she was when she learned of the attack on the U.S.
Ramirez said she was in the seventh grade at the time and emphasized that since then, an entire generation has been born who did not live through Sep. 11, 2001.
She encouraged the community to talk to their children about the event so that the memory of those events continues to live on.
Melissa Balderas Romero, Girl Scout leader of troop 250, attended the event with her two children and said she has been attending for years.
Romero’s daughter Sophia said she has not learned much about the events in school and feels that there should be more focus on it.
“Her not knowing much is something that maybe the schools need to reassess because they need to learn about what happened to understand that things can happen,” Romero said.
Saturday morning’s ceremony at the fire station was not the only event the city held commemorating 9/11.
At the American Spire Plaza of Honor, local Boy Scout troops 76 and 260 of McAllen and 1056 and 84 of Mission joined with McAllen city officials and veterans to hold a flag retirement ceremony.
According to federal code, a flag should be retired when it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, preferably by burning.
The Boy Scouts retired over 700 flags Saturday evening.
In ceremonial tradition, the troops cut up one flag stripe by stripe before rendering it into the fire pit.
This disassembly is done to pay respect to each color on the flag and demonstrate its significance.
The red of the flag symbolizes the blood shed by sons and daughters. The white, symbolizes the tears shed by mothers and the blue and white stars symbolize the heavens.
After its disassembling, the veterans and first responders of the community each placed the remaining flags, folded in the customary triangle, into the four fire pits.
For 89-year-old veteran Eugene Ksepka from Weslaco, the ceremony was profound.
Ksepka served 30 years in the Air Force as superintendent of aircraft maintenance in Korea and Vietnam and continues to show his patriotism by collecting tattered flags from his neighbors in his senior community.
“It’s a tough day today [for me] and for all Americans,” he said. “Hopefully, everybody can continue to come together on days like this and forget about politics.”
View Monitor photojournalist Delcia Lopez’s photo gallery of the City of McAllen’s event honoring the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001:
Photo Gallery: 9/11 anniversary prompts somber ceremonies in McAllen
