Although 880 miles away from the epicenter, Metro Atlantans were as engaged as anyone on the 10th year anniversary of the terrorism attacks that shook the nation to its core with numbing jet highjackings and unthinkable destruction. More than two dozen ceremonies were held throughout the region Sunday, enabling people to mourn and let others know how deeply affected Georgians were by the loss of life and threat to everyone's livelihood.
***
No 9/11 remembrance for metro Atlanta was more poignant than the police motorcycle and fire truck escort that passed under crossed ladders and a huge American flag on Sunday at 8:22 a.m. and delivered a piece of steel recovered from the World Trade Center twin towers to the DeKalb County Public Safety Headquarters.
Before a hushed crowd, police officer Sally Miller was among the four-person detail -- two DeKalb officers, a firefighter and a Marine -- entrusted with placing the steel at the sculpture of the wings of a phoenix, the mythical bird that rose from the ashes. She and the Marine in front of her struggled momentarily to get a better grip on the terrorism artifact.
Miller later said the steel was almost too heavy to carry, but she was honored to be involved. She recalled how she was just 18 and entering college when the highjacked planes slammed into the towers in New York and Pentagon in Washington, and crashed into a Pennsylvania field.
An Atlanta Police Department member played "Goin' Home" on the bagpipes while people held up cameras and cell phones to document the moment. Speakers told the diverse crowd of people dressed in suits and others in shorts and flip-flops how the terrorist attacks had united people with many differences.
"[It was] a chain of events that changed forever the heart and face of the nation,” DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis said. “Even in our darkest hours, we put our trust in God. It did not destroy our collective spirit.”
With the steel in place, at almost the exact time the first plane crashed into the North Tower, a bagpipe rendition of "Amazing Grace" faded out as a command was given for officers engage in a 21-gun salute.
***
In the Temple on Peachtree Street in Midtown, more than 100 people waited to hear a woman blow a shofar, offering a trumpet-like sound from an animal horn used in Jewish ceremony. The custom dated back to ancient Israel and was used by watchmen when a city was under attack. At 8:46 a.m., it was used to commemorate Sunday's 9/11 activities.
Rabbi Peter Berg said that while no one knew for certain how many Jews were killed that day, because there was no official record-keeping of the victims' religions, the most reliable estimate was 400. Yet he said Sunday's mourning was for all who died.
"As individuals and as a community, let us struggle to understand an act which exceeds our capacity to comprehend," Berg said after the sound faded. "An act beyond human dimension."
***
Sunday's 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. services at the First Baptist Church of Atlanta, usually polished ceremonies headed up by Dr. Charles Stanley, attended by 2,600 people and broadcast worldwide on TV, radio and the Internet, were different than most.
With Stanley in New York to minister to Salvation Army 9/11 workers, the Sunday services, guest minister Tim LaHaye of San Diego presided and church goers watched a video teleconferencing with Cheryl McGuiness from Odessa, Texas. Her husband, Tom McGuiness, was the pilot of the plane that hit the North Tower.
Then the mother of two young children, she asked God, "What do you want me to do? My life is a mess." The answer, she said, was to forgive. "Out of the ashes of that day," she said, she has a new life, including a new husband. Her daughter Jennifer, 26, is married and working. Her son, Tommy, is 24 and working as an airline pilot for American Eagle.
"We remember our loved ones, McGuiness said, "but are able to go forward into a new life that God planned for us all along."
***
At the Peachtree Christian Church at Pershing Point, Atlanta police officers, firefighters, paramedics and emergency medical technicians, and state troopers gathered inside the sanctuary for a morning service to honor them and what they do.
At 11:01 a.m., Dan Bray played "Scotland the Brave" on his bagpipe to escort the Georgia State Patrol honor guard to the front of the church. Everyone prayed, recited the Pledge of Allegience and sang the national anthem. Bray played "God Bless America" as he led the honor guard from the sanctuary.
“We remember the confusion, the terror and the great loss of life,” the Rev. Barry McCarty said. “We offer thanksgiving for all the first responders. We thank you for them and for their selfless courage.”
***
Atlanta's Shelby and Georgia White, whose son, Adam, died in the World Trade Center terrorist attacks, didn't go to New York this year on 9/11 as they had in the past. They commemorated the day in the metro area.
On Sunday morning, they attended a 9/11 sculpture dedication at the DeKalb County fire and police headquarters. They next traveled to a Kennesaw battlefield ceremony to hear people read the names of those who perished in the terror attacks. At 12:43 p.m., they watched New York’s ground zero ceremony on TV from home, waiting to hear Adam's name read aloud again.
The Whites began the solemn weekend on Saturday by honoring their son with their annual bike ride, 36 miles on the Silver Comet Trail. They ended it Sunday by attending a ceremony near Chastain Park for Ryan Means, who died of cancer. He was one of Adam's best friends. When Adam died in the World Trade Center towers, Means joined the armed services.
“So he and Adam are still together after all these years,” Georgia White said.
***
Sean Gray, a Cobb County firefighter, was among 150 of his colleagues and others who participated in a 9/11 stair climb at the Riverwood 100 building near the Cumberland Mall. Gray, 39, climbed the stairwell of the 22-story building five times, equaling the 110 floors in a World Trade Center tower. He wore full gear and it took him 38 minutes.
He dedicated his climb to firefighter Terry Farrell, who died in the World Trade Center destruction. He wore Farrell’s picture around his neck and spoke to Farrell's brother before the climb.
“Those guys never thought they would die that day," Gray said. "They just went up there doing their jobs. And we would do the same if it ever happened in Cobb County.”
***
It was business as usual on Sunday at Jackson-Hartsfield International Airport, which was full of travelers and largely bereft of any physical 9/11 reminders, outside of an ATM machine near the Delta check-in area that had the following message on its screen: A time to reflect. We honor the memory of those who lost their lives on September 11.
That's not to say the significance of the day was ignored by those moving through the airport. When a group of soldiers disembarked from an AirTran flight from Los Angeles, nearly everyone in that section of Concourse C broke applauded, repeating a scene offered before, only more vigorously.
Solders in camouflage uniforms passed unnoticed through the airport atrium until four Girl Scouts shouted, “Thank you! We love you!”
***
On a Sunday afternoon AirTran flight from Atlanta to Atlantic City, N.J., the flight attendant asked people in the emergency rows to wear a sticker that said, "We remember," in honor of the flight attendants who lost their lives on 9/11. Asked only the emergency row passengers were asked to wear them, the attendant said, "Because you're my backup team.'
***
Nancy McDaniel, a Sandy Springs Christian Church member, wanted people to treat the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks with a peaceful approach rather than anger. The East Cobb County woman got her wish.
On Sunday, 275 Christians, Jews and Muslims met at McDaniel's church for an interfaith service and potluck lunch, a day after they started renovating a vacant foreclosed home together for some family in need.
“We don’t want today to be about looking back in a sad, finger-pointing way; we want today to be about coming together,” McDaniel said.
And so it was. When church greeter Martha Dalton needed a marker for name tags, Saeed Raees, a man of Muslim faith, rushed to find one for her. “We want to convey the message that we are feeling the same pain, the same loss, and we’re all part of the same society,” Raees said.
***
At Sandy Springs Christian Church, The Rev. Phil Price told the people gathered before him how after the Sept. 11 attacks he had sat down on a plane beside a man dressed in Muslim clothing, watched him pull out a small book, silently recite prayers and act really nervous.
All kinds of thoughts ran through Price’s head: Is this the next shoe-bomber? What am I going to do? What do I do if he reaches for his shoes?
“So I said to him, ‘My name is Phil, are you OK?'” Price said. “His face broke out in a smile and he explained he gets nervous flying and that prayer helps.”
Price learned a lesson about his own fears and prejudices that day, noting, “As we find new ways of being together, we’ll find new hope for the planet.”
***
In Afghanistan, at Forward Operating Base Shank in Pul-e-Alam in Logar Provence, Army National Guard soldiers turned silent and saluted as a three-person detail lowered American and Georgia flags that few side by side.
Among them was Master Sergeant Dale Simpson, 52, normally a Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Department sergeant who was attached to the 4th Brigade 10th Mountain Division Task Force Patriot. He was struck by the youthfulness of his fellow soldiers, some barely out of grade school ten years earlier when the terror took place.
The guardsmen from Georgia also took part in a full-marathon, half-marathon and 5-kilometer running events before sharing in a Southern-style barbecue. They scrambled over the rocky terrain at 6,400 above sea level in temperatures approaching 90 degrees, struggled to catch their breath. They later indulged on ribs, steaks, chicken and sausage cooked in a 55-gallon drum smoker.
****
Muzaffar Sahib Zada tucked a stack of brochures under his arm and crouched down to sign the names of his family on a white poster board during a Saturday night memorial ceremony in Suwanee Town Center Park.
Zada was among the hundreds who came to hear stories from people whose lives were touched by the 9/11 tragedy and watch the unveiling of a 1,638-pound steel beam from one of the World Trade Center towers. Zada also was there drumming up support for Muslims for Life, a nationwide campaign to collect 10,000 units of blood and save 30,000 lives in honor of those who died on that day.
"We denounce terrorism," said Zada, native Pakistani who lives in Suwanee and works in computer information systems at NCR. "It is not just America, but the rest of the world that wants to stop this. The message of Islam is peace."
***
The first 9/11 Victory Run drew 500 participants, many decked out in patriotic attire, began at Chastain Park and ended at the Ryan P. Means American Legion hut. The race was created to honor those who enlisted in the military following 9/11. Runners were serenaded by the sounds of the Neil Young song "Keep On Rocking in the Free World," and some wore those words on the back of T-shirts.
Proceeds of the run were directed to the American Legion hut. Means, whose friend Adam White was killed in the twin towers, had his friend's initials "AW" tattooed over his kidney and enlisted in the Army at 30. He was deployed to Iraq in January 2009 and after six months of service was diagnosed with cancer. He returned to the U.S. and died in New York City after cancer surgery.
Staff writers Rhonda Cook, Melissa Ruggieri, Craig Schneider, Andria Simmons and Rachel Tobin, and photographer Curtis Compton contributed to this article.
About the Author
