Events Across SoCal Mark 10th Anniversary Of 9/11
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Dozens of events across Southern California are set to mark the tenth anniversary of one of the darkest days in the nation's history -- the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.
Newly named Los Angeles fire Chief Brian Cummings will participate in a flag-raising ceremony at the department's Museum and Fallen Firefighters Memorial. He will then join Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and police Chief Charlie Beck for the city's official remembrance, starting about 9 a.m. at the Frank Hotchkin Memorial Training Center in Elysian Park.
The ceremony will take place in the shadow of a 23-ton steel column that was part of the World Trade Center's lobby structure. The training center also contains a sculpture, "Towering Memories," that includes the names of the nearly 3,000 people killed.
Villaraigosa is also expected to attend ceremonies at the Simon Wiesenthal Center at 11 a.m., at USC at 12:30 p.m. and at North Hollywood Park at 5 p.m.
In Manhattan Beach, a ceremony starting at 8 a.m. will feature the Manhattan Beach Middle School Madrigal Singers & String Ensemble, a bagpiper and the MBPD/MBFD Honor Guard.
The Glendale Galleria will host a "9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance," including a breakfast for off-duty police officers and firefighters.
The First Congregational Church of Long Beach will hold a special service including poetry and choral anthems written by church members, and a release of "peace doves." The service will be held under more than 3,900 folded paper cranes that members of the church have folded and hung for the past three years to remember the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
Pasadena officials will hold a ceremony that will include the unveiling of a memorial sign along New York Drive. The Pasadena City College Tournament of Roses marching band will perform at the event, which will also include a flyover of four Marine Corps F-18s.
At 7 p.m. in Sherman Oaks, members of the LAFD will take part in a procession from the Sherman Oaks Galleria to Fire Station 88, which is home to a 750-pound piece of the World Trade Center and a 100-pound piece of limestone from the Pentagon.
Carson officials will hold a candlelight vigil at 7 p.m. The program will also include patriotic music, hymns and guest speakers.
In Beverly Hills, officials will dedicate a 9/11 Memorial Garden, which features an 1,800-pound steel beam from the World Trade Center. Bradley Burlingame, whose brother Charles "Chick" Burlingame was the pilot of American Airlines Flight 77, which was hijacked and crashed by terrorists into the Pentagon, is expected to speak at an afternoon dedication ceremony.
In Malibu, Pepperdine University will hold several events, including a reading of the victims' names at Alumni Park and a screening of the film "United 93" and an appearance by actor Christian Clemenson, who portrayed alumnus Tom Burnett, one of the heroes who fought back against the terrorists aboard the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania. Burnett's widow is also among those expected to attend.
Burbank, Santa Monica, Long Beach and Monterey Park are also among the cities with ceremonies planned.
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