17th Annual Missoula ‘Never Forget’ Ceremony to Occur in Rose Park on 9/11
Every year, Missoulian’s gather on September 11th for the Never Forget ceremony. Organizer Susan Campbell Reneau explains what it’s all about.
"The Never Forget Service is held at the Rose Memorial Garden Park in Missoula," Reneau said. We've been doing this, believe it or not, for 17 years, and we do this service at seven o'clock at night, and we pay tribute to the men, women and children tha were killed by terrorists on September 11, 2001. It's hard to believe that we are almost up to the 20th anniversary of this."
Thousands of flags will be planted in the ground at the Rose Memorial Garden Park starting at 6:00 p.m. to memorialize the 2,977 victims of the September 11th attack. Reneau says that unlike past years, the flags will be removed the same evening.
"Over the years, we have had the flags stay out in the park for a length of time to flutter in the wind, but unfortunately people have come by and picked them up so we like to put them out and then take them away, but the flags will be used again, they are then given out during the parade on Homecoming weekend."
Reneau says Honor guards from the University of Montana ROTC, the Civil Air Patrol, The American Legion, The Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Knights of Columbus will be present at the ceremony.