9/11 21st Anniversary Memorial Ceremony
Fresno City College will commemorate the 21st anniversary of 9/11 at a remembrance ceremony on Friday, September 9 at 9:00am in front of the Veterans Peace Memorial (near the corner of Weldon and College avenues). The community is welcome to attend. Parking is free.
Chief Michael Ott, of the Tulare Fire Department, is this year's keynote speaker. Chief Ott served 21 years in the U.S. Air Force before retiring on December 31, 2021. During the last six months of his military service he worked at the FCC Fire Academy as an unpaid intern in conjunction with the Department of Defense Skillbridge program. The program assists military members transition back to civilian life and workforce. He is now an adjunct instructor at the academy.
The ceremony will include the traditional ringing of the bell for fallen firefighters. While most deaths on 9/11 were civilians, 343 firefighters from the New York City Fire Department lost there lives on that day. The ringing of the bell tradition is a solemn tribute to them.
FCC Fire Academy Director Peter Cacossa, who will emcee the ceremony, says these ceremonies are important to having considering many of our college students may not have been even born when the attack happened. "Each year as we move further away from 2001, it's our job and duty to make sure the younger generation knows what happened. Many of them don't know what we went through."
