In the same place Presque Isle residents gathered to mourn the lives lost in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks a quarter century ago, more than a hundred people returned Friday morning to remember that day and the events long burned into collective memory.
They came from different sects of the community: faculty, staff, students, first responders, locals, outsiders — including more than a dozen members of a Maine chapter of the Model T Ford Club of America, in town for the club’s annual statewide tour.
But under an American flag whipping in the wind at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, they stood with the shared purpose of reflection.
University President Ray Rice recalled how he learned of the attacks on the campus 25 years earlier, and the mutual shock that came after.
“In the days that followed, this community gathered at this flagpole, as communities did all across the country, not because we knew what to say, but because we knew we needed to stand together while we searched for those words,” Rice said.
Most of the school’s students were not yet born in September 2001. Both Rice and Presque Isle City Manager Sonja Eyler, who also spoke at the event, urged them to look back on the moment and what its aftermath has taught the country.
Members of the community (left) walk around the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s campus in remembrance of the 9/11 attacks. Presque Isle City Manager Sonja Eyler (top right) speaks to the gathered crowd. A color guard (bottom right) made up of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and Aroostook County sheriff’s deputies stands during the national anthem. Credit: Cameron Levasseur / BDN
“Each generation must learn not only what happened, but also what the day asks of us,” Eyler said. “It asks us to remember that peace is precious. It asks us not to take safety, freedom, or one another for granted. It asks us to recognize the sacrifice that is made by those who serve our communities … and it asks us to understand that unity is not something we should rediscover only in times of tragedy. It is something we must practice every day.”
After a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., the time the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center, Presque Isle’s police and fire chiefs led the assembled group on a memorial remembrance walk, which snaked through the campus and back to the flagpole.
“That walk is a simple act, but it carries meaning,” Eyler said. “We will move forward together while carrying the memory of those who can no longer walk beside us. As we do, I hope we reflect not only on the lives lost, but also how we choose to live.”