The details
Grapevine High School’s wrestling team honored first responders with the sixth annual 9/11 tribute climb.
The wrestling team ran with veterans and first responders from Grapevine and Colleyville at Mustang-Panther Stadium, according to a news release from Grapevine-Colleyville ISD. They climbed 1,980 steps to simulate the 110 flights of stairs that first responders climbed inside the twin towers, according to the release.
Put in perspective
The city of Grapevine held its annual Day of Remembrance Ceremony at the 9/11 Flight Crew Memorial, to honor the 33 airline employees killed on 9/11.
Fire Chief Darrell Brown said the names of 39 firefighters with the Fire Department of the city of New York were added to the World Trade Center memorial wall to honor those who have died in the last year from 9/11-related illnesses.
He said the total of those who died in the recovery and rescue at Ground Zero is up to 402. On the day of the attack, 343 firefighters died, according to the department website.
The ceremony also included words from American Airlines First Officer Jason Gustin and Luis Vasquez, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants DFW Base vice president.
Gustin mentioned how times have moved on and now the youngest pilot for American Airlines was only 1 year old when the attack happened. Vasquez spoke of the aftermath of the attacks.
“We walked down that jet bridge again, not because we weren’t afraid,” Vasquez said. “But because we refused to let fear have the final word. That is the heart of a flight attendant.”
Also of note
The city of Southlake held an event Sept. 11 at the Remembrance and Renewal statue in Liberty Gardens at Bicentennial Park.
Deputy Mayor Kathy Talley, Mayor Shawn McCaskill and former Mayor John Huffman all spoke at the event.
Talley recalls her time as a teacher at Northwest ISD and turning on the television and watching the second plane go into the World Trade Center tower.
“No one knows how long the race will last,” Huffman said. “No one that passed away on 9/11 thought it would be their last day. So let’s run our race as if today’s our last race, because it might be. Let’s remember the sacrifices of our first responders and those folks who gave their last measure of effort to make this country free.”
