Hundreds turn out for 9-11 memorial and park dedication

An eternal flame has been lighted as Oconee’s long-awaited 9-11 memorial and park was dedicated exactly 20 years after airplanes were commandeered and deliberately crashed, costing thousands of lives.  As the leader of the county’s 9-11 memorial and park committee, Brandon Shirley thanked the many individuals, groups, and government bodies to thank for their help in seeing to it that Oconee County would become one of the rare places in the U-S to display small, but actual debris from the crash sites.  The memorial and park sit on what used to be Walhalla High’s tennis courts on SC 183/N. Katherine Street.  It is an open-admission attraction for everyone but, perhaps, especially for young people and future generations who weren’t living September 11, 2001.  The ceremony included words of remembrances, tributes to those who were killed and injured, and from Oconee sheriff’s offfice Alan Sayre who heads the honor guard of the office. It finished with three rifle rounds of volley, the sounding of a bell, a bugler’s taps, and bagpipers playing Amazing Grace.  Many in the audience were touched.  Afterward one man said, “I’m glad I came and it was more than I expected.”  A woman walked up to an officer who stood on Razorback Lane and said, “I have to thank someone.”