“We’ll keep watch on the wall.” Those were the words of Coweta County Sheriff Mike Yeager at the Patriot Day ceremony in Newnan that marked the anniversary of the Sept. 11 tragedy that rocked America.
Those local men and women involved in the wide-ranging field of public safety and military service were the honored guests of the day. The ceremony was held at McKoon’s Funeral Home due to inclimate weather rather than at Veteran’s Memorial Park next door.

The speaker at the solemn ceremony was Newnan attorney and public safety supporter Mark Mitchell, who reminded those in the overflow chapel that 2,974 people died on Sept. 11 in four incidents in New York, Washington, D.C. and in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

“9/11 is also date which will live in infamy. 8:46 a.m., 9:03 a.m. in New York, 9:37 a.m. at the Pentagon and 10:03 a.m. in Pennsylvania. We all saw the images,” Mitchell said. “At the events a large group of public safety, EMTs and firefighters received the clarion call to go to work at the sites. When the call for help went out, they went.”

Mitchell continued his remarks, noting the sacrifice in human life that day that could only be counted in the thousands.
“It is fitting that it’s raining today. It’s a sad occasion,” Mitchell said. “But we moved past that day and the sun shines again on this great nation.”

Memories of 9/11 understandably give rise to similar ceremonies across America. As with the others in villages, towns and cities, the occasion in Newnan was one that reflected the forced recognition that this nation is not immune to the criminal intent of those who would do us harm. And it was a remembrance of the thousands who lives were taken, so that the significance of their lives not pass from memory.

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