Burlington Fire Department to Hold September 11 Ceremony

The Burlington Fire Department will be holding a memorial ceremony on the Burlington Town Commons this morning in memory of those lost in the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington D.C. and those lost in the military response by the United States.

The ceremony this year will be short. It will begin at 9:50 a.m. when firefighters and members of the Police Department will gather on the Town Commons. A firefighter and police officer will raise the flag to half-staff, followed by the reading of the Firefighter's Prayer. There will then be a brief moment of silence in honor of those lost. The ceremony will end with the "Tolling of the Bells" at 9:59 p.m. to symbolize the collapse of the South Tower before the flag is raised back to full-staff.

Burlington was also tragically affected on that day. The town lost four people in the attacks, pilot Thomas F. McGuinness, Jr., coach Jim Trentini and his wife Mary Trentini and Robert Jay Hayes. To honor their memory the town constructed a 9/11 Memorial on the Burlington Town Commons with the names of the people lost that day and a plaque that reads "Always Flying High." 

Burlington also lost a son in Operation Iraqi Freedom. L/Cpl Greg MacDonald died on June 25, 2003 while serving his country in Iraq when the light armored vehicle he was traveling in rolled over.