Cape Cod Towns Plan Nine-Eleven Memorial Services

CCB MEDIA PHOTO
Barnstable High School students place flags in front of the high school in 2015 to mark the September 11 terror attacks

HYANNIS – Sunday marks the 15th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks and towns across Cape Cod will hold ceremonies of remembrance.

Two events will be held in Barnstable Village.

The first will be a traditional ceremony at the Barnstable Fire Department on Route 6A at 9:55 a.m. and will include special prayers, music and reflection. Hope Hospice Interfaith chaplain Rabbi Deborah Mangan will hold a special prayer.

The ceremony second will start at 4 p.m. at the Barnstable Fire Department where the “National Anthem” and “God Bless America” will be sung by Alayna Rooney. A procession will follow a quarter mile up Route 6A to St. Mary’s Episcopal Church. The procession will be led by Dave Knauer on bagpipes, Barnstable Police and Cape Cod Pack 54 Cub Scout honor guards.

A special service will be held at the church starting at 4:30 p.m., including a keynote address from Cape Cod Academy teacher Rev. Larry Brown.

Brown said his address will focus on “one country.”

“When we experienced this 15 years ago the immediate reaction of everybody was that the normal political and social divisions seemed to dissolve,” Brown said. “We felt very close to each other very much like one people. We’re not there now.”

Brown believes the breaking of a common bond that we had as citizens and neighbors is more of a threat to the nation than any other external danger, including terrorism.

“I’ve never seen the country as divided as this. Even in the 60s,” Brown said. “And it worries me a lot.”

The Hyannis Fire Department will also hold a ceremony to honor those who lost their lives 15 years ago at 10 a.m. at the headquarters on High School Road.

Multiple ceremonies will also be held in Yarmouth. The first will be at Fire Station 3 on Buck Island Road at 9:30 a.m. The ceremony will start with the dedication of a new 9/11 memorial site and will be followed with the annual service starting at 9:58 a.m.

Later than evening the Candlelight 9/11 Town of Yarmouth Memorial Service will be held at 7 p.m. at Yarmouth Police Headquarters on Brad Erickson Way.

Provincetown Police, Fire and EMS will join with Coast Guard representatives to remember the attacks on Sunday at 11 a.m. on Shankpainter Road between the police and fire stations.

In Falmouth, an interfaith service will be held at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday at the Waquoit Congregational Church.

On September 18 at 10:30 a.m., a memorial service to remember the attacks will take place St. Pius X Church on Station Ave. in South Yarmouth. Organizers said they decided to hold that event after the actual anniversary so as to not interfere with other events on September 11.

By BRIAN MERCHANT, CapeCod.com NewsCenter