A memorial for 911 was held in Plains Georgia on Sept 11, dedicating a monument that contained metal from the wreckage. New Eagle Scout Grady Young, with help from his grandfather, designed the monument for his Eagle Scout project, the highest rank in Boy Scouts. Young credited parks superintendent Jill Stuckey with put him into contact with the right people to find the artifact for the memorial, which was provided by Tunnel to Towers.

RT Beverly, pastor of Plains Methodist, gave an opening prayer. “God of grace, you have said that the death of your faithful ones is precious in your sight. May the deaths of our countrymen be precious in ours as well the lives of those that they left behind. Bless the monument set before us this day, that all who look upon it will be reminded of Your grace and their duty to endure and confront the suffering of the world until the day that all Your people can rest in Your victory, in Christ name we pray, Amen.”

Young addressed those gathered. “Around five years ago, our family went on vacation to New York City. While we were there, we visited many different places and did many different things. However, one experience stood out among the rest of the things that we did. The most interesting part of our trip by far was touring the 911 memorial and museum. I was truly blown away by what I saw and experienced there. Seeing the twisted metal, people’s belongings, the firefighter’s equipment, and seeing the endless list of victim’s names and the entire scene in general, really weighed on me emotionally. I felt inspired by the many selfless acts of bravery. I felt terrified imagining what it was like to be on those flights, in the World Trade Center, or in the Pentagon. I also felt disgusted that people could be capable of such heinous acts.”

Grady stated he could not imagine what it would have been like to experience that day. “Although I wasn’t alive during the attacks on September 11, everyone I know who was can remember exactly where they were.”

He introduced someone who had been there that day, who addressed the crowd.  “My name is Dan Reich, I’m assistant to the special agent in charge of the U.S. secret service assigned to President Carter’s detail here in Plains.”

He told where he was on Sept. 11. “On Sept 11, 2001, I was assigned to the New York field office, which was based in the Seven World Trade Center. For those who remember Seven World Trade Center was the building that came down about 3 o’clock later that afternoon.”

Reich noted how close he was. “I had just pulled into the World Trade Center, our parking garage underneath Tower 2. . .that’s where I was when the first plane hit.”

He described the confusion. “Obviously, you knew something was going on when it started to fill up with smoke, we were hearing radio traffic off police radios about a fire in the World Trade Center, nobody knew it was an airplane at that point.”

He told how close to 3,000 people died. “Those buildings, the World Trade Center, I don’t know how many of you have been there, are massive. They’re like an entire town for each building. We were very lucky that traffic was really bad that day.” He said that if the attack had come a half hour later, several thousand more people would have likely died.

Reich stated that he would never forget one thing he saw that day. “The number of people jumping out of buildings.”

He also experienced personal lose, after the death of a cousin who was attending a meeting at the Pentagon. “I always carry that burden with me.”

Reich told how when he came to Plains, he joked that he loved the City for lacking any tall buildings. “When I came down to Plains 20 years ago for the first time, that was my escape from that, from New York, . . . and then when I saw your memorial, when you put that up earlier this year. . .I stopped and I parked right there beside the road. I appreciate it.”