20 years after the attacks on September 11th, 2001, Lafayette came together to honor the lives lost and commemorate the anniversary.
Lafayette Fire Department hosted the somber event with speakers, including Mayor-President Josh Guillory, Police Chief Thomas Glover Sr, and Fire Chief Robert Benoit.
The quiet moments of the event, reflected the quiet many first responders experienced on this day in 2001.
"The chief officer said when they committed their firefighters into the building, when they were coming in there was silence. There were no sirens going off. There was no lights. There was no chatter on the radio, because these individuals realized they were committing themselves into a building with the possibility that they might not come out," says Chief Benoit.
Today, many celebrate the lives those men and women were able to save while risking their own.
"The other lesson to be taken away from 9-11 is that tragedies happen, but what we do when they happen also. We had 343 firefighters that ran into harms way. But look how many countless lives came out of the towers before they collapsed, and how many lives were saved by the people on flight 77 when they took it over and brought it down into an empty field instead of into another building," says Army Veteran Chris Goodland, who helps to organize the event every year.
While the heroes of 9-11 and their families are the reason we gather today, this anniversary is also a reminder of the heroes among us here at home.
"Let us also take time to be thankful for our firefighters here in Lafayette, for our police officers in Lafayette, and all the many many men and women who rush to danger when everyone else is running away from it, and I'm proud to be from Lafayette. I'm proud to be an American," says Mayor President Josh Guillory.
