The cadets of the VA-091 Air Force Junior ROTC at Randolph-Macon Academy decided that this year on Patriot Day, they would hold a ceremony to remember the events of September 11, 2001, and honor those who had lost their lives in the terrorist attacks.
Group Commander Taylor Wreath ‘20 gave a short speech that summarized the day’s events, acknowledging that most of the cadets gathered there had not even been born at the time. In a disclosure that made the event more real to her fellow students, she said, “My own father was working in the Pentagon that day, in the same wing that was demolished by the plane. Luckily, he survived the attacks, but many can not say the same. Mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, brothers, sisters… family, were lost that day.”
After her speech, the R-MA acapella group “The Stingers” sang “Amazing Grace” as cadet representatives from each flight brought forth a white rose to place on the steps leading to the Academy’s American flag. There were eleven roses in all, symbolic of the date. Wreath then laid the twelfth and final rose herself, a red one that represented the blood that was needlessly shed. Kiyesi Abiodun ‘21 played “Taps” as the cadets saluted and the flag was raised and lowered to half-staff in honor of the 2,977 lives that had been lost–the sheer number of which was emphasized by the nearly 3,000 small American flags that lined the roadway and sidewalk in front of Sonner-Payne Hall.