A beam to remember: Ceremony to mark the 12th anniversary of Sept. 11

The annual Patriot Day ceremony held jointly by the Cities of Homewood, Mountain Brook and Vestavia Hills will dedicate a 1,305-pound H-beam from the World Trade Center this year. The vertically erected beam was placed in front of Mountain Brook’s new Municipal Complex as a memorial when it opened this spring.

“It’s almost like having a piece of USS Arizona after Pearl Harbor,” Mountain Brook Fire Chief Robert Ezekiel said. “It had a similar impact on our country, and people will pause and reflect on what they were doing that day. And that’s what it’s all about. We don’t want to forget.”

Homewood Mayor Scott McBrayer will join Mountain Brook Mayor Terry Oden and Vestavia Hills Mayor Butch Zaragoza to host the ceremony in Mountain Brook’s Crestline Village on Sept. 11.

Allan Rice, executive director of the Alabama Fire College and a 24-year veteran in the public safety profession, will be the keynote speaker for the ceremony, which begins at 8:30 a.m. and will last about 45 minutes.

Abrielle Mullins, a rising country singer and daughter of Mountain Brook EMS Division Director Chris Mullins, will sing the national anthem, and Jacqueline Barnwell will sing “America the Beautiful.”

In addition to dedicating the monument, the program will also recognize city employees who have served in military.

A laying of the wreath and a bell ceremony will be part of the lineup.

The ceremony will take place next to the memorial at the intersection of Hoyt Lane and Oak Street by the library and fire department in Crestline Village.

“I think [the ceremony] will cause people to pause and will be meaningful to people who are part of the ceremony and those who attend,” Ezekiel said.

“We wanted this year to be different,” Ezekiel said. “[Dedicating the beam] is such a special thing to us.”