Several memorial services planned for September 11

A number of September 11 memorial observances are planned in McCook and Southwest Nebraska.

Among them are ones planned at Wal-Mart, one at McCook Christian Church, and one in Palisade.

Participants in the memorial service at Wal-Mart are asked to arrive at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 11, and a moment of silence will be observed at 8:42 a.m. The McCook High School Concert Band will then perform, and local firefighters, law enforcement officers and military personnel will be honored.

McCook Christian Church and the McCook Nazarene Church will host a remembrance service at 7:30 p.m. Sept.11 at McCook Christian Church, 329 N. Cherokee.

The service will remember those who died and hold out hope for those who live. The evening will be an opportunity to honor those who serve our community and to seek the blessing of God on our nation, organizers say. The gathering will include a time of worship, prayer and devotional thoughts by Pastor Steve Bales and Pastor Clark Bates.

The Palisade American Legion Post 318, Post Family, Auxiliary Unit 318 and the SAL Squadron will present a special remembrance program at 1 p.m. CDST Sept. 11 at the Palisade school gymnasium.

Special guests will include the Palisade Fire Department, law enforcement officers from Hayes and Hitchcock counties, K-6 school students and families of young men and women serving in our armed forces.

In memory of the tragic events of 9-11, 2001, the fire department will sound a siren in a single rise and fall for each of the four crashes that occurred that day.

At 7:45 a.m. CDST, when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center; 8:03 a.m. when the United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower of the World Trade Center; 8:43 a.m. when American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon, and 9 a.m. when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in a field 80 miles Southeast of Pittsburgh near Shanksville, Pa.