SAN DIEGO — As the nation mourns the loss of 2,977 people who perished 21 years ago in the terrorist attacks on 9/11, several organizations around San Diego County will hold memorials and remembrances this weekend.
Downtown San Diego
Events begin Saturday at 8 a.m. with the 2022 San Diego 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, where hundreds of participants will climb stairs to honor the memory of and raise funds for those first responders who died or were injured on 9/11 and their families. Teams and individuals will climb 110 flights of stairs, the same number as in the twin towers, wearing the name of a fallen Emergency Responder whose life was lost that day.
Funds raised will go to FirefighterAid, a San Diego-based nonprofit that provides charitable assistance to firefighters and families in crisis, and promotes awareness of firefighter health and safety issues and the impacts they have upon families and communities.
National City
On Sunday, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, National City Fire Department, FDNY Retirees of San Diego, SDFF Emerald Society and The Wounded Warrior Project will hold a remembrance ceremony aboard the USS Midway Museum at 10:30 a.m.
National City will hold a remembrance ceremony between 8:45 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. at National City Fire Station No. 34.
Sunshine Brooks Theatre in Oceanside will host a book signing and panel discussion of "Outside the Wire: Stories from Front Line Combat Veterans in Iraq and Afghanistan" with Amy Forsythe and U.S. Marine Corps Majors Scott A. Huesing (Ret) and Fred Galvin (Ret). Book signing begins at 2 p.m. and panel discussion begins at 7:30 p.m.
SDSU
On Sunday, San Diego State University's Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps will place 2,977 individual flags in the ground on the south end of Hepner Hall -- representing each victim of the 2001 attack.
Then, on Monday, the ROTC will host its annual memorial event on campus with Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy ROTC in attendance along with a number of first responders from the San Diego State University Police Department and the San Diego Fire Department as well as members of the SDSU Veterans Group.
The memorial will include a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., commemorating the moment the North Tower of the World Trade Center Complex was struck. At this time, the San Diego Fire Department will ring a bell 21 times recognizing the years that have passed since the attack. The remembrance event will feature several guest speakers and is open to the public.
WATCH RELATED: Mother of San Diego 9/11 victim instrumental in creating trail linking all 3 crash sites (Sep. 2021).
