Boston will join cities and towns across the country Thursday in commemorating the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Two of the planes hijacked by the terrorists for the attacks departed from Logan International Airport that morning. The ceremonies could carry added meaning this year amid the growing crisis over ISIS extremists in Syria and Iraq, and as this region continues to feel the aftereffects of the Boston Marathon bombings, said Eric Lowrey, president of the Massachusetts 9/11 Fund.
“There are articles that are linking ISIS with the same type of terror cells involved with 9/11,” Lowrey said. “Just last year, the Boston Marathon bombings were a huge emotional time also for Sept. 11 families, because once again in their backyard ... [there was] another attack on US soil. All these events can create the vernacular of larger events to date, like 9/11.”
As in previous years, a wreath will be laid by Boston’s mayor at the Public Garden memorial, and the names of the Massachusetts victims will be read on the steps of the State House at the time the twin towers in Manhattan were struck. All government buildings in the state will lower their US and Massachusetts flags to half-staff from sunrise to sunset.
“Unlike most terror attacks, these events are really still ongoing for these families,” Lowrey said.
Below is a list of some Sept. 11 ceremonies being held in the Boston area Thursday.
Boston
-- Mayor Martin J. Walsh will lay a wreath at the Public Garden memorial at 7:30 a.m.
-- A moment of silence will be followed by a reading of the names of the victims on the State House steps at 8:30 a.m.
-- The Madeline Amy Sweeney Award for Civilian Bravery, named for an American Airlines flight attendant who died in the attacks, will be presented to this year’s recipient in the House Chamber at 9 a.m.
-- Volunteers with the Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund will prepare 1,000 care packages for service men and women overseas and the New England Center for Homeless Veterans in Boston on the Rose Kennedy Greenway across from the aquarium from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Governor Deval Patrick, Attorney General Martha Coakley, and Mayor Martin J. Walsh are expected to attend.
-- Governor Patrick is expected to attend a ceremony honoring firefighters lost in the line of duty and marking the seventh anniversary of the Massachusetts Fallen Firefighters Memorial outside the State House. The ceremony will be held in Ashburton Park at 6 p.m.
• Wreaths will be placed on the Sept. 11 memorial at Logan International Airport. The Transportation Security Administration will have moments of silence at 8:46 a.m., when Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center, and at 1 p.m. so the afternoon shift may participate. American Airlines and United Airlines will hold private ceremonies at their gates.
• The USS Constitution will hold a two-hour ceremony in Charlestown beginning at about 8:30 a.m. The ceremony will include one-gun salutes marking significant times, like 8:46 a.m. when the first plane collided with the North Tower.
Natick
• A Sept. 11 memorial will be unveiled in front of the police and fire complex at 6 p.m.
Framingham
• A ceremony honoring those killed in the attacks, including 17 people with ties to Framingham, will be held at the Sept. 11 Living Memorial at Cushing Memorial Park, Dudley Road, at 5:30 p.m.
Andover
• A ceremony honoring the victims will be held at the town offices on Bartlet Street at 8:30 a.m.
source: http://www.bostonglobe.com
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