The community is invited to a Sept. 11th Memorial Ceremony on Monday. The ceremony will be held at 9:45 a.m. Monday at Turlock Fire Station 31, 540 E. Marshall St.

The Modesto Fire Department and Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District will hold simultaneous ceremonies on Sept. 11 at Station 1, 600 11th St., Modesto; Station 15, 2755 Third St., Ceres; Station 26, 3318 Topeka St., Riverbank; and Station 29, 17700 Main St., Knights Ferry.

Sept. 11 is now recognized as Patriot Day, following a proclamation by President George W. Bush in 2002 to honor the memory of those who were killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

On Sept. 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 people were killed as 19 al-Qaida hijackers seized control of four jetliners, sending two of the planes into New York’s World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and the fourth into a field in western Pennsylvania.

President Bush declared Sept. 11 a national day of mourning, but in 2009, President Barack Obama rededicated it as Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance. 

“Today we remember all the heroes who were forged in the hours, days, and years that followed that terrible morning of September 11, 2001 — ordinary Americans who, amidst the terror, smoke, and flames, demonstrated extraordinary courage and selflessness.  Together, their bravery helped prove to our Nation and the world that what those terrorists most hoped to wound could never be broken:  the character of our Nation,” said President Joseph Biden in his Friday proclamation of the 2023 Patriot Day.