HELENA — On Monday, September 11, a ceremony was held to honor all first responders and the victims of 9/11 at the Montana Capitol.
“We really want to honor those who lost their lives that day and our current first responders, police, firefighters and military,” said Montana Attorney General, Austin Knudsen.
The sound of a bell echoed around the Montana state capitol rotunda as the Montana Highway Patrol Honor Guard honored the lives lost 22 years ago.
The event which was hosted by the Montana Department of Justice, included Montana first responders, veterans and elected leaders coming together to honor heroes of that frightful day.
“To me it’s about reminding people, educating young people,” Knudsen said.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed when hijackers took over four commercial airplanes and attacked the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and crashed into a field in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001.
“When I was in the air in the combat air patrol the piece was, now I had the reality of to fight a threat, a bad person, I’m trained for that but now to have a threat that actually has civilians on board that was a new dynamic for us to think about,” said Major General Peter Hronek, Montana Army National Guard.
The ceremony was emotional for many of the attendees.
“This is always an emotional event. It’s hard not to tear up at this. Listening to Major General Hronek's comments that was an interesting twist that probably a lot of us had never heard before,” said Knudsen.
