(Murfreesboro, TN) What has become a local tradition, the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office is again offering a 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony to honor those who died on “that day we will always remember”.  This will be at 9:00AM Wednesday morning (9/11/2024) in front of the Rutherford County 9/11 monument at the sheriff’s office, 940 New Salem Highway, Murfreesboro. Retired U.S. Air Force Col. Thomas Hickerson is the guest speaker.

Sheriff Mike Fitzhugh invites residents to attend and remember the victims and first responders who died that day and the military who lost their lives in responding to the terrorists’ attacks.

About 9/11 Guest Speaker - Retired U.S. Air Force Col. Thomas Hickerson led his Lockheed Martin team into the burning Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001 to restore and maintain critical communications following the terrorists’ attacks. He will share first remembrances of what he saw, heard and experienced where 184 persons died when American Airlines flight #77 was flown by terrorists into the structure.

He earned the Nova award, Lockheed Martin’s highest award for his leadership on 9-11 and the following days.

Hickerson served 30-years in the Air Force in command, control, communications and computers. He led space communications after the Challenger accident. His leadership spanned the Engineering Center, Major Command, Air Staff, International Joint Coalition and Theater Commander and Chief.

Retired Col. Hickerson moved to Tennessee in 2002 where he worked as Executive Director of Operations for the state of Tennessee. He lives in Smyrna where is chairman of the Town of Smyrna Beer Board and a Planning Commission member. He is vice president of the Stones River Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution and a board member of the Tennessee Fisher House Foundation.

9/11 Monument - For those who were not living in Murfreesboro then, the monument's focus is a 3,000-pound I-beam from Tower 1 of the World Trade Center. It is supported by three pedestals representing firefighters, law enforcement officers and paramedics. The artifact is situated at a 30-degree angle and point towards New York City. The firefighter's column is the tallest, since that agency suffered the most fatalities. 

A two-level concrete base holds the memorial with the “Pledge of Allegiance” inscribed around it. Four urns on each corner represent the innocent citizens flying on four airplanes that terrorists crashed into the two World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and a farm field in Pennsylvania. The flight numbers are inscribed on a brass band around each urn.

Four flagpoles stand at each corner and fly the U.S. and state of Tennessee flags while rotating the 9-11 flag and those of the military branches.

Rutherford County's 9/11 Memorial at the Sheriff's Office was built for approximately $30,000 and was dedicated 9/11/2011, a decade after the terrorist's attack on America. 

WGNS’ website to have program - If you can not attend the Rutherford County 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony, WGNS will record the program and it will be on this website (wgnsradio.com) for you to listen at your convenience.

WGNS’ Bart Walker will serve as emcee for the community event that will be held beside the 9/11 Memorial Monument at the Rutherford County Sheriffs Office, 940 New Salem Highway.

Again, Rutherford County’s 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony will take place at the sheriff’s office, parking is available. This is open to the public, no admission charged. It begins at 9:00AM on Wednesday morning, Sept. 11, 2024.