Vigil Ceremony Honors Lives Lost on 9/11

PROVO, Utah – Sep 10, 2015 – Deep reverence will hush over campus Friday morning as members of the Brigham Young University community gather to honor those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.

As the bell tower rings at 7 a.m., a group of BYU ROTC cadets will stand guard at the flag pole in front of the Abraham O. Smoot Administration Building. There they will hold vigil over a folded flag and floral display, representative of the unity and hope that the nation demonstrated immediately following the attacks on the United States on that fateful morning.

A rose laying ceremony will commence at 8:30 a.m. Four roses, representing each of the planes involved in the tragedy, will be placed by Lieutenant Chris Autry, BYU Police; Chief Gary Jolley, Provo Fire; Colonel Paul Kucharek, Professor of Aerospace Studies; and Major Jeff Hendricks, Executive Officer for the Department of Military Studies. Three Air Force ROTC cadets will then fire a three-volley rifle salute followed by the playing of taps.

“The cadets from the BYU Air Force and Army ROTC programs conduct this solemn rose-laying ceremony and flag vigil every year,” says Kucharek. “It gives the community an opportunity to remember not only the victims of 9/11 but also the military members who have lost their lives in the last 14 years defending and preserving our freedom.”

Those who wish to pay their respects may visit the display anytime between 7 a.m. and midnight.

The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, entrepreneurship, finance, information systems and public management. The school’s mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,300 students are enrolled in the Marriott School’s graduate and undergraduate programs.