DIYALA, Iraq — Service members and firefighters serving on Forward Operating Base Warhorse gathered to honor the lives lost during the September 11 terrorist attacks and those lost during the overseas contingency operations which followed, in a solemn ceremony, Sept. 11.
The ceremony, which began just after 8:30 a.m., was held at the Never Forget Garden Memorial and as well as marking the anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 2001, it came a year after the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division held its deployment ceremony at Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
"On this day one year ago, our brigade combat team conducted our deployment ceremony at Fort Wainwright, Alaska. We chose that day in order to pay respects to and to honor the thousand of Americans who lost their lives during the attacks on our great nation," said Col. Burt Thompson, commander, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division. "September 11 is and will always be a day of remembrance for our nation, but for the Arctic Wolves on September 11, 2008 the day was not only about remembrance; that day was our call to duty."
During the ceremony the course of events of September 11 was read by Maj Erickson, intelligence officer, 1/25 SBCT and Maj. Roderick Mills, chaplain, spoke followed by Thompson and a low flyover by two AH-64 Apache helicopters which performed a missing man formation where the second aircraft pulls away from the first signifying a fallen servicemember.