Never forget

The 9/11 Traveling Wall is returning to Ocala on Sept. 9, 2023. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette file photo]

Early Saturday morning, Sept. 9, a large number of motorcycle riders will gather at the Southeastern Livestock Pavilion to perform a solemn duty. They will escort the 9/11 Traveling Wall to the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park, where it will be on display to the public.

Registration for the riders will begin at 7:30 a.m., with kickstands up at 9:03 a.m., which is the time on Sept. 11, 2001, that hijacked Flight 175 struck floors 77 to 85 of the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City in a terrorist attack that had other components.

The motorcycle escort will bring the 9/11 Traveling Wall on a scenic route through Ocala, with an estimated arrival time of 9:40 a.m. at the veterans park at 2601 E. Fort King St. The wall will be dismounted and erected for public viewing.

Members of the public are encouraged to arrive by 9:30 a.m. There will be free parking in the nearby Marion County Public Library parking lot. A Patriot Day: A National Day of Prayer and Remembrance ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m. and will include the Marion County Fire Rescue Honor Guard.

The planning committee chairs for the event are Marion County Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Pamela Driggers and Ocala Police Department Lt. Eric Hooper.

To learn more about the event, see marionvetpark.com/patriot-day

For information about Sept. 11, 2001, go to 911memorial.org

Michael Haworth talks with his daughter, Grace, 8, about United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed into a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, as shown in a photo on part of the 9/11 Traveling Memorial Wall during the 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony on Patriot Day at the Ocala/Marion County Veterans Memorial Park in Ocala, Fla. on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2021.