INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) — Hoosiers remembered the lives lost in the September 11 attacks with a number of tributes Tuesday.
Indianapolis resident Jimmy Clark gets his start early, waving a huge American flag off the 56th Street bridge above I-465 on the northwest side. It's been a tradition of his each of the 17 years after the attack. He takes the day off work to honor the day. Clark calls himself a humble messenger.
Clark said he vividly remembers watching the news coverage of the events that took place 17 years ago. His sign on patriotism is one small way he can give back, as drivers often honk in support along their commute.
"Right after the first tower went down, we were all kind of in shock and awe and CNN had panned into the Potomac River and a homeless man holding a branch with a flag tied to it and he was crying, it was just a devastating thing and that was the face of the nation right there and it moved me, that's a great way to be a messenger," Clark said.
In years past, Clark has been on the bridge from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Sept. 11.
The Ben Davis choir performed at the Patriot Day ceremony at the Indianapolis International Airport Tuesday. A piece of steel from the World Trade Center that was recovered from Ground Zero was on display in the airport's Civic Plaza.
Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Indiana) spoke at the airport memorial.
LIVE: A ceremony at the Indianapolis Airport honored victims of the 9/11 attacks.
Posted by WTHR-TV on Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Volunteers put together trauma kits for first responders at the Central Indiana Police Foundation in honor of the victims. The kits give officers the tools to respond better to emergencies with supplies like tourniquets, bandages and trauma shears.
Students who weren't even alive when the towers fell paid their respects at Chapel Glen Elementary School. They walked out of school in silence, carrying American flags at the end of their school day.
Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett spoke to students about the importance of recognizing the event, even though they did not live through it.
"You can learn a lot from the heroes of 9/11 by fitting these traits - unity, bravery, sacrifice - into your own life," Hogsett told the students.
IFD Chief Ernest Malone honored the firefighters who lost their lives trying to save others at the annual memorial at Scecina Memorial High School.
"So today, as across our nation we read the names of these fallen heroes, our sorrow over the loss of so many good people should be tempered by the example they set while they were living," he said.
Downtown, several Hoosiers stopped by the September 11 memorial on the canal, honoring those lives lost 17 years ago. The downtown memorial features beams from the Twin Towers and granite walls with messages of remembrance of the tragedy.