Social Circle JROTC remembers Sept. 11 one flag at a time

By Stephen Milligan

Cadets place 2,977 flags at SCHS in memory of 9/11 victims

From left, Adrien Baynes, Mariah McGuire, Olivia Rowley and Katie Williams , cadets in the Social Circle Junior ROTC, stand in front of some of the 2,997 flags they planted in the front lawn of Social Circle High School in memory of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack. Photo credit: Stephen Milligan

For nearly two days, cadets with Social Circle High School’s Junior ROTC knelt in front of the school planting flags on the front lawn this past week.

By Friday, those passing the high school could see thousands of little American flags standing proud in front of the school. The cadets placed 2,997 flags, in fact, exactly on the dot… one flag for every victim of the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, when the twin towers of the World Trade Center fell.

The cadets at SCHS don’t remember those attacks, of course. They weren’t even alive when they happened, 25 years ago as the tragedy was commemorated on that significant anniversary date Friday.

But they understood the importance of the display.

“It means a lot,” Cadet Command Sgt. Maj. Adrien Baynes, a senior at SCHS, said. “People don’t exactly forget Sept. 11, but they tend to move on. Putting up the flags helps bring it back home to everyone.”

Cadet Lt. Col. Olivia Rowley, a senior at SCHS, said it was a true labor of love.

“Depending on how many students we can get out there, it can take about a day and a half to two days to put up all the flags,” Rowley said. “People see us out there putting them up and I think it really shows them the true number of those who died that day when they see how long it takes and how many flags are out there.”

Cadet Maj. Katie Williams, a senior, agreed.

“It puts it into perspective,” Williams said. “A lot of people don’t realize how big it is until we put them all out.”

For most students now, Sept. 11 is just a chapter in the history textbook or a video clip online, little different from other events that happened well before they were born. But for the JROTC cadets, where their student leadership classes emphasize such history, it’s still an event of consequence that requires remembrance each and every year, especially this fall as the 25th anniversary arrived.

“It’s important to me to keep it alive and show others it’s still important,” Cadet Maj. Mariah McGuire said, a senior, said. “To see it, it helps emphasize the history and remind us not to repeat it.”

Baynes agreed, saying their efforts were important to take their lessons and remember them in the real world.

“It helps us understand what really happened,” Baynes said. “It has a deeper meaning.”