Never Forget

As church bells tolled in the distance, Saint Patrick students in Kindergarten through Fourth grade gathered in remembrance of 9/11. The children stood silently as Mrs. Brigid Barrineau, Fourth grade teacher and military spouse, asked that we all remember the lives lost and the heroic efforts of the first responders on that fateful day, and that we continue to celebrate the strength and spirit of the American people. The lower school teachers followed with a beautiful  and very moving recitation of “My Name is Old Glory” written by Don S. Miller in remembrance of his brother Gunnery Sergeant John F. Miller, U.S. Marine Corp. Each teacher read a line from the poem as Mrs. Dionne Smith played “America The Beautiful” on the cello. Sixteen students, all of whom have a loved one in the military or serving as a first responder, laid a single red rose at the base of the American flag representing each year since 9/11. The Remembrance Ceremony concluded with two hundred voices proudly singing the “Star-Spangled Banner.”