Yesterday, San Diego State held a Patriot Day remembrance ceremony for those who lost their lives during the Sept. 11 attacks 10 years ago. A large crowd of SDSU students, faculty, staff and community members gathered at the flagpole in front of Hepner Hall to participate in the 15-minute service.

The SDSU Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and Office of Student Life and Leadership co-hosted the ceremony.

Following a brief moment of silence, the crowd observed as joint members of the ROTC saluted the American flag in unison as it was lowered to half-staff. The flag was returned to full-staff a few minutes later.

SDSU President Elliot Hirshman said the choice not to keep the flag at half-staff the entire day did not mean Americans are moving on from the attacks, but rather moving forward.

“It was a very powerful message, to show both that we remember the heroes and the people who had died, but also that we are moving forward in the united way and trying to do good and important things,” he said.

Hirshman said his own 9/11 experience included an attempt to locate his sister who was working near Ground Zero at the time of the attacks.

“I was living in Colorado at the time, and so I woke up, only then to see the events transpiring,” Hirshman said. “My sister lives in New York and worked near Ground Zero, so we spent most of the morning trying to call and get in touch to see that she was OK, and fortunately we eventually found out she was.”

SDSU’s School of Music and Dance closed the service by inviting onlookers to participate in a choral rendition of Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America.” Members of the crowd were then encouraged to sign one of two jumbo cards, which will be sent to the 9/11 first-response teams in the next few days.