MARQUETTE -- Communities across the nation and in the U.P. took time to remember the eleventh anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks.
Grace Feliz, 13, is too young to remember the terrorist attacks over a decade ago, but she is very much in tuned with the aftermath of that fateful day. She wants all of her peers to understand the important sacrifices American heroes have made.
"We are getting into the era of smart-phones and we're not spending quality time with people," said Feliz. "I think when we kind of step back and look around and we honor these people, I think it means a lot. We always need to make time for the things that really count."
On Tuesday, several students from Bothwell Middle School honored service members at the Jacobetti Home for Veterans in Marquette. Grace produced a video tribute that played during the ceremony, highlighting national memorials.
"We [say] all the time, 'Thank you so much for everything you've sacrificed,'" Grace said. "But we'll never really understand what they really gave, what it took. We wanted to really focus on that, and look at each memorial and say everyone has done something different, but in the end it made such a big difference. And [I] just want to say thank you for everything."
Students at Northern Michigan University also paid their respects to the 9/11 anniversary and service members by planting dozens of American flags along the Academic Mall.
The outpouring of support from all over has not gone unnoticed.
"It means that everybody is finally starting to recognize the veterans. When I first came here, they didn't do that; being a Vietnam vet, nobody wanted to recognize us. Now they finally are starting to recognize us," said Russell Wendrick, a Navy veteran who served in Vietnam.
The Jacobetti Home for Veterans will hold a ceremony marking Prisoner of War and Missing in Action Recognition Day on September 21.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forWLUC