Airmen of
the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing gathered with coalition forces and members of the other US services at sunrise yesterday on the grounds of the newly constructed 9/11 memorial at an air base in Southwest Asia for a remembrance ceremony. “How fitting that we meet here, on the front lines of the fight, to remember the people we have lost, and the patriots who gave their lives so that our children may not suffer through the same pain,” said Col. Cameron Torrens, 386th AEW commander, who presided over the ceremony. Torrens and CMSgt. Jeffrey Antwine, 386th AEW command chief, laid a wreath at the memorial site, followed by a 21-gun salute and the playing of “Taps.” Hours later, back in the United States, the Pentagon Memorial received its official dedication in a ceremony before thousands of military personnel and civilians. “The Pentagon Memorial will stand as an everlasting tribute to 184 innocent souls who perished on these grounds,” said President Bush in his address at the site. The Pentagon Memorial is now open to the general public. (Check directions under the Memorial Visitors tab on the memorial Web page.) (Includes 386th AEW report by Capt. Suzanne VanderWeyst and Air Force report by SSgt. J.G. Buzanowski)
The 301st Fighter Wing in Fort Worth, Texas, became the first standalone Reserve unit in the Air Force to get its own F-35s, welcoming the first fighter Nov. 5.