Photos by Matt de Simone
By Matt de Simone
Early last Thursday morning, a group of individuals representing Botetourt’s community of first responders gathered on Main Street in Buchanan for the fifth annual Sirens and Salutes 9/11 Memorial Walk, marking 24 years since the attacks that forever changed a nation.
This year, Sirens and Salutes co-founder Bill Price added a radio frequency that played throughout the walk, marking the notable moments as the events of that fateful morning in 2001 transpired. At 8:46 a.m.—the exact time American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center—the walkers bowed their heads in silence. It was the first of several timed pauses, each corresponding to key moments of the tragedy: the second tower strike, the Pentagon attack, the crash of Flight 93, and the collapse of both towers.
“It has always been, and remains to this day, my honor and privilege to remember and honor the heroes killed that day,” Price said when asked about last Thursday’s walk. “And we, as a country, should not only remember them, but educate kids on the importance of remembering them as well as honoring all the first responders who protect our communities each and every day.”
Since its founding in 2021, Sirens and Salutes has expanded its mission beyond the annual walk. The Buchanan-based nonprofit, started by Navy veteran and retired firefighter Price and his wife Cindy, a longtime nurse, has continued to organize year-round remembrance efforts. These include the Fallen Heroes Tree, a holiday display featuring handcrafted wooden stars bearing the names of fallen first responders, which has grown to include military personnel and service dogs. Each December, the group also places memorial wreaths and grave markers on veterans’ graves in local cemeteries. Recently, they placed personalized memorial stones at the gravesites of local fallen officers in Fairview and Amsterdam cemeteries.
The fifth annual walk stands as a testament to a community’s enduring commitment to honoring those lost and those still serving.
