Cadets in the Navy National Defense Cadet Corps have placed 2,977 flags in front of William Byrd High School in observance of September 11, 2001.
“This year marks the 21st year of the tragic events that took place on September 11, 2001,” said Naval Science Instructor David Perrin, USN (retired). “Nineteen terrorists who were members of Al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial airplanes. In a coordinated attack, the hijackers intentionally flew two of the planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, and a third into the Pentagon. Learning about the other hijackings, passengers, and crew members on the fourth plane launched a counterattack, spurring the hijacker pilot to crash the plane into a field in Pennsylvania.
“Nearly 3,000 people were killed on that day, the single largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on American soil,” Perrin said. “This year our William Byrd NNDCC cadets placed 2,977 flags in front of the school which represents the souls lost on that tragic day.”