By Hugh G. Willett knoxnews.com
LOUDON — Hundreds of residents of Loudon and
surrounding communities gathered Sunday on the Veterans Memorial
Bridge to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist
attacks.The gathering began at 7 a.m. with
the playing of the national anthem, the reciting of the Pledge of
Allegiance and the firing of a rifle volley on the courthouse lawn.
Breakfast was served courtesy of the local Hardees and McDonald's
restaurants.
A few minutes later, as many as 300 people moved
onto the bridge to pick up rollers and begin painting, with buckets
of paint and rollers set up every 25 feet.
Karen Green arrived at 8 a.m. with 9-year-old
daughter Emily and her friend, Molly Carroll, also 9. The girls said
they had a good time painting but were not really sure what the
event was all about.
"She was born three months after 9/11," her mother
said.
Jarrod Fowler, age 13, said he understood why he
was there painting. "This is a chance for us to give back to the
community," he said.
With hundreds of rollers at work it didn't take
long to finish the bridge.
"In two hours we had it all painted," said Eddie
Simpson, the roads supervisor for Loudon County. He said the bridge
was badly in need of painting.
According to Simpson, Tennessee Department of
Transportation has been planning to paint the bridge for a couple of
years. TDOT pressure washed the bridge Friday, and donated 400
gallons of white paint, he said.
After the painting was complete, the crowd
returned to courthouse square where lunch — including hot dogs from
Elm Hill Meats Inc. and pizza from Dominos and Papa Johns — was
provided.
About 500 T-shirts commemorating the event were
given away. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency had a portable
BB-gun range set up for children on the courthouse lawn.
All of the labor needed to serve the hundreds of
guests was provided by volunteers, including Loudon City Councilman
Mike Cartwright.
"Some of these folks were here at 4:30 this
morning," Cartwright said.
At about 1 p.m. the Loudon High School marching
band started across the bridge under an archway formed by ladder
trucks from the Lenoir City and Loudon fire departments. Hundreds of
local residents who had returned to the courthouse square after
lunch followed the band onto the bridge.
At the middle of the bridge, U.S. Rep. John J.
Duncan Jr., R-Knoxville, joined by state Reps. Jimmy Matlock and
Julia Hurley, both Lenoir City Republicans, and state Sen. Randy
McNally, R-Oak Ridge, each took a hand with the paint roller by
finishing up a small unpainted portion of the bridge.
Duncan said he considered it a "very special
privilege" to be among those who had turned out to show their love
for their country.
"We live in the greatest country on earth," he
said.
The crowd on the bridge also was treated to a
flyover of four Air Force T-34 training planes from the World War II
era. The planes flew by once in a diamond pattern and returned a few
minutes later in the "missing man" formation.
The bridge event was held to remember the victims
of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and to pay respects to the emergency
workers and service men and women who have lost their lives in the
war against terror, said Tim Brewster, a Loudon County veteran who,
along with retired Loudon County Judge William Russell, helped
organize the event.
"Everything went well," Brewster said.
