A Georgia Tech 9/11 memorial has been created near Tech Green, where hundreds of small American flags have been placed to honour those killed in the terrorist attacks 25 years ago.
The display sits at the heart of the Atlanta campus as students and staff prepare to mark the anniversary of September 11, 2001, on Friday.
Alongside the flags, the memorial includes a tribute to 1st Lt Tyler Brown, a former Georgia Tech student who was killed in action in Iraq 22 years ago.
His inclusion reflects the wider consequences of the attacks, which extended beyond the nearly 3,000 people killed in New York, at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. The wars that followed claimed further lives, while responders, recovery workers and others exposed to toxic dust at Ground Zero later developed serious illnesses.
Georgia Tech 9/11 memorial honours a generation shaped by the attacks
Georgia Tech has acknowledged that, for many of its current students, September 11 is now a historical event rather than a lived memory.
The university has also organised a week of service to mark the 25th anniversary. At an event on Tuesday, students packed 100 care packages and wrote messages of appreciation for military personnel and veterans’ families, with the packages due to be delivered through the United Service Organizations of Atlanta.
National commemorations will similarly recognise the continuing impact of the attacks. The 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York will observe a seventh moment of silence during its anniversary ceremony for people who died from illnesses linked to 9/11 and its aftermath.
The additional tribute will follow the reading of the names of those killed in the attacks and is intended to become a permanent part of the annual commemoration.
