UW-Madison student organizations are making sure the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001 have not been forgotten.
Early this morning, various university student organizations worked together to place 2,977 American flags on Bascom Hill in remembrance to each life lost on this day six years ago.
Tuesday marks the anniversary of the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, Pentagon and the airplane crash in rural Pennsylvania.
Nothing has really been done on campus before to memorialize, or remember or even recognize the event,"" said UW-Madison junior Sara Mikolajczak, chapter chair of the UW-Madison College Republicans.
""It's about high time something has been done. We need to not forget what happened that day.""
In remembrance, the UW-Madison College Republicans are joining in the nationwide event sponsored by the Young America's Foundation.
The flags were put up at 6:30 a.m. by volunteers and will be removed before sunset this evening.
YAF began this event, the Never Forget Project, in conjunction with 150 campuses nationwide, according to its website.
The memorial is also one way for UW-Madison organizations to come together.
""Remembering 9/11 is important, and we thought it was a good way to kind of reach out to other organizations on campus,"" said Jordan Smith, campus organizer for Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow, ""just kind of come together for one issue we can all agree on.""
According to a release, the organizations assisting the UW-Madison College Republicans and CFACT include the UW-Madison College Democrats, the Republican Party of Dane County, UW-Madison Students for Prosperity and The Mendota Beacon.
Along with the flags, there will also be an invocation tonight at 5:45 p.m. by Father Eric Nielson from St. Paul's Church at the memorial on Bascom Hill.
The idea for a tribute to the troops happening Wednesday, Sept. 19, came from a similar tribute done at the University of Nebraska-Omaha last year and was proposed at a Dane Democrats meeting to Oliver Keifer, a UW-Madison junior, chair of UW-Madison College Democrats.
Mikolajczak also approached Keifer over the summer with the idea of a similar event to pay tribute to the victims of Sept. 11.
""We decided to work together,"" Keifer said. ""I'm hoping to do that a little bit more this year.""
""It was our goal right from the beginning to make sure the events were going to be nonpartisan.""
""These events that happened six years ago are just not political. They happened to all of us. We are all Americans, and it changed every last one of us in this country.""
- Sarah Carter contributed to this report.
