CHEER's Patriot Day Celebration features 9/11 connections

GEORGETOWN — A salute to America’s military and an annual remembrance of 9/11 is set for Sept. 10 at CHEER’s Warren & Charles Allen Community Center.

The Patriot Day Celebration, facilitated by CHEER board member and Korean War veteran Walter Koopman, will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Admission is free and open to all.

The speakers will include Tom Lombardo, a retired airline captain who had a close connection to Charles Burlingame, the pilot of American Airlines’ Flight 77. That flight struck the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

“His simulator buddy, (Mr. Burlingame), his best friend that he called a brother, was the pilot with a box cutter to his throat that flew the American Airlines flight into the Pentagon,” Mr. Koopman said, adding that Mr. Burlingame’s widow gave her husband’s epaulets to Mr. Lombardo.

In addition, the American flag to be displayed at the service will bear the names of 9/11 victims, including Mr. Burlingame’s.

There will also be testimony shared to Mr. Koopman from a woman who escaped the 25th floor of the World Trade Center’s South Tower.

The event will also have displays from:

• The Marine Corps, with retired Capt. Tom Terrel
• Fort Miles
• The Tuskegee Airmen, with Andre Swygert, secretary of the group’s John H. Porter First State chapter
• Educational and personal memories

In addition, there will be a “Heroes’ Welcome Home” table, featuring past and present women in the military.

“We’re going to have a lot of people there,” Mr. Koopman said. “We’re hoping to have a couple of schools there, too. So, it should be pretty good.”

The center is at 20520 Sandhill Road.

To reserve space for your group, contact Robin Greene at 302-853-4199 or Mr. Koopman at 302-745-5668, or email rbdjet61@verizon.net.