On the 22nd anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the crash of United Airlines Flight 93, a group gathered in Florence to pay tribute to armed forces personnel.
The Boone County Garden Club, a member of The Garden Club of Kentucky, Inc. and National Garden Clubs, Inc., conducted an unveiling and dedication of its Blue Star Memorial Highway marker at the I-75 southbound interstate rest stop off of Exit 176 on Monday.
Only National Garden Clubs can pay tribute by installing the Blue Star Memorial marker, which was purchased by the Boone County Garden Club, with Boone County Public Works and City of Florence Public Services personnel aiding in the installation, officials said.
“As we think about 9/11, I was watching 60 Minutes last night and the recount of everything that took place 22 years ago,” Boone County Judge/Executive Gary W. Moore, who delivered the welcome during the ceremony, said. “How fitting is it that we are here today unveiling the Blue Star Memorial Highway marker.”
Moore expressed gratitude to those presently serving in the military, veterans and first responders.
In 1945, National Garden Clubs members decided to approach lawmakers to ask if the group could issue markers thanking those who had given their lives and provided service to the country, Kentucky Blue Star Chair Romanza Johnson said.
“Years later, we find that throughout Kentucky and the United States, we have Blue Star markers,” Johnson said. “This is to pay tribute to the armed forces as a whole and the families whose loved ones might have departed this world because of the donation they have made in serving us.”
The ceremony included recognition of those in attendance who had served in one of the nation’s military branches, the marker’s unveiling and dedication, and a floral tribute placed at the marker site by the Elsmere Honor Guard.