{"id":260252,"date":"2017-09-14T06:06:40","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T20:06:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=260252"},"modified":"2017-09-14T06:06:40","modified_gmt":"2017-09-13T20:06:40","slug":"field-heroes-remembers-911-victims-honors-heroes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/field-heroes-remembers-911-victims-honors-heroes\/","title":{"rendered":"Field of Heroes remembers 9\/11 victims, honors heroes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-260252 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/field-heroes-remembers-911-victims-honors-heroes\/field-pix1\/'>Field-pix1<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-260253'>\n\t\t\t\tCadets of the Ayuyu Battalion of Kagman High School have their picture taken after the Field of Heroes event at the American Memorial Park last Monday. (Contributed Photo)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/field-heroes-remembers-911-victims-honors-heroes\/field-pix2\/'>Field-pix2<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-260254'>\n\t\t\t\tThe Ayuyu Battalion color guard presents the colors at the Field of Heroes event at the American Memorial Park last Monday. (Contributed Photo)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>The Tan Siu Lin Foundation and TanHoldings Corp. led a community effort to mark the 16th anniversary of the 9\/11 terror attacks by honoring its victims and first responders last Monday at the American Memorial Park.<\/p>\n<p>The second Field of Heroes ceremony last Monday capped a commemoration that took place not just on Saipan but also on Rota and Tinian, honoring the islands\u2019 heroes and the those who have given their lives to protect the United States.<\/p>\n<p>The Saipan commemoration started with the Freedom Walk, a walkathon participated in by the public from the Garapan Fishing Base to the American Memorial Park.<\/p>\n<p>The event, which got started a year ago under the auspices of TanHoldings, entails the posting of American flags that are sponsored by community members. The money goes toward raising awareness of post-traumatic stress disorder and supports the treatment of those with PTSD.<\/p>\n<p>According to Tan Holdings president Jerry Tan, he had vowed to visit all three islands to pay tribute to not only the 9\/11 heroes but also to those individuals who lost their lives during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI promised myself that I\u2019m going to go to all three islands on 9\/11 every year because this is so important to everyone,\u201d said Tan. <\/p>\n<p>He said the event is not new; it\u2019s been adopted from practices across the United States, yet it has become extremely important to him. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is something that many cities in the United States have been doing for many years\u2026we kind of adopted the franchise\u2026this is very important to me personally, for our company, because we will never forget,\u201d said Tan. <\/p>\n<p>The ceremony not only honors the heroes who fought for the United States and are still fighting for it but it is also a tribute to the many heroes who lost their lives during 9\/11. <\/p>\n<p>\u201c9\/11 was probably the most important major attack on the U.S. after Pearl Harbor and it changed the world,\u201d Tan said. \u201cIt is very important that we come together once a year in this setting and salute those first responders.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang said the community\u2019s effort is what keeps the Field of Heroes\u2019 ceremony meaningful.  \u201cYour presence here tells us a lot about us today, that we can do and we can come together to recognize, remember, and honor those among us who commit themselves to helping others,\u201d said Apatang. <\/p>\n<p>Although heroes come and go over the years, he said, those who first responded on Sept. 11, 2001, will remain heroes forever. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur heroes when the first attack occurred on the morning hours of Sept. 11, 2001, remain our heroes since then and still today, and for the years to come,\u201d said Apatang. <\/p>\n<p>Tinian Mayor Joey Patrick San Nicolas said the importance of the event is that it celebrates those men and women who face the fears that many other do not during a crisis. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis Field of Heroes, we fly our flags in honor of those who face our fears for us during times of great tragedy,\u201d said San Nicolas. <\/p>\n<p>He thanked the Tan Siu Lin Foundation for its efforts in bringing awareness of the event to all three islands. <\/p>\n<p>Tan thanked the Commonwealth government for granting him the opportunity to take the lead in this annual event. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would like to thank the community and the government officials for allowing us, and our company, to lead this project,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Tan Siu Lin Foundation and TanHoldings Corp. led a community effort to mark the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":260253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[268,331,14602,57],"class_list":["post-260252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-american-memorial-park","tag-attack","tag-pearl-harbor","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}