{"id":308474,"date":"2019-09-23T06:00:22","date_gmt":"2019-09-22T20:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=308474"},"modified":"2019-09-23T06:00:22","modified_gmt":"2019-09-22T20:00:22","slug":"tinian-schools-jrotc-battalion-takes-part-in-field-of-heroes-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/tinian-schools-jrotc-battalion-takes-part-in-field-of-heroes-ceremony\/","title":{"rendered":"Tinian school\u2019s JROTC battalion takes part in Field of Heroes ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"
Battalion commander cadet Lt. Col. Anne Sanchez, left, and command Sgt. Maj. Julia Biton, right, join the rest of the Stallion Battalion in parade rest at the Veterans Memorial Park last Sept. 18 for the Field of Heroes: We Will Never Forget ceremony. (Contributed Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Stallion Battalion of the Tinian Jr.\/Sr. High School\u2019s Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps joined the Tinian community at the Veterans Memorial Park last Sept. 18 for the Field of Heroes: We Will Never Forget ceremony.<\/p>\n

The event, intended to mark the 18th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, memorializing those who lost their lives in the terrorist attack, and to honor first responders.<\/p>\n

Private corporation TanHoldings has been hosting the event for four years now, with the support of the Tinian Mayor\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

Jovita Paulino from the Office of the Tinian Mayor was the mistress of ceremonies. Fr. Rey Rosal did the invocation.<\/p>\n

The Department of Public Safety-Tinian color guard posted the flags, with the national anthem and CNMI anthem sung by battalion cadets Sgt. Cielo Long and Sgt. Isa Ha\u2019ani Long.<\/p>\n

In his opening remarks, Tinian Mayor Edwin P. Aldan gave thanks to Tan Holdings, Tania Mendiola, the Tinian Mayor\u2019s Office staff, Tinian JROTC, Department of Public Safety, and Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services, and to everyone who supported the event despite the weather.<\/p>\n

The guest speaker for the ceremony, TanHoldings president Jerry Tan, said the event is also fitting occasion to \u201cpay tribute and remind everyone to say \u2018thank you\u2019 and appreciate our first responders.\u201d<\/p>\n

The island\u2019s elected leaders, both from the Tinian Legislative Delegation and the Tinian Municipal Council, joined Aldan and Tan in laying wreaths at the Veterans Memorial Park. <\/p>\n

A team from DPS-Saipan did the 21-gun salute. Taps was then played, followed by the simultaneous water salute and a sounding of the one-minute siren\u00a0<\/p>\n

To close off the ceremony, Capt. (ret.) Joseph Santos, the senior army instructor of the Tinian JROTC Stallion Battalion, related the inspiring story of Patrick Tilma, who gave up a $3.6 million contract with the National Football League Arizona Cardinals to enlist as an Army ranger. He served in Iraq, but was killed in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

\u201cNever forget. There were 2,977 people who were killed that morning. Their only crime was going to work. Never forget. There were 342 firefighters and 72 law enforcement officers who died that day. They didn\u2019t run away, they ran to the destruction. They gave up their lives helping others. Never forget. Some people in Congress now are trying to get us to forget. They say \u2018some people did something\u2019. Shame on them. That something was a destruction and a murder of 2,977 people. Who did it? It was Islamic terrorists. We should not be afraid to call them what they are. Never forget. 9\/11 is our generation\u2019s Pearl Harbor. When Pearl Harbor happened, America wasn\u2019t ready. When 9\/11 happened, we were not ready. Let us never forget. \u2026If we forget, then Patrick Tilman\u2019s sacrifice will be wasted, those firefighters and law enforcement\u2019s sacrifice will be wasted. Ladies and gentlemen, let us Never Forget,\u201d Santos said. (PR)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Stallion Battalion of the Tinian Jr.\/Sr. High School\u2019s Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps joined…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[633],"class_list":["post-308474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-jrotc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308474","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\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308474\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}