ADAMS -- Larry Tompkins was proud as a peacock.

"Did you see the way those children sat and behaved themselves?" the superintendent of Southland Public Schools said. "They were great. They were so respectful. I was proud of them."

The scene was the Adams American Legion Post No. 146 tribute to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America.

Called "A Day to Remember," similar tributes were sponsored by American Legion posts across the nation Wednesday.

The remembrance was an impressive hour-long tribute to the Sept. 11 victims as well as the "old" American heroes: police, firefighters and emergency services personnel, who met the challenge of the worst attack on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Also, it was an intergenerational salute to patriotism. Grandparents, parents and preschoolers surrounded the adults and Southland sixth through 12th grade students, who participated in the ceremonies.

It was easy for Tompkins to feel proud of his students. When flags kept toppling over in the stiff breeze that blew across the school grounds, he asked for volunteers from the students sitting on the grass. Three of them came forward to hold the flags.

Two of them were Tonya Jackson and Breanna Kjarland, both seventh graders.

Both girls learned of the attacks a year ago, while they were in school. Jackson said the news was "scary" and Kjarland said she was "just amazed" at what she heard that day.

A year later, the girls said a tribute was important and had a unifying effect and showed that Americans still hold strong emotions for the victims.

Emotion dotted Wednesday's tribute at Adams.

Tompkins was master of ceremonies. Dan May, fire chief, conducted a unique "Striking

of the Four Fives" bell-ringing ceremony for victims of the attack, including their rescuers.

Adams Post No. 146's Color Guard and Firing Squad rendered honors. Post Cmdr. Roger Jax and Post Chaplain Gary Kulow spoke from the heart.

The Rev. Shari Mason, pastor of Little Cedar and Marshall Lutheran Churches, gave the invocation and benediction.

Three Southland school district families with servicemen and women fighting in Operation Enduring Freedom received Blue Star service banners and so did the mayors of the communities in the school district.

A wreath laying ceremony was conducted to mourn the dead and guest speakers addressed the crowd.

Among them, Col. Stanley Bergan, of LeRoy, who was stationed in Zagreb, Yugoslavia a year ago with a U.S. Army peace-keeping force when the terrorist attacks occurred.

Bergan said what remains on many Americans' minds, when he admitted, "it's still hard to comprehend."

Police Chief Gordon Briggs said he sometimes wonders when he patrols the streets of Adams late at night

"waiting for whatever to happen" that he is all alone.

The thought that volunteer firefighters and emergency services personnel in small towns everywhere provide their valuable services " because they care" reminds him that he and other police men like him are never alone serving their communities.

Perhaps the most poignant moment came with Rose Schaefer, assistant mayor, was about to read a proclamation signed by Mayor Leroy Swanson.

Schaefer asked everyone to join hands and the grizzled American Legion veterans and everyone else complied.

When Larry Nerison played "Taps," the crowd stood in silence.

When the Southland High School band under the direction of director David McCormack played "American The Beautiful," for at least one more day America was, indeed, just that in Adams.

Lee Bonorden can be contacted at 434-2232 or by e-mail at

lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com