USF Sarasota-Manatee campus 9/11 Remembrance Event set for Sarasota National Cemetery

The University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus will remember victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and pay tribute to survivors, first responders, members of the military and their families, during a remembrance event on Monday, Sept. 11, at Sarasota National Cemetery.

Usually held on the Sarasota-Manatee campus, the annual remembrance event is being moved this year to Patriot Plaza on the cemetery grounds off State Road 72 in Sarasota, to avoid interfering with ongoing construction of a new student center and residence hall on campus. The event will start at 8:30 a.m. 

The featured speaker at the remembrance event on Sept. 11, which is organized by the Sarasota-Manatee campus and the USF Office of Veteran Success, is retired firefighter Matt Bruce. USF Federal Credit Union is the title sponsor. 

Bruce was injured during the attack on the World Trade Center while a state fire inspector on duty with the Fire Department of New York on Sept. 11, 2001. He is aVietnam War Army veteran and the recipient of two Purple Hearts and Bronze and Silver stars. 

The ceremony will also include remarks from USF Sarasota-Manatee campus Regional Chancellor Karen Holbrook, patriotic performances by the Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School children’s choir, a bagpiper playing “Amazing Grace,” a moment of silence, a 21-gun-salute and a bugler playing "Taps." 

For more information, visit the USF webpage for the 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony. To RSVP, click here or email event organizer Carlos Moreira at cjmoreira@usf.edu