The demo team gathers for a group photo at the 9/11 Remembrance Memorial event. Photo by Stacey Catherwood.

In Florida on September 7, Patrick Fortune of Fortune’s Flags in the Air, based at Skydive City Zephyrhills, organized two demo jumps at the Zephyrhills Museum of Military History for a 9/11 Remembrance Memorial observing the 23rd anniversary of the attacks. The event included guest speakers Stephen Spelman, a retired New York Fire Department emergency medical technician; retired Lieutenant Colonel Perry Blackburn; gold-star mother Holly Mae Staudacher; and representatives from the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.

The weather held off, and it was a gorgeous morning for the jumps. Stacey Catherwood acted as DZ safety officer and ground photographer, assisted by Karen Kanouff. Skydive City pilots Stephen Beck and Kyle Salvato took the group to altitude. Fortune and two videographers—Rian Kanouff with the Skydive First Project, a non-profit dedicated to improving mental health through adventure therapy, and Anthony Shawn Stecher—kicked off the event at 8:46 a.m., the time when the first plane struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Fortune flew a large U.S. flag and a red, white and blue streamer during the singing of the National Anthem, and the other skydivers carried a U.S. flag, a gold-star flag and several challenge coins, which they presented to distinguished guests at the ceremony. The group performed a second demo at 10:28 a.m. (the time the North Tower collapsed), with Fortune flying a larger U.S. flag, a POW/MIA flag and a red, white and blue streamer.

Stacey Catherwood | USPA #380552
Riverview, Florida