'Very much worth remembering:' Foundation marks anniversary of 9/11 and Benghazi attack

The 9/11 Honor and Serve Foundation is once again hosting its annual Patriot Day 9/11 remembrance ceremony on Quarter Circle Road today, remembering the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and Sept. 11, 2012.

Since 2014, the group has conducted the ceremony at the only known memorial to the four who lost their lives in the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012: U.S. Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and Information Officer, Sean Smith. Last year marked the only time the ceremony was held elsewhere, as the group hosted a large crowd for the 20th anniversary of attacks in 2001.

“Last year was crazy. Of course, it was the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, 2021, which garnered more attention,” said Bill Thomas, foundation founder and president. “There was a greater loss of life that day and it was more complex than what happened in Benghazi. We also know the Benghazi 9/11 has had a much smaller impact on us as a country, but we still see it as very much worth remembering.”

While this year marks the 10th anniversary of the Benghazi attack, the foundation does not expect as large a crowd as last year.

This year’s event gets underway at 4 p.m. and features an honor guard, the national anthem, a ceremonial folding of the flag, the playing of Taps and the arrival of the U.S. flag and the flags of the three states (Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania) where the 2001 attacks occured by horseback.

The keynote speaker for this year’s event will be Jimmy Graham, a former U.S. Navy SEAL and CIA security contractor, who was the interim Benghazi Annex CIA security leader and transitioned command of the team just 3 weeks before the 2012 attack.

Refreshments will be available at a social gathering after the ceremony, followed by a showing of the movie “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.”

“We’ve been joking to people that if you have never seen an outdoor movie in the middle of an elk preserve, this is your chance,” Thomas said.

The event is free to the public, but those wishing to stay for the movie are asked to RSVP on the foundation’s website at www.9-11honorandserve.com/2022-event/.

THE BENGHAZI memorial and the annual remembrance event trace their roots back to 2014, when Thomas read a Bigfork Eagle news article about Charles Woods, father of slain U.S. Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods, and his move to Bigfork, Montana.

Thomas contacted his good friend and Montana ranch owner, Doug Averill, and the pair began planning what would become the Benghazi memorial, which showcases a majestic bronze eagle with a six-foot wingspan mounted on its top and a naturally flat stone front that displays a bronze plaque featuring the names of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

Unfortunately, Charles Woods moved away from Bigfork before the memorial was completed, but Thomas and Averill decided to forge ahead.

“It seemed like moving forward with the project was the right thing to do, so we went ahead and dedicated the monument in 2014,” Thomas said.

In Nov. 2014, Mark Geist, John Tiegen and Kris Paronto, about whom the book “13 Hours” was written, came to visit the monument and remember their fallen comrades. The three men were members of the special operations force team who fought and survived the Benghazi attack.

After the group found there was no other memorial in the United States honoring all four victims of the Benghazi attack, the decision was made to hold the 9/11 remembrance ceremony each year moving forward.

Thomas and the Honor and Serve Foundation are proud to once again host the ceremony this afternoon.

“It will be a visually beautiful and patriotic ceremony and everyone is invited. We are not worried about ideology, we are focused on remembrance,” he said. “There really is nowhere else for people in the Flathead Valley to go to celebrate Patriot Day. There is nowhere else here where people can go and remember the events of 9/11. We are glad to be able to provide a venue for that.”