Members of the St. Thomas College Republicans group displayed 2,997 American flags on the John P. Monahan Plaza Wednesday morning to represent each person who died on Sept. 11, 2001.

The saying “never forget” echoed through the plaza as students passed by and remembered the fallen. College Republicans Vice President Andy Brown said he got the idea for the memorial from a conference in Washington, D.C. this summer.

“I figured the motto is ‘never forget’ so … let’s put it on so people don’t forget and we can remember those who were murdered on that day 12 years ago.” Brown said.

Senior Matt Jones, a College Republicans member, said the event is part of the Young Americas Foundation. The national group has been putting on memorials for years, but this is St. Thomas’ first memorial.

“The event itself is the 9/11 never forget project.” Jones said. “It’s really important just because it’s a memorial to help remember those murdered by terrorists 12 years ago today.”

Brown said the event included getting permission from campus life and ordering 2,997 flags, which took about a month.

Junior Connor Flood thinks that memorials are a great way to help people remember the tragedy that happened on 9/11.

“It’s one of the biggest tragedies in U.S. history.” Flood said. “I think if people just kind of shove it off to the side and just kind of forget about it, we really don’t pay tribute to all the people that gave their lives.”

Alison Bengtson can be reached at beng4632@stthomas.edu.