GREAT FALLS — Motorcyclists from across Montana traveled through Great Falls on Friday evening to remember the lives lost in the September 11 attacks 25 years ago.
WATCH: Great Falls honors 25 years since 9/11 with a memorial ride
The annual 9/11 Memorial Ride is organized by the Montana chapter of the U.S. Veterans Motorcycle Club. Riders gather at the former AgriVillage and U-Haul lot on 10th Avenue South before heading west through the city. The route follows Overlook Drive and River Drive and ends at the Montana Veterans Memorial for a ceremony.
Motorcyclists are not the only ones who take part. Firefighters from across Cascade County, including Malmstrom Air Force Base, join law enforcement officers and tow-truck drivers along the route.
As the procession passed, drivers pulled over, and people lined the sidewalks to watch and show their support.
For retired Air Force airman Williams Rangel, it was his first year on the ride. He was on his second deployment when the Sept. 11 attacks happened. He remembers hearing something was wrong at the base exchange over the radio, then seeing the news on television when he and his fellow airmen went to lunch.
“We saw the second plane hit the tower, and we knew it was for real,” Rangel said. “The alarms at the base that we were at went off, and we had to run and get our gear and get in the bunker.”
Rangel said he joined the ride to remember those who died and service members whose lives were changed in the years that followed.
“This is my way, a small way to contribute to that memory,” he said.
Gerry “Smiley” Knight, a Montana Patriot Guard Rider, said he has taken part for about 15 years. He was joined by Jeff McWilliams and McWilliams’ grandson, James Schriver, who have shared the ride for four years.
“It’s nice to know that more people care,” James said of seeing others take part.
The ride ended with a ceremony at the Montana Veterans Memorial. On a wall there, the words “Lest We Forget” capture the message the riders carried through Great Falls.
