KENNESAW, GA — The Kiwanis Club of Marietta gathered at the base of Kennesaw Mountain Friday morning for a memorial service marking 25 years since the Sept. 11 attacks.

The service began at 7:55 a.m. alongside the club’s Field of Flags, where 2,977 American flags have been placed to represent each person who died on Sept. 11, 2001.

“For us we just want the community as well as all of us to never forget,” Marietta Kiwanis President Ernie Wagoner Jr. said.

As part of the service, organizers are reading aloud the names of all 2,977 people who lost their lives.

“We will read all 2,977 names that lost their lives,” Wagoner said.

Wagoner said he hopes the display itself also serves as a reminder to people passing Kennesaw Mountain.

“You just never know what may speak to somebody’s heart, driving by the mountain seeing all of those flags flying and realizing what that was all about,” Wagoner said.

For Wagoner, Sept. 11 also carries a personal memory. His wife, a Delta Air Lines flight attendant, had flown from Atlanta to Paris that day. Wagoner said he later received confirmation from the airline that she was safe on the ground in Paris, where she remained for six days before returning home.

The Field of Flags will remain in place through Sept. 19.

WSB Radio’s Ashley Simmons & Lisa Nicholas contributed to this story.