REMEMBERING 9/11: A family at GMC honors their father who died while serving in Afganastan

MILLEDGEVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Today on 9/11, we remember the emergency responders , citizens and soldiers who lost their lives 17-years ago. Georgia Military College Prep School held their 5th Annual Patriot Day Ceremony, this morning.

On Patriot Day, the French family honors the lives lost on 9/11. From all of the names of the parished, written on Georgia Military College’s sidewalk by students, one is very familiar.

“In 2000, he was released from the Navy and had already joined the National Guard. With the National Guard he’d help out with causes like 9/11,” Madison French said.

12-year-old Madison and 14-year-olds Alexis and Alex French remember their father, Alex French IV.

At the time, Madison was two and Alexis and Alex were five when their father and his team drove over a bomb while serving in Afganastan.

“He was injured internally,” Alexis and Alex said.

Causing him to pass away

Along with their dad, GMC is honoring lives lost by writing out their names and a wreath laying.

“In order for them to learn, I think they need to have a personal connection to it and this is one of the ways we can give them a personal connection. To give them a list of names and ask them to spend some time reflecting on the fact that, a lot of these people got up, went to work and never came home,” teacher at GMC Colonial Scott Seagraves said.

According to Seagraves, many students in the prep school weren’t alive in 2001. By recording those names, he says it gives them a reason to look back on what happened.

“You watch our cadets as they write and as they a lot of them draw pictures and leave personal messages. Come out and walk through. I don’t know how to describe it, it’s just a sense of awe,” Colonial Seagraves said.

During GMC’s ceremony, Newday USA, a veterans mortgage company, awarded scholarships to students affected by 9/11.