NATCHEZ — A police car and fire truck led a walking procession of McLaurin Elementary students and teachers around the school Friday — as the students toted homemade American flags and patriotic banners.

The third- and fourth-grade students were either too young to remember the event that altered U.S. history nine years ago or had not yet been born.

But when the twin towers fell on Sept. 11, 2001, Assistant Principal Daisy West recalled a fresh memory of a shocking, sad and confusing day.

“I didn’t know how to feel,” West said.

After the shock of watching the second plane fly into the south tower on live TV subsided, West said a domino effect of questions about foreign relations and national security began to roll through her own and everyone else’s minds.

Aside from honoring the nearly 3,000 victims and heroes who lost their lives, understanding the answers to those questions is one reason children should memorialize the event, 9/11 memorial walk coordinator LaTanya Jefferson said.

Jefferson, an AmeriCorps reading tutor at McLaurin, said participating in the memorial walk gave children an opportunity to learn about the events that occurred on today’s date in 2001 — and what those events meant.

Jefferson said understanding the terror attacks gives children a better idea about what the United States is going through right now.

Another important gesture of the walk was to pay tribute to the tragedies that occurred in New York City, Washington D.C., and in a Pennsylvania field that day.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to forget something like that,” Jefferson said.

Before the walk, 12 junior Americops student volunteers let go of red, white and blue balloons, sending attached notes paying tribute to 9/11 victims and victims’ families into the sky.

One student said she hoped her balloon landed near U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Firemen and a sergeant in the National Guard also attended the memorial walk, shaking hands and talking with students, who were eager to show their appreciation.

President of the firefighters association, Robert Arrington, attended the walk. He said McLaurin has done a good job teaching students what happened on 9/11 and helping them understand implications of the attacks.

Arrington said Sept. 11 is an opportunity to remember the brave individuals in his field that lost their lives, and also an opportunity to reflect upon the lessons learned from the disaster.

West said the walk provided an venue for children to ask their teachers questions, such as “What happened?,” “Why did it happen?” and “What is a hero?”

Teachers can then explain the historic event in the children’s terms, West said.

The walk also made children acknowledge local heroes, such as military, police and firemen, who make sacrifices in their line of work on a daily basis in Natchez, West said.