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MOULTRIE, GA -- Just days before the tenth anniversary of Sept. 11th, Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle gathered first responders from all parts of Southwest Georgia to say one simple thing: Thank you.

“Remembering 9/11 has really been able to unite us as a nation and it really allows us to have the opportunity to say to so many who put their lives on the line every day, thank you,” says Cagle, “Thank you for the love of your country, thank you for the love of your community, thank you for the love of your neighbor.”

Cagle told first responders that regardless of the consequences, they are always ready to rise to the occasion.

“Those sacrifices that they make are not unnoticed; we do notice them and we appreciate that commitment,” he says.

Local first responders appreciated Cagle’s visit and expression of gratitude.

“It was an honor for him to come down and speak with us and for us not to forget and I think that's very, very important,” says Lowndes County Sheriff Chris Prine.

“We're just so appreciative of the Lt. Governor taking time out of his busy schedule to include South Georgia,” says Colquitt County Sheriff Al Whittington.

While the ceremony recognized and remembered first responders, people there also remembered where they were on Sept. 11, 2001.

“I remember it very vividly,” says Cagle. “I was in Gainesville crossing a railroad track when I heard it come over the radio.”

“We were at work and as a matter of fact we found out what happened and got a TV into the office,” says Whittington.

“I was with my brother, and we were at the Home Depot. They had a television set up and we walked by it and we saw the plane hit after the first plane hit,” says Prine.