9/11 tribute, candlelight remembrance

SAN MARCOS — David T. Simchik will be the featured speaker at a 9-11 tribute presentation sponsored by the Geography Department at Texas State University-San Marcos.

The Sept. 11 event will take place at 7 p.m. in the Alkek Library Teaching Theater on the Texas State campus, with a candlelight remembrance following immediately afterward on the Quad. The talk and remembrance are open to the public at no charge, and candles will be provided. Members of the San Marcos Police Department, Fire Department and EMS will be honored at both the talk and remembrance.

Simchik, a licensed funeral director at Goetz Funeral Home in Seguin, is a mortuary officer for the National Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT) now of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The DMORT team is a part of the larger National Emergency Response Team that, under the direction of President George W. Bush, rushed to New York after the horrors of September 11, 2001. Simchik played an important role in the recovery and identification of the remains of the victims of the attack. In his presentation, he will give a firsthand account of the day-to-day operations at “Ground Zero” during the first month after the tragedy.

For additional information contact Angelika Wahl at (518) 245-1334 or al07@txstate.edu.