SCARBOROUGH — At a ceremony Sunday marking the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Scarborough Fire Chief Michael Thurlow noted that most of the young people chosen to read out the names of those killed had little to no memory of the event.

He urged the adults in the crowd of about 200 at the Dunstan Fire Station to share their memories with the post-9/11 generation.

“Let’s never forget. Pass our memories on,” said Thurlow.

The Scarborough ceremony was one of nearly a dozen events Sunday around southern Maine honoring the nearly 3,000 people killed in the attacks on New York City, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania carried out by al-Qaida. A ceremony led by the Freeport Flag Ladies drew about 300 flag-waving participants and spectators, including U.S. Sen. Susan Collins.

Two of the hijackers spent the night before the attacks at the Comfort Inn in South Portland before flying out of Portland International Jetport to Boston, where they started their fateful flight to New York and the World Trade Center.

The victims from Maine included retirees Jackie and Robert Norton of Lubec and James Roux, a Portland lawyer. All three died on the hijacked flights. Stephen Ward, a Gorham native, died in the north tower of the World Trade Center and Navy Cmdr. Robert Allen Schlegel, who grew up in Gray, at the Pentagon.

The Scarborough remembrance included color guards from the town’s fire and police departments, the ringing of a bell to mark the collapse of the trade center’s south tower and the reading of a firefighter’s prayer.

Members of several Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops and student firefighters read out the names of police officers and firefighters killed in the attacks.

Austin McKearney, 19, a student firefighter in Scarborough, said he has no memory of the events that day.

“It’s good that we do this to show our respect,” he said.

Andrew Bulduc, 15, of Scarborough was only 3 months old on Sept. 11, 2001. He said he has seen videos of the burning towers in New York.

“I know a little bit about it,” Andrew said.

Several young people at the ceremony said they have absorbed their parents’ memories of the attacks.

Noelle Breen, 17, of Scarborough said her mother talks about that day with her.

“My mom told me that she was feeding my brother and me when she learned about it,” she said.

Madeline Shields, 14, of Scarborough said her mother was on a flight when the attacks took place.

“The world has changed. There is so much more security,” Madeline said.

In Freeport, traffic backed up on both sides of Main Street as the Freeport Flag Ladies led their 15th – and final – 9/11 anniversary ceremony. The Maine Public Safety Pipe & Drum Corps played while passing motorists beeped their horns.

Elaine Green, one of the three original Flag Ladies, said they are dropping the annual observance in part because, 15 years later, they are getting old. Also, Green said, they are feeling increasingly discouraged by the escalating divisiveness in the country that makes achieving goals impossible and eclipses the positive events.

“There is a lot of positive stuff,” said Green.

The women still plan to appear every Tuesday at the corner of Main Street and School Street, which they have done every week since the attacks.

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