Pam Payeur of Biddeford, founder of the Wounded Heroes Program of Maine, and Maj. Adam Sachetti of the U.S. Marines will be the featured speakers in the Freeport 9/11 Remembrance, which will be held in the Freeport Fire and Rescue building, and at the nearby Sept. 11 Memorial.

Ceremonies begin Friday, Sept. 11, at 9:30 a.m.

Payeur has spoken many times at benefit events since she founded the organization in 2008 after her son, Mike, became totally disabled when an IED device connected to three propane tanks blew up during his second tour of Iraq.

The Wounded Heroes Program of Maine is a volunteer organization established to support wounded veterans when they return home. The Wounded Heroes Program provides a safety net by paying rent, utilities, phone, heating oil and more for soldiers in need.

Payeur, speaking from Washington, D.C., where she was a keynote speaker at the invitation of Sally Jewell, secretary of the Interior, said she will be addressing a Sept. 11 gathering for the first time in Freeport. Payeur said she is sad, but not angry, regarding her son’s horrible injuries, which left him with traumatic brain injury.

“As a result, I’ve met some of the most incredible humans I’ve ever met in my life,” she said.

On the 14th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America, the Freeport Flag Ladies – Carmen Footer, JoAnn Miller and Elaine Greene – once again have lined up a ceremony at the two steel beams from the World Trade Center, which have rested near the fire station since members of Freeport Masonic Lodge No. 23 arranged for them to be brought there four years ago.

“Instead of crosses put up for Maine’s fallen soldiers, we’ll place 93 flags on the pathway coming to where the steel beams are, with the names of all the fallen from Iraq and Afghanistan on them,” Greene said. “Around it all, we will place red poppies with white roses. That way we will get more people connected to a name. We might give family members a rose to place at the flags of their loved ones. That flag represents somebody who gave everything for this country.”

Footer, Miller and Greene, who wave American flags on Main Street in Freeport with anyone who wants to join them every Tuesday at 8 a.m., plan a ceremony of about 11?2 hours.

Payeur is quite happy to accept the invitation of the Freeport Flag Ladies.

“They’re the bombs,” she said. “You just want to take them home.”

Payeur said that she and her husband learned how badly the country was failing its veterans when Mike Payeur was still recovering in Texas.

“The systems were failing our wounded veterans,” she said. “Things weren’t going right. It was obvious that other young men and women in his position needed help. People were waiting a year for their benefits.”

Payeur said that the Wounded Heroes Program of Maine tries to “light a fire under some rear ends,” to speed up the process by which veterans receive needed benefits and services.

“We serve hundreds of veterans,” she said. “We’ve held many events to raise money to serve them.”

The Rev. Sandy Williams, pastor of the Freeport Baptist Church, will say the opening and closing prayers. Ginger Smith of Auburn, who sings patriotic songs at events such as this, will sing the National Anthem.

“She’s a very patriotic woman with a beautiful voice,” Greene said.

Children will join Dave Pasquarello, a member of the Maine Songwriters’ Association, as he plays piano and sings a song he wrote about Sept. 11. Two firefighters will play “Taps” on bugles, followed by a performance by the Maine Public Safety Fife and Drum Corps. Patriotic motorcycle organizations will bring in two wreaths, one to a police officer and one to a firefighter, which after the ceremony will be placed on the beams.

The Freeport Flag Ladies get good attendance for their Sept. 11 ceremonies by sending invitations to different organizations and to military families who have lost someone.

“It’s a feeling of sadness,” Greene said, “but it’s also a feeling of American pride, that we can get through anything. There will be all kinds of emotions.”

Freeport’s Sept. 11 Memorial will be the focus of ceremonies next week planned by the Freeport Flag Ladies.File photoPam Payeur, founder of the Wounded Heroes Program of Maine, stands next to the American flag during an event for veterans at Fenway Park. Payeur will speak during the Freeport 9/11 Remembrance ceremony next week.Courtesy photo.