ARLINGTON — “If this was just about 9/11, we probably would have dropped it by now,” Jim Barron said. “But we’ve kept it going to honor all of our fallen comrades, and their families, since then, too.”

Barron is the service officer for Arlington American Legion Post 76 and he hopes that the community will join him at Legion Park, Sept. 11 at 7 p.m., to remember the military members who lost their lives, not only on Sept. 11, 2001, but also in Afghanistan and Iraq in the years since then.

“Since it’s not on the weekend, we’re trying to give people a chance to get off work, get home, relax and maybe even have some dinner before they join us,” Barron said.

Barron admitted that last year’s ceremony attracted sparse attendance, since construction on Olympic Avenue prevented them from holding it in Legion Park and confusion about the unique layout of Terrace Park caused many would-be attendees to miss it.

This year, Barron promised that representatives of the local police and fire departments, as well as from the city of Arlington itself, would be on hand to help honor the fallen veterans and he hopes to enlist a local Navy representative as well.

“People are still going off to fight and die, and we want to remember all of them,” Barron said. “It’s not only 9/11, because all of these servicemen and women are still giving their lives. Every day you hear about more of them cashing it in over there, and it matters to me.”