North Forkers commemorate Sept. 11, 25 years later
Twenty-five years have passed since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks claimed nearly 3,000 lives, but the memory of that day remains deeply rooted on the North Fork.
Across each community, residents and students are marking the anniversary with ceremonies, moments of silence and stories honoring those who were lost.
Alongside a small tree planted after the attacks by Greenport High School’s class of 1952, community members, village officials and firefighters stood shoulder to shoulder on the Greenport Fire Department’s lawn.
“(My mother) asked me to bring her down to see the tree. When we saw it, we were both surprised by its appearance,” said Kathleen Carey, who’s mother, Renee, is a class of ’52 graduate. “It has a very short trunk, and the branches shoot out in all directions. I told her it looks like chaos, which is appropriate for the day.”
Frank Musto, the fire department’s chaplain, led the group in a prayer before sharing his own memories from that day. He was a teacher at the time, and was teaching a third-grade class in Brooklyn when the entire room saw smoke.
“From the window of my classroom, we saw the smoke rising, and then all of a sudden there was panic,” Mr. Musto recalled. “We didn’t have a radio, we had no idea what was going on; we heard people running in the hallways. Our hearts and sorrow go out to the men and women who died, and to the children, families and friends they left behind.”
Brooklyn resident Randy Gordon shared that he was in Manhattan that day, and even walked through the World Trade Center plaza early in the morning.
The Mattituck-Cutchogue School District hosted a ceremony to start the school day, welcoming students, staff, Cutchogue Fire Department, Southold Police Department and ROTC cadets for a raising of a massive American flag using ladder trucks.
Flags were also placed alongside the school’s main path through the lawn.
“We remember the police officers, firefighters, EMTs, and all who ran toward danger to protect others,” the police department said on Facebook. “We remember their families, the survivors, and all those whose lives were forever changed that day. Their courage and sacrifice remain an enduring reminder of our duty to serve and protect our communities.”
Greenport School District also gathered for a similar ceremony alongside Southold Police, Greenport and East Marion Fire Departments and ROTC cadets.
“Greenport UFSD gathered to commemorate the 25th anniversary of September 11 and honor the lives lost, the heroes who responded, and all those forever impacted,” the district said on Facebook. “We will never forget.”
Members of the Southold Town 9/11 Committee and local Scouts will welcome the public to Jean Cochran Park beginning at 5 p.m., where residents will place 2,977 American flags throughout. At 6 p.m., local fire departments will hold a 15-minute remembrance ceremony. The public is invited to remain at the park until all the flags have been placed.
Each flag will honor one of the victims killed when 19 Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes, crashing two into the World Trade Center towers in New York City and another into the Pentagon. Passengers and crew members aboard the fourth plane, Flight 93, fought back against the hijackers before the aircraft crashed near Shanksville, Pa.
The attacks claimed the lives of 2,753 in New York, 184 at the Pentagon and 40 aboard Flight 93.
Riverhead Town held its own 25th-anniversary memorial ceremony at 10 a.m. Sept. 11 at World Trade Center Memorial Park, at the corner of Edwards and Riley avenues in Calverton.
A separate National Day of Service will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, at Calverton National Cemetery. Following a brief ceremony, volunteers will spend several hours weeding the cemetery’s planting beds.
