HILLSBOROUGH: Fire companies will mark 9-11 with observances

Route 206 squad completes its steel-beam monument

By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
   Two Hillsborough fire companies will hold 9-11 remembrance ceremonies Tuesday, the 11th anniversary of the air terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.
   Fire Company No. 2 will unveil its memorial — topped with a three-foot-long twisted piece of steel from one of the collapsed World Trade Center towers — in a ceremony that starts at 9:45 a.m. at the Route 206 firehouse.
   Fire Company No. 3 will gather at its Garden of Honor with its own memorial, which also features a piece of hallowed steel, at its firehouse at 324 Woods Road at 7 p.m.
   Both ceremonies will honor the 343 firefighters, 23 police officers, 37 Port Authority and other emergency service responders who gave their lives that day. The public is encouraged to attend.
   Former chiefs in both departments have organized the events.
   Tim Coyle said the Woods Road ceremony will feature the readings of names by members of the fire company, Police Chief Paul Kaminsky and members of the fire auxiliary.
   Patrick Kelly of Company 2 said the names of the deceased responders would be read following the symbolic ringing of a fire truck bell.
   Mr. Kelly said the company was putting finishing touches this week on a granite pedestal that will hold the honored steel beam piece, whose torqued bolts hint at the violent trauma of the building’s collapse. An etching on the front of the pedestal will encourage people to “never forget.”
   The beam was received last year for the 10th year anniversary of the attacks, but not in time to be incorporated into a permanent podium.
   The Woods Road company completed its memorial in time for last year’s ceremony, and a rose garden has been planted and flowered around the memorial, said Mr. Coyle. Mr. Coyle said it’s planned for Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, a Hillsborough resident, to speak, and for the Somerset Pipe and Drum Corps to play. Mr. Coyle said he’ll invoke his Irish tenor to lead the “Star Spangled Banner.”
   Mr. Kelly said it’s human nature to expect public interest to wane, but he encouraged the public to come out to show ‘we’ll never forget’ “weren’t just words,” he said.
   Elsewhere, Somerset County Freeholders will place a wreath in front of the county’s 9/11 memorial at the corner of Main and Bridge streets in Somerville on Tuesday.
   At 8:46 a.m. – the time when the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center 11 years ago – the ceremony will begin with a brief tolling of the bell at the top of the nearby historic courthouse.
   ”Innocent Souls,” a song by the late Don Ross, will be played after the Freeholders read the names of the 39 Somerset County residents killed in the attacks.
   The placement of the wreath will be followed by a moment of silence and another brief bell-tolling to conclude the ceremony.
   Flags at county facilities will be flown at half-staff in accordance with the congressional mandate passed in December 2001.
   Montgomery Township Volunteer Fire Company No. 2 will hold a ceremony Sunday, Sept. 9, at 1 p.m. to mark the completion and dedication of its 9/11 Memorial at the fire house at 529 Route 518, Skillman. This memorial was designed and hand built by members of Station 46.
   Also on Tuesday, the annual September 11 memorial golf outing will be held at Neshanic Valley Golf Course. The event, open to the public, will raise funds for several charities in the name of fallen heroes. Registration and lunch begin at 11 a.m., with scramble play starting at 1 p.m. Following golf, dinner will be served.
   Proceeds support the Adam P. Arias Memorial Fund, which gives scholarships at Hillsborough High School to students who are, or are children of, first responders. Among other beneficiaries is the Somerset Hills Learning Institute and theHillsborough PBA (for the benefit of Travis Oldenberg, son of township police officer Trevor Oldenburg.)
   On Sept. 11, 2001 Adam Arias lost his life in the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City as helped others as he came down from his 84th floor office in Tower 2.
   For information contact Tom Arias at 908-874-5955 or www.memorialgolf.org.