By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Four memorial markers and four evergreen trees, off to one side of the municipal building, are all that is left to remember the four Plainsboro Township residents who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack at the World Trade Center in New York City.
Last week, on the 14th anniversary of the attack, Mayor Peter Cantu and Township Committee, police, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and Boy Scouts gathered to commemorate the event that killed nearly 3,000 people.
Joanne Petto, the Plainsboro Police Department chaplain, welcomed the small group of attendees and thanked them for taking the time to lay a wreath and pay homage to those who died. Since the terror attacks, more than 1,000 first responders who went to Ground Zero have become ill, she said.
Mayor Cantu noted that “this is an important event. It’s a day for everyone to come together to remember” those who lost their lives, he said, including the first responders who “bravely responded and were killed, or died of disease.”
Deputy Mayor Neil Lewis also thanked the attendees for joining together to ensure that the community never forgets Sept. 11, 2001. The site “provides a living memorial to the four Plainsboro residents who died at the World Trade Center on that day,” he said.
“It is a continuing tribute to all those lost on 9/11, with special recognition of the emergency responders who gave their lives in the service of their community,” the deputy mayor said. He noted that a piece of steel from one of the towers is on display outside the Municipal Courtroom, as “a meaningful addition to the township’s chain of remembrance of that day.”
“We still recall with gratitude that Plainsboro’s own public safety units — fire, police and rescue — all responded to the call for assistance in support of New York City’s police, fire and rescue units,” Deputy Mayor Lewis said.
Township Committee members Ed Yates, David Binder and Nuran Nabi also acknowledged the efforts of the first responders. Mr. Yates commented that listening to a 14-year-old boy or girl read off the name of a parent who died that day — during memorial services — “speaks volumes to me.”
State Senator Linda R. Greenstein, who also participated in the ceremony, said she remembered meeting with the families of the victims who lived in the towns that she represented in the state’s 14th Legislative District. She was serving in the State Assembly at that time.
Sen. Greenstein’s family also was touched by the terror attack. Her brother-in-law, Aaron Greenstein, was a police officer with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey who responded to Ground Zero. He died recently, but whether it was related to his rescue efforts 14 years ago is not known, she said.
“No question, what happened at the World Trade Center affected him for the rest of his life. Every one of us has been touched in one way or another (by 9/11). Pray that nothing like this ever happens again,” Sen. Greenstein said.
And one by one, as the names of the four victims were read off — Robert Devitt, Jeffrey Fox, James Potorti and Suresh Yanamadala — a Plainsboro Fire Department firefighter tugged gently on a rope to ring a small bell in their memory.
