When news of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center in New York City broke on a sunny morning 17 years ago, several Lawrence Township residents – volunteer members of the Lawrence Township First Aid Squad – scrambled to help the survivors.
Next week, a memorial to Lawrence’s Sept. 11 first responders will be unveiled at a special ceremony at 9 a.m. Sept. 11 on Pilla Avenue, across from the Emergency Medical Services building. Pilla Avenue is off Lawrence Road/Route 206.
The ceremony will include remarks by Mayor Christopher Bobbitt, first responders Dean Acquaviva and Kenneth Kandrac, and a wreath-laying ceremony. The Lawrence Township Police Department is sending its honor guard.
The memorial to Lawrence Township’s first responders includes a 12- by 12-inch piece of steel from the World Trade Center, said Marie Tagliaferri, who suggested creating the small park and memorial. She is a trustee of the first aid squad.
“We want to dedicate it to all first responders for their dedication and selflessness,” Tagliaferri said of the memorial, which is a large slab of stone that is topped off with the steel from the World Trade Center.
Acquaviva, who volunteered with the first aid squad, agreed it is time to honor the people from Lawrence Township who gave their time and energy in an effort to make a difference. It is an opportunity to honor all first responders – police officers, emergency medical technicians and firefighters, he said.
Retired Lawrence Township police officer Michael Yeh is one of those first responders. He responded to the World Trade Center as a member of New Jersey Task Force One, which is the state’s urban search and rescue team. The team is made up of specially trained rescuers.
The first aid squad members who also responded on Sept. 11 were Acquaviva, Kandrac, David Miele and Sue Fabian. They took the squad’s heavy rescue truck and traveled to northern New Jersey.
The four volunteers spent the night and then drove back to Lawrence Township. They had set up triage stations to help the injured, but the triage stations were not needed.