Where were you when the world stopped? Where were you when the Twin Towers collapsed?
That is what keynote speaker Angelo Onofri, the Mercer County prosecutor, asked of the 30-plus people who turned out for the Hopewell Valley’s annual Sept. 11 and Emergency Services Memorial Remembrance ceremony last weekend.
The event, which was held Sept. 8 at Woolsey Park, drew residents and volunteer firefighters from the Pennington, Hopewell and Union volunteer fire companies, plus emergency medical technicians from the Hopewell Fire Department’s Emergency Medical Unit.
Michael Chipowsky, who chairs the Hopewell Valley 9/11 and Emergency Services Memorial Committee, welcomed the attendees and reminded them that 17 years ago, the United States was attacked “on a crystal clear morning.”
The attacks plunged the nation into darkness and killed nearly 3,000 people, Chipowsky said. Many more people have died since 2001 as the result of diseases and illnesses that surfaced years after they worked on the debris field trying to rescue victims, he said.
“As the years passed, the horrors of that day have softened,” Chipowsky said. “The damaged or destroyed buildings have been repaired or replaced, and the nation has returned to a nation that sometimes appears to have lost its way. But we are Americans and we will rise above it.”
In his remarks, Onofri drew a thread between the 9/11 memorial remembrance ceremonies and the actions of the late U.S. Sen. John S. McCain III.
The Arizona senator, who was a Vietnam War veteran, would visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D.C., in the early morning out of a deep sense of duty to let the military service members know they have not been forgotten, Onofri said.
Similarly, the remembrance ceremony at Woolsey Park is about letting the world know the nearly 3,000 people who were killed on Sept. 11, 2001, will not be forgotten, nor will the 6,000 people who were injured that day, Onofri said.
“We care, we remember you and you are not forgotten,” he said.
Onofri recalled that he was attending a law enforcement conference in Atlantic City when the terror attacks occurred. While initial reports indicated the first plane that struck the World Trade Center was an accident, when the second jet struck the second tower, “everything changed,” he said.
Col. Carson Dunbar, who was the commandant of the New Jersey State Police, canceled the conference. There was a sense of foreboding, but no one left immediately, he said.
Onofri said he went back to the hotel and packed. The drive from Atlantic City to Trenton was “eerie,” he said. There were very few cars on the road. People were home, watching the events unfold on television, he said.
In the days that followed, volunteers dug through the pile of debris in search of survivors, Onofri said, adding that “This was truly America and Americans at its best.”
Onofri said the World Trade Center has been rebuilt and there are many memorials of the day’s events, but “we must always be vigilant so 9/11 does not occur again. Let us always remember.”
Following Onofri’s remarks, the names of the members of the volunteer fire companies and first aid squad were read. The memorial bell was rung each time by Fire Official Andrew Fosina of the Hopewell Valley Emergency Services Unit.
The list included Richard Van Doren of the Hopewell Fire Department, and Union Fire Company and Rescue Squad members Morgan VanHise, George “Doug” Reside, John P. Milewski, Ruth S. Link of the Ladies Auxiliary and Lilian Alford.
Also, Harold Simms of the Pennington Fire Company and Zay Risinger of the Pennington First Aid Squad were remembered. Mark Leary Sr., who belonged to the Lambertville Fire Company and who was killed in a collision in Hopewell Township, also was remembered.
Wrapping up the ceremony, Hopewell Fire Department Fire Chief Joseph Novak sang “Danny Boy,” and Seth Rivkin of the Union Fire Company played “Taps.” Bagpiper Doug Conners played “Amazing Grace.”