EDISON – Eighteen years ago, Councilman Robert Diehl was teaching high school history, trying to grasp the scope of devastation, horror and heartbreak of the news on Sept. 11, 2001.
“It was first period when the assistant principal came to my door and said that a plane had hit one of the World Trade towers,” he recalled. “We all thought that probably some small plane from one of the local airports went afoul and hit one of the towers.”
Now, as a principal at the same school, he addressed the entire school about the events of the day and what followed.
“What was so interesting … most of the students in the school district high school, most of them were not born 18 years ago and if they were they were too small to remember anything, but what struck me was they were so respectful … so understanding of the gravity of the ceremony they were participating in,” Diehl said.
Diehl spoke at Edison’s Sept. 11 remembrance ceremony at Papaianni Park’s 9/11 Memorial Fountain on Sept. 11.
The fountain was designed by students from both the township public high schools – Edison High School and John P. Stevens (JPS) High School – in honor of those who were killed, including 10 of its own – Kevin Sanford Cohen, Prem N. Jerath, Sheldon R. Kanter, Vincent A. Laieta, Brian E. Martineau, Kaaria Mbaya, Manish K. Patel, Deepika Kumar Sattaluri, Scott M. Schertzer and Edward T. Strauss.
“As Americans, we must never forget the 2,977 innocent people who died senselessly on Sept. 11, 2001, including over 700 New Jersey residents and 10 from Edison Township,” said Mayor Thomas Lankey, who led the ceremony. “I encourage our community to come together to honor our victims and to pray tragedies like this never happen again.”
This year marks 18 years since the attacks, which killed close to 3,000 people when four passenger airliner planes were hijacked by al-Queda, an Islamic terrorist group. Two planes slammed into the World Trade Center buildings in New York City and one plane hit the Pentagon building in Washington D.C. Another hijacked plane – Flight 93 – initially headed to Washington D.C., was thwarted by passengers and crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Diehl said Sept. 11, 2001, changed the world and changed how they go about their lives each and every day. He said his students and the generation now understand that.
“They understand what terror is, they understand the need to be safe … it really hasn’t left us in 18 years,” he said.
During the ceremony, members of the JPS Chamber Ensemble led by Matthew Lee sang the National Anthem; Boy Scout Troop 110 and Girl Scout Troop 80230 led the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance; Bishop Nikolaos G. Brown of Ignite Church in Fords led the invocation, Cantor Hazzan Sheldon Levin of Temple Neve Shalom in Metuchen sang “America the Beautiful” and Father Anthony Sirianni of St. Helena’s Roman Catholic Church led the benediction.
The Edison Police and Edison Fire honor guards stood in honor, Bob Magnella played “Amazing Grace” on the bagpipes, Shriyaus Lingham of JPS played “Taps” on the trumpet.
Dignitaries shared their remarks including members of the Edison Township Council, State Sen. Patrick Diegnan (D-NJ), Assemblyman and former Edison Councilman Robert Karabinchak (D-NJ), Assemblywoman Nancy Pinkin (D-NJ) and Middlesex Freeholder Deputy Director Charles Tomaro.
Police Detective Mike Michalski, who is also part of the Edison Police Honor Guard, shared his experiences when he and members of the department went to New York City in the days after the terror attacks to help.
Contact Kathy Chang at [email protected].