By John Tredrea, Special Writer
The Hopewell Valley Sept. 11 and Emergency Services Memorial Committee will hold its annual ceremony on Sept. 8 at 11 a.m. at the Sept. 11 and Emergency Services Memorial, located in Hopewell Township’s Alliger Park.
The park is on the north side of Washington Crossing-Pennington Road (Route 546), just west of the township’s Public Works building.
Michael Chipowsky, chairman of the event, said “the center of the memorial site is a 10-ton section of World Trade Center steel that was recovered from the ruins of the Sept.11, 2001 terrorist attack and brought to Hopewell Valley on Aug. 16, 2011.”
”At the service, we will remember all the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, as well as all of the Hopewell Valley emergency service members — police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel — who have passed away,” said Mr. Chipowsky, a retired Hopewell Township police chief and longtime member of the Union Fire Company in Titusville.
The memorial service will last about an hour. Attendees are asked to bring a lawn chair. A light lunch will be provided.
Playing music at the memorial service again this year will be the Pipes and Drums of Atlantic Watch, from Red Bank. “They were with us last year and did a great job,” Mr. Chipowsky said.
Keynote speaker will be Sam Plumeri Jr., who became head of the Port Authority shortly after the attack on the World Trade Center. “Sam brings a unique perspective on what the memorial is about,” Mr. Chipowsky said.
During the service, the names of “local heroes” — police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel — who died during the past five years — will be read aloud by the chiefs of their respective organizations.
”We’ll ring the memorial bell after each name is read,” Mr. Chipowsky said.
The memorial site is a work in progress.
”People and organizations have been very generous with their donations,” Mr. Chipowsky said.
Planned for completion in the next year is installation of a “Walk of Heroes.”
Individual bricks in the walk will bear the names of local heroes who have died.
”Our plan is to go back in time and retrieve as many names as we can,” Mr. Chipowsky said. “We’ll do the best we can to make sure everyone is remembered.”
He said the memorial site, already a special place, will be even more unique and important when it’s finished.
”It will be a good, quiet place to go and reflect,” he concluded.
