Remembering 9-11 after eighteen years

On Tuesday evening, Sept. 11, the skies were clear and so it was very much like the sunny day 18 years ago when terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, all bound for California and loaded with fuel, to attack the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and an unknown target in Washington, D.C.

That last plan was foiled by the brave actions of the passengers on United Flight 93 out of Newark, which included one Warwick resident, Linda Gronlund of Greenwood Lake, when it crashed in a western Pennsylvania field.

On this Sept. 11, at 6 p.m. Past Warwick Fire Department Chief Jason Brasier welcomed local residents, public officials, veterans and members of the Warwick Police, Ambulance Corps and Fire Departments, and others gathered in Veterans Memorial Park who were there to honor the victims of that attack, especially those who lived in Warwick.

“As we gather today to remember our fallen heroes and neighbors,” he said, “I ask that you please keep the members of the armed forces in your thoughts and prayers as they continually protect us.”

Warwick Fire Department Chaplain Rev. Jack Arlotta, pastor of the RC Church of St. Stephen, the First Martyr, gave the invocation.

State and local officials gave moving talks about their memories of that fateful day and their appreciation for the sacrifices of the first responders and the members of the military who are fighting against. terrorism.

Mayor Michael Newhard, for example, recalled that on the evening of the attack, he and many other residents spontaneously assembled in Memorial Park for a silent vigil.

“Our lives,” he said, “had been changed forever.”

During the ceremony representatives of the Police Department, Fire Department and Ambulance Corps laid wreaths at the Warwick Citizens World Trade Center Memorial.

Then everyone stood silently, heads bowed as Brasier read of the names of the local residents who perished in the attacks while Fire Department Past Chief Frank Fotino struck a ceremonial bell for each victim.

The ceremony concluded with a benediction, the solemn drone of the bagpipe played by Scott Lemin and the bugler playing "Taps."

- Roger Gavan