Morris County marks 25th anniversary of 9/11, remembers 64 residents killed in attacks
PARSIPPANY-TROY HILLS, N.J. (Morris County) — Families of victims joined first responders, public officials and community members Sunday evening at the Morris County 9/11 Memorial to mark the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and remember the 64 county residents who were killed.
“A quarter of a century has passed, but the pain of that day does not simply vanish. It lives quietly in the background of our lives,” said Commissioner Director Stephen H. Shaw, as he delivered a welcome address. “That is why we are here. It is our responsibility — our solemn duty — to ensure the next generation understands what happened, who was lost, and how Americans responded.”
The keynote address was delivered by Dennis Letts, a retired U.S. Secret Service executive and Tunnel to Towers Foundation ambassador who was working at the World Trade Center when the attacks began. Letts helped evacuate thousands from the towers, later assisted Fire Department of New York paramedics at 7 World Trade Center and helped evacuate civilians from Lower Manhattan aboard a New York Waterway ferry after the towers collapsed. He received the U.S. Secret Service Medal of Valor for his actions.
“In the midst of unimaginable chaos, I was witnessing extraordinary humanity,” Letts said, describing the thousands of people making their way down the World Trade Center stairwells.
“September 11 revealed the very worst of humanity. But it also revealed something even greater. The extraordinary capacity of ordinary people to do extraordinary things … The image of people coming down those stairs has stayed with me ever since,” Letts added. “They were frightened. Many were injured. Yet almost every person was helping someone else.”
“People simply saw a need and they acted. People like the first responders here tonight. In the midst of unimaginable tragedy, I witnessed extraordinary goodness,” said Letts. “This is the America I remember from September 11th.”
During the ceremony, Commissioner Tayfun Selen spoke about a new bronze plaque added to the county’s 9/11 Memorial featuring a poem written by Mark Viglione about his uncle, FDNY Firefighter Thomas Sabella. Sabella, a member of Ladder Co. 13, was killed while responding to the attacks. His sister, Loretta Viglione, read the poem during the ceremony.
Commissioner Christine Myers connected the candle-lighting ceremony with a performance of “Danny Boy” by Darren O’Neill, Patricia Lazzara and Merynda Adams.
“It is a kerfuffle that disappeared in the smoke of the Twin Towers, the carnage at the Pentagon and wreckage in a Pennsylvania field — as did so many other issues that had been dividing our nation,” Myers said. “In the face of the attacks, we Americans came together to mourn our dead, to deliver justice and to promise that we will never forget.”
Commissioners Doug Cabana and Tom Mastrangelo read the names of the 64 Morris County residents who died on Sept. 11 as retired Morris County Fire Marshal James Davidson struck a bell following each name.
Those remembered were Donald Leroy Adams, Margaret L. Benson, John Paul Bocchi, Martin Boryczewski, Dennis Buckley, Cecile M. Caguicla, Liam Callahan, David G. Carlone, James Leslie Crawford Jr., Joseph DeLuca, Capt. Robert Edward Dolan, Antoinette Duger, Gregg J. Froehner, Alayne F. Gentul, Debra Lynn Fischer Gibbon, Paul Stuart Gilbey, Gayle R. Greene, Eileen Marsha Greenstein, Gary Robert Haag, Timothy Robert Hughes, Anthony P. Infante Jr., Jason Kyle Jacobs, Joon Koo Kang, Lucille King, Angela R. Kyte, Robin Blair Larkey, Thomas V. Linehan Jr., Sean Patrick Lynch, Simon Maddison, Alfred Russell Maler, Christian Hartwell Maltby and Hilda Marcin.
Also remembered were William J. Martin Jr., Philip W. Mastrandrea Jr., William A. Mathesen, Robert D. Mattson, Patrick J. McGuire, Martin Paul Michelstein, Seth Allan Morris, Peter C. Moutos, Alexander Napier Jr., Michael O’Brien, Michael John Pescherine, Thomas H. Polhemus, David Alan James Rathkey, Richard C. Rescorla, Antonio Augusto Tome Rocha, James Romito, Steven Harris Russin, Thomas Sabella, Maria Theresa Santillan, Matthew Carmen Sellitto, Karen Lynn Seymour-Dietrich, Barbara A. Shaw, Francis Joseph Skidmore Jr., Michael C. Sorresse, Thomas S. Strada, Edward W. Straub, Kenneth J. Swenson, Dennis Gerard Taormina, William R. Tieste, Peter Guyder Wallace, Matthew David Yarnell, Mark Zangrilli and Kenneth Albert Zelman.
The ceremony began with a procession led by state Sen. Anthony M. Bucco and Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon up Hanover Avenue, accompanied by local police, fire and emergency medical personnel and the U.S. Naval Cadet Sea Corps of Picatinny Arsenal. U.S. Reps. Tom Kean Jr. and Analilia Mejia carried bouquets of red, white and blue flowers and placed them at the memorial.
Morris Township Police Chief Robert Shearer handed a folded American flag to Letts for the presentation of colors as the Police Pipes & Drums of Morris County played. Gannon then led the Pledge of Allegiance.
The ceremony also included an invocation by the Rev. Herman Scott of Calvary Baptist Church; a benediction by Rabbi Moshe Rudin of Adath Shalom; musical tributes by the Morris Choral Society and O’Neill, Lazzara and Adams; a 21-gun salute by the Morris County Sheriff’s Office Honor Guard; and “Taps” performed by Larry Schillings, New Jersey state director of Bugles Across America.
Deputy Director John Krickus closed the ceremony by discussing the county’s responsibility to prepare for future emergencies.
“The role of county government is critical during a crisis. While we cannot predict the future, we are as prepared, trained and equipped as any suburban county in the nation for an emergency response,” Krickus said. “I can’t think of a better way to honor those we lost, and those first responders we lost on 9/11, then to ensure the first responders in our county today have the training, equipment and support they need so when they go on call they come home to their families.”
Letts concluded with a message for younger generations who have no personal memory of Sept. 11.
“Learn it. Remember it. Tell it. And carry its lessons forward,” Letts said.
The Morris County 9/11 Memorial was dedicated in September 2003 and includes three pieces of steel recovered from the World Trade Center, remnants of Flight 93 and soil from the Pentagon. The names of all those killed on Sept. 11 are engraved in red paving stones surrounding the memorial, while the names of the 64 Morris County victims appear on individual brass plates along the inner wall.
