This weekend marks the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The word anniversary is perhaps not the best word to use here. Anniversaries are often events that we celebrate. There is nothing celebratory about the attacks 20 years ago.
In last week’s Sentinel, Greenwich resident Peter DaPuzzo, who was President of Cantor Fitzgerald & Co’s Institutional Equities Division for many years, wrote movingly of personal memories of many from the area who died. Their names are familiar. They are on memorials and read aloud every year.
This week, the media has been filled with the grim images of the events as they unfolded in 2001. Watching even for a few moments the numbness we felt when we originally saw them returns. It is not how we want to mark 20 years on.
We will never forget the events. We want to remember the people. Like how Peter DaPuzzo wrote his memories of those he knew, we honor those lost when we celebrate their memories and who they were.
Thirty-three people with ties to Greenwich died on September 11, 2001. Thirty-three people did not return to their loved ones. Wives lost husbands, mothers lost sons, sisters’ brothers, sons,’ fathers, and fathers lost daughters. Their losses cannot be replaced; they left our entire community mourning and grasping to comprehend the enormity of what happened.
We are fortunate in Greenwich that we have two opportunities this weekend that honor those who died. The first ceremony will be held at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 10 at the Glenville Volunteer Fire Company station. A piece of steel from the World Trade Center has been turned into a memorial at the fire station. The ceremony will recognize the Greenwich citizens who were killed as well as all of the first responders.
The second ceremony will be held at the memorial in Cos Cob Park beginning at 8:46 a.m. Sept. 11. Some family members of those who died in the attacks will attend as well as town and state elected officials, members of the military, the American Red Cross, and local first responders.
Attendees will place flowers at the base of the memorial. The service will begin with a cannon shot and a ringing bell to mark the moment that the first hijacked jet hit the World Trade Center. Another bell will ring at 9:03 a.m., when another plane hit the second tower. It will ring again at 9:37 a.m., when a plane hit the Pentagon; at 10:03 a.m. for the plane crash in Shanksville, Pa.; and at 10:28 a.m., when the first tower collapsed.
Efforts to build the memorial in Cos Cob Park to those lost began soon after the attacks, when a small group of family members and friends came together because they wanted a place where they could remember those who died. The memorial would be a place for quiet reflection, remembrance and spirituality.
When the memorial was officially unveiled, given to the town, and opened for all to visit, it was an opportunity to celebrate completion of the memorial and to thank the thousands of our neighbors who contributed financially to its success. It was also an opportunity to say to the families that we will not forget their loss, and we honor and celebrate their loved ones.
As we come together once more as a community, let us stand quietly and reverently before these memorials. Let us bow our heads as each name of the 33 victims is read aloud and listen as a bell is rung. Let us comfort those who still mourn. Let us lay a flower at the memorial in honor of all who perished. Let us remember and honor those we lost.
Washington Irving wrote: “There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are messengers of overwhelming grief… and of unspeakable love.”
