While the horrid mark left by the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks created tragedy in its wake, it unified a nation. So much so, that a storied United States Military academy redesigned a major piece of its history.
One hundred or so Mineola residents and community leaders paused last Friday at Memorial Park, remembering the more than 3,000 lives lost 14 years ago. For many, the wounds are still healing.
“It’s important that we continue to remember with ceremonies like this,” Mayor Scott Strauss said. “It wasn’t a war. These were innocent people whose only crime to some was that they were Americans. It’s important that we come together and never forget, whether it’s 14 years or 140 years.”
Strauss, a former NYPD EMS worker and 9/11 first responder, was one of the many who rushed into Manhattan after the attacks, searching the rubble for survivors. He was part of the rescue effort that saved the lives of Port Authority Police officers Will Jimeno and John McLoughlin.
Strauss was pulling overnight duty 14 years ago when he finished at 8 a.m. and headed home. He was listening to the radio when the announcement came in that one of the towers were hit.
Strauss, who lost 14 friends in the attack, said it was hard to picture the radio hosts’ words when hearing the nature of the plane crash, but when he walked into his Mineola home and saw the mammoth hole inside the north tower, the emergency was clear.
“Listening to the radio, you don’t see what happened,” Strauss said. “When I got home, I saw the big gaping hole in the [north] tower and then the second one was hit. I turned to my wife and said “I gotta go.’”
Strauss recalled a recent story detailing the 2016 graduating class of West Point. Those rings, for the first time, were melded with steel recovered from the World Trade Center.
“These brave young men and women, who were just 7 or 8 years old at the time of the attacks, are ready to defend us,” he said.
Mineola High School senior Felicia Villa sang The Star Spangled Banner at the onset of the ceremony, while Grace International Church Pastor Wilson Jose gave the invocation before First Presbyterian Church Pastor Chestor Easton presided over the closing prayer.
“Today I ask you to remember the tragic events of September 11th,” Jose said. “And to remind ourselves of the everlasting nature of God’s work and purposes.”
Honorary MFD chief Steve Stolarik played Taps, preceding Brendan Behan’s bag pipes rendition of Amazing Grace, which closed the ceremony.
“Remember and do not forget,” Easton said.
Assemblyman Ed Ra said “I don’t think any of us who lived through that day has trouble remembering where they were that day. We’ll never forget the people we lost that day. We’ll never forget the sacrifices made by our first responders.”
