The Hicksville Fire Department held its commemorative memorial service for Sept. 11 on Sunday, Sept. 7, at the Strong Street Fire Station memorial.
The memorial was erected in memory of Ex-Chief Terrence Farrell and Honorary Chief George Howard, both of whom lost their lives while performing rescue efforts from the terrorist attacks. The community now honors roughly 20 people who died in connection to the events of Sept. 11.
The ceremony started at 10 a.m. with a presentation of colors under the American Flag detailed by the department’s Hook and Ladder apparatus. A service featuring remembrances and prayers was then held. The playing of “Taps” was followed by wreaths being placed by the Officers of Companies 3 and 5.
Residents were given the opportunity to lay a single carnation at the base of the memorial at the conclusion of the ceremony.
Karl Schweitzer, the department’s historian and former chief, said Hicksville held its first remembrance after 9/11 in 2004. He said the ceremony has grown each year and that many members of the community come out to support those who lost their lives that day.
Schweitzer said the memorial service is typically held on the Sunday before 9/11, saying the department tries not to interfere with people’s commitments on the actual day.
“It’s always great to be an American and to come out and remember those who were killed on that day,” Hicksville resident Barbara Niemczyk said about the ceremony. “We have our own stories of who we contacted, who we knew, who was down at the site and who made it and who didn’t make it. So to come out and remember them is just a little token of our appreciation of what they did.”
Chief Joseph Difronzo of the Hicksville Fire Department said the ceremonies never get easier. He said he had a close connection with Terrance “Terry Farrell, a New York City firefighter and volunteer assistant chief in Hicksville, who died on Sept. 11, when the World Trade Center collapsed.
“Too many people died that shouldn’t have, great guys all of them,” Difronzo emotionally said.
