18 THE QUEENS COURIER • SEPTEMBER 16, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Queens Borough Hall marks 9/11 anniversary with solemn ceremony
BY GABRIELE HOLTERMANN
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Two days before the 20th anniversary of
the 9/11 terror attacks, Queens Borough
President Donovan Richards hosted a solemn
ceremony at Queens Borough Hall
honoring the innocent lives who
died that day and the heroic
actions of fi rst responders.
Alongside members of the
NYPD and FDNY, elected offi -
cials and community representatives,
Richards recalled
the horrifi c day that
claimed 2,977 victims,
including 232
Queens residents.
Richards, who
was in college at
the time, said that
everyone remembered
where
they were on
that dreadful day
when two planes
crashed into the
towers, and many
families lost their
loved ones.
He thanked the
first responders
for their bravery
and their sacrifi ce
on that day.
He noted 343
FDNY fi refi ghters,
23 NYPD offi cers,
37 Port Authority offi cers, eight EMTs,
three court offi cers and one patrolman
from the New York Fire Patrol knowingly
went into danger and paid the ultimate
price trying to save others. Since then,
hundreds of fi rst responders have been
suff ering or have died from 9/11-related
illnesses.
“We oft en don’t give them the credit
that they deserve,” Richards said. “And it
gets rocky at times. But one thing I never
forget is when something catastrophic
like 9/11 happens, it is our fi rst responders
who run into the burning buildings.
It’s our fi rst responders who are putting
out the fi res. It is our fi rst responders
who, just like on that ultimate day, give
their lives.”
FDNY fi refi ghter Regina Wilson recited
the Pledge of Allegiance and sang the
National Anthem before two clerics led
in those present in
prayer.
FDNY Battalion
Chief Christopher
G. Eysser said
that it was hard to
believe that it had
been 20 years since
the 9/11 attacks
and that despite the
challenging time,
the FDNY rose to
the challenge.
“Ceremonies like
this one tonight honor our fallen friends
and allow us to fulfi ll the pledge that we
will never forget,” Eysser said.
NYPD Assistant Chief and commanding
offi cer of Queens South Ruben Beltran
urged everyone to keep the memories and
stories of the 9/11 heroes alive.
“It needs to be retold and retold in an
encouraging way,” Beltran said. “You just
don’t want to look back and refl ect and be
despondent on the losses that we had that
day. But be proud of the recovery that it
inspired and how we continue to honor
those memories.”
James Hendon, commissioner of the
NYC Department of Veterans’ Services,
said it was essential to retell the stories
of what happened in Shanksville, at the
Pentagon, and in New York City.
He recalled the lives lost in the wars
that followed the attacks. Ninety-three
of the 7,057 service members who died
in Afghanistan and Iraq called New York
City home — with 34 of the 93 coming
from Queens.
“I will tell you about the fi rst NYPD personnel
to lose their lives in the wars of Iraq
and Afghanistan was Jimmy McNaughton,
who was from Middle Village, Queens. At
27 years old, he lost his life in 2005,”
Hendon said.
State Senator John Liu said that the
memory of 9/11 will never be erased and
that no one will ever forget the horror they
saw unfold on television as “these massive
steel towers crumbling like toothpicks.”
“But I also never forget the incredible
heroism that was displayed by the brothers
and sisters of these very public servants
in uniform that we’re standing with: our
New York Bravest, our New York Finest,
the Port Authority police department and
civilians who stepped up and helped out,
many of whom also perished in the aft ermath,”
Liu said.
Assembly members Catalina Cruz
and David Weprin also thanked the fi rst
responders for putting their lives before
others.
“On 9/11, many of the fi rst responders
didn’t get to go back home,” Cruz said.
“Now, 15, 20 years later, many of them
are never going to get to go back home
because of the health risks, the health consequences
of having to put our lives before
their own.”
Weprin recalled running for the fi rst
time on 9/11, which was also primary day
in New York City.
“We prepared for that election for a long
time, but of course, it was so meaningless
and became so insignifi cant,” Weprin said.
City Council members Barry
Grodenchik, Selvena Brooks-Powers and
James Gennaro also recalled the day.
Grodenchik said that despite the terror,
it also showed the strength of New
Yorkers.
“Evil tried to rob us of our dignity.
And while they took many thousands
of our brothers and sisters, they could not
take our dignity, and they could not take
the love that we have for one another,”
Grodenchik said.
Grodenchik remembered Assembly
member Michael Simanowitz, who died
at age 46 four years ago and was an NYPD
auxiliary member at the 107th Precinct.
“He was on the pile selflessly,”
Grodenchik said. “Th is year, his illnesses
were confi rmed to be 9/11-related.”
Brooks-Power recalled that she was in
college, and on her way to class, she
passed the security desk and saw that a
plane was fl ying into one of the towers on
television.
“I was thinking that this must be a
movie that security is watching early in
the morning, only for security to come to
the classrooms looking for the students
that were from New York to pull us into
a room to tell us what had just happened,”
Brooks-Powers said.
Brooks-Powers shared the story of a
close family friend who lost his only child
on 9/11 but whose body, like many others,
was never found.
Crossley Williams Jr. worked in the
south tower as a fi nancial analyst for
Fiduciary Trust.
“Th at type of pain that a parent has to
live with each day, I can only imagine what
that experience is,” Brooks-Powers said.
Gennaro wondered what the fallen, who
dedicated their lives to service, would
want and concluded that they would want
to be sources of inspiration.
“We should be receptive to the inspiration
that they showed us by their life, and
by their service, and by their sacrifi ce and
honor them by carrying on and being like
them,” Gennaro said.
Paying homage to the victims of 9/11
in advance of the milestone anniversary,
Queens Borough Hall lit up blue each
night until Saturday, Sept. 11.
FDNY Battalion Chief Christopher G. Eysser
delivers remarks at a memorial in honor of
victims lost on 9/11.
Photos by Gabriele Holtermann
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, FDNY firefighters and
Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz observe a moment of silence for the victims
of the 9/11 terror attacks.