6 SEPTEMBER 16, 2021 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Borough Hall marks 20th anniversary
of 9/11 attacks 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 fi rst 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 first responders have been suffering
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
officer 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
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards delivers remarks during the memorial in honor of victims lost on
9/11. Photos by Gabriele Holtermann
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 107
Precinct.
“He was on the pile selfl essly,” Grodenchik
said. “This 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.
FDNY fi refi ghters observe a moment of silence for the victims of the 9/11
terror attacks.