Annual 9-11 Remembrance
Scotch Plains residents are invited to attend the annual 9-11 remembrance, to be held Monday, September 11 at 6 p.m. at theAlan Augustine Village Green, 430 Park Ave.
The Township will remember three residents who died in the terror attacks: James Walsh, Mark David Rothenberg and Matthew Horning.
The Alan Augustine Village Green is home to a 9/11 Memorial. It includes steel from the World Trade Center and was funded through generous donations from residents and businesses throughout the town and was organized by a 9/11 Memorial Committee.
It is important to note the role that Scotch Plains’ emergency responders played on that day. Township firefighters were assigned to Ladder 78, which was the closest firehouse to the Staten Island Ferry coming from Lower Manhattan. This made it the first stop for NYC firefighters returning from Ground Zero for temporary rest. That experience bonded SPFD with Ladder 78. In fact, following the annual Tunnel to Towers Run, township firefighters participating in the run return to Ladder 78 for a special reunion.
The Scotch Plains Rescue Squad also assisted on 9/11 by treating the injured and washing dust and debris from people who were at Ground Zero that fateful morning.
Scotch Plains police officers responded, as well. Police Chief Jeff Briel, along with officers Officer Cheney, Sgt. Donnelly, Sgt. Cassidy and Sgt. Hayeck., assisted in the running of a PBA command post providing support to rescue personnel and the delivery of supplies to Ground Zero. Sgt. Brian Hayeck drove family members to and from Ground Zero and Pier 94 searching for survivors. Sgt. Hayeck provided this service for countless families for almost four weeks.
“Even today, 22 years later, it’s still somehow incomprehensible that this attack really happened,” Mayor Josh Losardo said. “For those of us who lived through 9/11, the pain and confusion, the sorrow and heartache, these feelings come back to us when we think of where we were when we learned the horrific news that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. The pain was raw then. And is raw and hurts today still.”
