According to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 killed 2,977 people and injured thousands at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in Somerset County, Penn. While commemorative events are held at all three sites on the anniversary of the attacks, thousands of fire departments across the United States and globally hold memorial services and events annually. Certainly, first responders across the East End bravely answered the call and headed straight into the dangerous, uncertain wreckage, joining their western brethren in the horrific aftermath in downtown Manhattan.
Fire departments across the East End, greater Long Island and beyond will be sounding their horns and sirens between 8:46 a.m. and 10:28 a.m. to mark the times at which the Twin Towers were struck and fell, as well as the times that the Pentagon was struck and the time that Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville, Penn.
A special service will be at Old Hook Mill, located between North Main Street and Montauk Highway in East Hampton Village on Thursday at 6 p.m. Sag Harbor mayor and former chief of the Sag Harbor Fire Department, Tom Gardella will lead special prayers to be recited in honor of the fallen.
On Thursday, Stony Brook University (100 Nicols Road, Stony Brook, 631-632-6000) hosts a special Day of Remembrance, a campus-wide, day-long docket of activities structured for all, with the hope of creating opportunities for learning, remembrance, contemplation and healing from the effects of September 11.
Attendees will have the opportunity to engage in quiet reflection and contemplation starting at 8:30 a.m., including a chance to place a flower amongst the grove of trees planted as a way to celebrate the lives and grow the legacies of the 21 Stony Brook alumni who perished in the attacks on 9/11, and whose names are engraved on the Memorial Arch near the Humanities Building. Other activities include a blood drive from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., documentary screenings, mindful-based meditation, a mural project kick-off, and We Will Never Forget, a self-guided tour and storymap in commemoration of September 11. To check out the tentative schedule at SBU, click here.
This past Monday, Southampton Town’s Department of Public Safety and Emergency Management placed 343 flags in the ground in front of their facility in Hampton Bays, located at 27 Ponquogue Ave., in honor of the 343 members of the New York City Fire Department who died while responding to the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center.
“The Department of Public Safety and Emergency Management asks everyone to take a moment to remember all of those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001,” says town code compliance and emergency management administrator Ryan Murphy, in a press statement from the town. “We remember all those who lost their lives that day just going to work as normal and all those who gave their lives in an attempt to help and rescue individuals in the Towers. It is also important to reflect and renew the spirit of our country and our communities when we recall how we pulled together in response to this horrible event in our history.”
