Just because we are following CDC and WHO guidelines on social distancing doesn’t mean we forget 9/11. We will never forget that day or those who sacrificed their lives in the terrorist attacks on our nation.
The September 11th Memorial Greenwich will be hosting a remembrance ceremony on Friday, Sept. 11, with all social distancing protocols and safety measures in place. The service will start promptly at 8:46 am with a cannon and bell ringing noting the time the World Trade Center’s North Tower was hit. Participants gathered in Cos Cob Park’s parking lot will follow an honor guard past the waterside pavilion where flowers will be available to lay at the base of the memorial. There will be a prayer there by Greenwich Police chaplain Thomas L. Nins, after which attendees will continue through the labyrinth to pay their respects.
The honor guard will stand at attention as bells toll at 9:03 a.m. when the South Tower was hit; 9:37 a.m., when the Pentagon was hit; 9:59 a.m., when the South Tower fell; 10:03 a.m., when one of the hijacked planes crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania; and 10:28 a.m., when the North Tower fell. The service will also include a reading of the names of the 33 Greenwich victims — Bryan Craig Bennett, Stephen Patrick Cherry, Kevin Francis Cleary, Kevin P. Connors, Brian Cummins, Christine Egan, Michael Egan, Ulf Ramm Ericson, Bennett L. Fisher, Thomas Edward Galvin, Steven Glick, Donald Freeman Greene, Pedro Grehan, James Douglas Halvorson, Erik Hans Isbrandtsen, Gregory Kamal, Joseph Anthony Lenihan, Adam J. Lewis, Peter R. Kellerman, Teddy Maloney, Francis Noel McGuinn, Christopher D. Mello, Cheryl Monyak, Lindsay Stapleton Morehouse, Robert Walter Noonan, Mike A. Pelletier, Michael C. Rothberg, Jason E. Sabbag, Stacey Leigh Sanders, Frederick Varacchi, Bruno Wachtler, Martin Phillips “Buff” Wohlforth, and Charles Alan Zion.
“They were mothers, fathers, sons, daughters who each left behind their families and friends a legacy of love and ultimate sacrifice,” Wells Noonan, sister of Robert Walter Noonan, said in a statement.
Members of the community’s first responder’s organizations – Greenwich Police, Greenwich Fire and Greenwich Emergency Medical Service – will present the colors with the honor guard and support families of the fallen. The ceremony will conclude with a benediction, retreat of the colors and the final bell and cannon at 10:28 a.m. Flowers will be available in the pavilion throughout the day for those who visit the site on their own.
