‘We have to remember’: Carmichaels among towns hosting 9/11 services
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Members of the Carmichaels and Cumberland Township Volunteer Fire Company salute during the 21-gun salute and playing of “Taps” Monday morning, at the annual Service of Remembrance.
Director Joanna Walker leads the Carmichaels Area High School marching band in a moving rendition of "God Bless America" during the annual Service of Remembrance in Carmichaels Town Square Monday morning.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Following the sounding of sirens at 8:46 a.m., American Legion Post 400 Band begins the annual Service of Remembrance in Carmichaels Town Square with the national anthem. Frank Ricco led the band.
Rices Landing Post 816 Riders applaud following the playing of "God Bless America" by Carmichaels Area High School marching band Monday morning. The Riders have attended the Service of Remembrance on 9/11 annually for years.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Former Greene County President Judge H. Terry Grimes delivers the keynote speech Monday morning during the annual Service of Remembrance in Carmichaels Town Square. The service was hosted by American Legion Post 400.
Carmichaels residents and members of Rices Landing Post 816 Legion Riders stand as VFW Post 3491 and American Legion Post 400 perform the 21-gun salute and "Taps" Monday morning during the annual 9/11 Service of Remembrance.
Mike Riggen, center left, performs the ringing of the bell in memory of those lives lost on 9/11 during the Service of Remembrance Monday morning at Carmichaels Town Square.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
American Legion Post 400 and VFW Post 3491 perform the 21-gun salute Monday morning during the annual 9/11 Service of Remembrance in Carmichaels.
Emma Bates, a sophomore at Carmichaels high school, delivers her American Legion contest-winning essay Monday morning during the annual Service of Remembrance in the town square.
The Carmichaels Town Square was solemn Monday morning as residents, first responders and veterans gathered to observe the 22nd anniversary of 9/11.
People stood silently in the moments leading up to 8:46 a.m., when more than two decades ago American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center, and sirens sounded throughout town to mark the moment.
After an invocation by Pastor Jeff Hathaway and a rendition of the national anthem by American Legion Post 400 Band led by Frank Ricco, Bill Varesko, commander of Post 400, which hosted the Service of Remembrance, welcomed the crowd and introduced Emma Bates.
Bates, a sophomore at Carmichaels Area High School, is this year’s American Legion essay contest winner.
“America has a remarkably short history,” said Bates, who was not yet born when 9/11 occurred. “America broke away from its mother country, England, and worked from a small colonial settlement under another crown into what we consider day to be the greatest nation.”
Bates stressed the importance of speaking up for what one believes in.
“Our American history is unique and gives each one of its citizens through the generations a place in its story, no matter our physical origins. Today, we are Americans, and that kind of patriotism is not based on blood or nationality, but on our combined story as the people who fought for liberty and will continue to fight for the liberty of all people, as long as we live,” Bates said.
Retired Greene County President Judge H. Terry Grimes joked that “after hearing the essay by Miss Bates, there’s not much more left to say.”
Grimes delivered the service’s keynote speech, during which he detailed the nation’s losses on 9/11, including 343 New York City firefighters and 72 law enforcement officers.
“It is with deep regret that we watched the news that morning and what was happening to our country: the first substantial foreign invasion on our country, and the most horrific death … and destruction that we’ve witnessed in this country since the American Civil War,” Grimes said. “As we look back on that day, we really remember what those folks went through, those folks we’re here today to memorialize. We’re also here to commemorate the heroes from that day.”
Grimes said it is America’s freedoms that make the country vulnerable but great, and stressed the importance of participating in our rights, including voting in every local and national election.
“We must ever be vigilant as a nation to ensure that we protect ourselves, that we protect one another, that we look to our community and law enforcement officials, appreciate what they do every day and give them our support,” said Grimes.
Following Grimes’ speech, the Carmichaels Area High School Band, directed by Joanna Walker, launched into a rendition of “God Bless America.” Craig Baily of the Carmichaels Cumberland Fire Company read the Fireman’s Poem, and Mike Riggen rang the bell in memory of those lives lost on 9/11.
The Policeman’s Poem was delivered by Chief Bryan Smith, followed by “Nearer My God to Thee,” by the American Legion band.
Many in attendance shed tears during the 21-gun salute and “Taps,” performed by Post 400 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3491.
Along with the American Legion, the VFW and Carmichaels high school band, Greensboro, Carmichaels-Cumberland and Nemacolin fire companies and the Greene County Sheriffs office were in attendance. Also in attendance was Rices Landing Post 816 Legion Riders, whose members attend the Carmichaels 9/11 memorial service annually.
After the terrorist attacks, “you saw a flag on every building,” said Ed DeBolt, a Marine Corps veteran who rides with the chapter.
“We have to remember. People forget too easily,” said DeBolt.
Chapter President Jimmy Phillips, whose daughter Paige Phillips, the youngest Rices Landing rider, was his passenger, said it shouldn’t take a tragedy like 9/11 to bring Americans together.
Phillips, an Air Force veteran, served in Operation Desert Storm.
“I look back and it’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years,” he said.