Superior Court Employees, Municipalities Pay Tribute to Sept. 11 Victims

COURT HOUSE – Traffic rumbled by, loud music boomed from some vehicles yet the crowd in front of Cape May County historic courthouse was hushed. They waited in silence Sept. 11 for 8:46 a.m., the exact time, 13 years prior, when the first hijacked jetliner crashed into the World Trade Center, changing forever the course of history.
At that moment, three members of the Cape May County Sheriff’s Office Honor Guard began lowering the flag to half-staff from high atop the county seat. It would remain that way throughout the day, as other ceremonies were conducted in municipalities countywide.
As right arms went over hearts, and some veterans rendered military salutes, Eugene Haggins, a courthouse volunteer and retired Army veteran, led recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.
Assignment Judge Julio L. Mendez spoke of how his son decided to become a firefighter on that fateful September day, and the meaning of service to others.
Keynote remarks on “The Importance of Service” were delivered by Assistant County Counsel James B. Arsenault, also an emergency medical technician with Sea Isle City Ambulance Corps, and Daniel G. Tracy, a former captain with the Army JAG Corps.
Trial Court Administrator Howard H. Berchtold Jr., and his daughter Lauren, joined to sing “God Bless America.” He noted she came from Maryland to be with him for the ceremony.
Lower Cape May Regional trumpeter Thomas Manna played “Taps.”
Closing remarks were delivered by Jeffrey D. Lindsay, president, Cape May County Bar Association and Samantha S. Wolf, president, Atlantic County Bar Association.
Written by Al Campbell.
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CAPE MAY – Members of U.S. Coast Guard Training Center Cape May stopped to remember the anniversary of the Sept., 2001 attacks by holding a brief ceremony on the parade field, Sept. 11.
The ceremony included a speech from the commanding officer, Capt. Todd Prestidge, a prayer from the chaplain, Cmdr. Christopher Fronk and a speech from Elizabeth Carson, both a Dallas, Texas native and a recruit currently in basic training, who lost an uncle in the World Trade Center that day 13 years ago.
“It was on that day I experienced my first loss,” said Carson who explained that while she was only six-years-old at the time of the attacks, she could still feel the serious impact it had on her family as her mother first heard the news. “It was a heavy silence, and even as young as I was, I could feel the sorrow in it,” she said. Carson is part of recruit company Foxtrot 190 and is scheduled to graduate Sept. 26, 2014 and will report to her first unit, the Coast Guard Cutter Charles David, Jr. in Key West, Fla.
The ceremony featured the laying of wreaths, a 21-gun salute and the playing of taps.
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STONE HARBOR – Slowly, reverently Mayor Suzanne Walters and Council member and 9/11 Committee Chair Joan Kramar lifted the black and purple drape to reveal a steel I-beam from the World Trade Center. If became the focal point of Freedom Park Sept. 11, 13 years after the terror attacks on America. As the artifact was uncovered, bagpiper Sea McNeill played “Amazing Grace.”
The borough turned out in great numbers to hear speakers talk of the fateful day that forever changed the nation and the world.
“It symbolizes the sorrow and travail that we must sometimes endure in pursuit of freedom and independence,” stated the program.
A bright spot in the solemn ceremony was the singing of “God Bless America” and its signing by pupils of Stone Harbor Elementary School.
Keynote speaker was Stephen Kern, an attorney with New Jersey-New York Port Authority, which owned the World Trade Center. He recalled what it was like being in the center as it was hit by the hijacked jetliner, and the memories etched into his memory of scene of his co workers and others that day.
Resident Charles Boylan, a member of the 9/11 Committee, who was at a board meeting for Kantor Fitzgerald when the attack took place, remembered the tragedy that ensued, and how he spent the next weeks attending funerals for lost friends.
Following remarks by Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-1st), Assemblyman Samuel Fiocchi (R-1st) and Assemblyman Robert Andrzejczak, there was a memorial tolling of bells in memory of those who perished in the Twin Towers, at Shanksville, Pa. and the Pentagon.
Members of Stephen Ludlam Post 331, rendered a gun volley, and Debbie West, an Air Force veteran of the Vietnam War, played “Taps.”
Photos available in Facebook album above.
Written by Al Campbell.
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WILDWOOD CREST – Approximately 150 people attended the Borough of Wildwood Crest’s annual 9/11 memorial service held Thursday evening, Sept. 11, at Turtle Gut Park adjacent to Sunset Lake.
The service honored the thousands of people killed by the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The service was held surrounding the lifeguard memorial dedicated to Wildwood Crest native and former Wildwood Crest Beach Patrol lifeguard Andrew Alameno, who was one of those killed at the World Trade Center in New York City on 9/11.
The event was hosted by Wildwood Crest Commissioners Don Cabrera, Joyce Gould and Carl Groon and included readings and prayers from Pastor Thomas Fisher, of First United Methodist Church; Rabbi Jeffrey Lipschultz, of Beth Judah Temple; and Father Joseph Wallace, of Notre Dame de la Mer Parish.
Patriotic songs were sung by Maryann Franz and Fred Speiwak. Susan Haury, sister of Andrew Alameno, led those gathered in the Pledge of Allegiance. Bagpiper Tom Palmer also performed at the event.
Photos available in Facebook album above.
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County Remembers
Ceremony Highlights 13th Patriot’s Day
CREST HAVEN — The 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on America had much in common with that dreadful day. As Freeholder Director Gerald Thornton opened Cape May County’s Patriot’s Day ceremony, the sky was blue, the mood was somber, and among those gathered were some who rushed to ground zero that day to help.
The nation faced another threat from terrorists, this time from the Islamic State (ISIS) whose soldier beheaded two journalists and pointed his knife to President Barack Obama in a videotape before the horrific acts.
As it did that day at the outset of the century, Cape May County stood tall with the rest of the nation. As Coast Guard recruits from Training Center Cape May’s ceremonial detail presented the colors, Sheriff Gary Schaffer led the flag salute.
County employees Mark Huff sang the national anthem and Rachel Cox recited it in American Sign Language.
Pastor James P. Bry of Second Cape May Baptist Church, Marmora offered the invocation and Benediction.
Speakers Capt. Todd Prestidge, commanding officer, Coast Guard Training Center Cape May and Lt. Col. Edward Dagney of the Air Force a member of the Air National Guard’s 177th Fighter Wing recalled where they were and what the impact on them of the attacks meant.
Lower Township school teacher Jacalyn Rae Matkowski stood at the podium beside Thornton as her recording of a song she wrote, “Did You Know?” played.
Assemblymen Samuel Fiocchi (R-1st) and Robert Andrzejczak (D-1st) similar spoke of the impact the actions of Sept. 11 had on them. Andrzejczak said after high school graduation he was inspired to enlist in the Army, where he served and lost a leg in combat.
As bagpiper Sean McNeill of Cape Atlantic Pipe Band played “Amazing Grace,” freeholders joined to place a memorial wreath in front of the 9-11 Memorial Garden. That monument contains artifacts from the Pentagon Building, World Trade Center, and Flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville, Pa.
“The Memorial Garden serves as a reminder of the sacrifice and loss of life of more than 3,000 innocent men, women and children as well as those who risked their lives to save others in the horrific terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 and Feb. 26, 1993,” the program for the ceremony stated.
McNeill performed “Going Home” after which the Coast Guard detail rendered a three-volley salute, and “Taps” was played by a Coast Guard musician.
Displayed behind the podium were photos, taken at 8:46 a.m., the exact moment when the first hijacked airliner struck the World Trade Center, of all county buildings where employees, and students from the Technical High School gathered and lowered the flags to half-staff, where they remained throughout the day.
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