County Hosts 18th Annual Patriot Day Ceremony

CREST HAVEN – Cape May County officials held the 18th annual Patriot Day Ceremony outside the county Administration Building on Moore Road Sept. 11. 
As in the past, the Marmora Volunteer Fire Department raised its aerial ladder from which a large American flag waved over the event.
The U.S. Coast Guard Ceremonial Team was present to present the colors, fired a three-volley salute, and played “Taps.”
Capt. Sarah “Kathy” Felger, commanding officer, Coast Guard Training Center Cape May, delivered a brief address on the meaning of the day to her and members of the sea service. She noted that many of the 600 recruits in training in Cape May were newborns or toddlers when the attack on America took place.
Freeholder Jeffrey Pierson noted that “Today we are honoring Mark C. Johnston, an FBI special agent of Palermo… who was one of the many heroic first responders at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.”
Pierson said that Johnston had died Sept. 12, 2017 “from a rare type of cancer attributed to being at Ground Zero.”
“It is sad to note that from the original figure of 2,606 killed that day at the World Trade Center, the figure has now grown to 2,753. Also, of the 746 New Jersey residents lost at the World Trade Center on that day, 539 are still listed as missing,” Pierson said.
He added that Johnston’s name will be added to the Cape May County Public Safety Wall of Honor across from the entrance to the Cape May County Park and Zoo on Route 9 and Crest Haven Road.
County Prosecutor Jeffrey Sutherland was the featured speaker.
He told all in attendance that they, too, were first responders who might someday “provide a tip or something that leads to one of these recruits responding to go, or prevent an event from happening.”
He added of Sept. 11, 2001, “We all experienced the Pearl Harbor of our generation, and it is a day that none of us will forget.”
He continued, the families of the victims of the attack “live 9-11 every day, not just the day that we honor every year.” He said that included among the victims were 343 firefighters and 60 police officers.
“You’ve got to remember that every one of those people I mentioned ran towards the hazard, didn’t run from it. Most of them were coming from all over to get there to assist as much as possible when the buildings collapsed,” Sutherland said.
Freeholders, led by Director Gerald Thornton and Vice-Director Leonard Desiderio placed a wreath at the foot of the 9-11 Memorial Garden by the main entrance to the building.
That garden, dedicated in 2013, was designed by Ann Marie McMahon, former director of Facilities and Services. It contains artifacts from the Pentagon in Washington, the World Trade Center in New York and Flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville, Pa. on Sept. 11, 2001. Pastor Harold Harris of the Macedonia Baptist Church, Cape May delivered a prayer of remembrance for the victims and families.
Bella McKeown, a seventh-grader at Richard M. Teitelman School, Erma, sang the “Star-Spangled Banner” to open the ceremony, and “God Bless America,” that ended the annual tribute.