Prayers, Remembrance at North Adams 9/11 Memorial
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A vigil at St. Elizabeth's Church ended Sunday with a joint memorial with members of the public safety community to the victims of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Sunday marked the 15th anniversary of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, including close to 500 first-responders. Parishioners at St. Elizabeth ended morning Mass with a procession carrying Our Lady of Fatima to the Veterans Memorial, where firefighters and police officers from several communities were standing at attention.
Police Director Michael Cozzaglio, standing before the wall listing the city's military casualties, spoke of what had happened that Tuesday morning as two passenger jets were purposefully crashed into the World Trade Center towers and how a third over Washington, D.C., flew low enough to topple utility poles as "it was screaming into the Pentagon at over 500 mph."
Terrorists who had taken control of the fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93 out of Newark, N.J., were able to stop could have been a second attack on Washington.
"It has been told that passengers and the flight attendants fought these terrorists valiantly," he said, choking up. "These people were using boiling water and fire extinguishers to fight these terrorists, to stop this planes ... these brave passengers and flight attendants caused this plane to flip and crash into Shanksville, Pa."
In New York, member of the Fire Department and Police Department, along with Port Authority and emergency medical services personnel, were attempting to save as many as they could.
"As people were running away from this tragedy that was unfolding, these brave people were running toward this tragedy trying to help people," Cozzaglio said. "Civilians were rallying around each other as they were escaping the World Trade Center, helping each other."
The Rev. William F. Cyr, the priest at St. Elizabeth's, who had been at Sts. Patrick and Raphael Parish in Williamstown at the time of the attacks, reminded the gathering that "we in this area have a very direct connection with what happened on that day."
Peter Goodrich, who was raised in Williamstown, was on United Flight 175, which struck Tower Two at 9:03 a.m. Across the aisle from him, said Cyr, was the Rev. Francis E. Grogan, a superior of the Holy Cross residence in North Dartmouth and a Pittsfield native who had cousins in Williamstown.
A number of the victims of the attacks had connections to the area, particularly to Williams College. The response to the attacks — the invasion of Afghanistan — also led to North County's first combat casualties since the Vietnam War. Army Sgt. First Class Daniel H. Petithory, 32, of Cheshire, was killed in December 2001 and Spc. Michael DeMarsico III in 2012.
"Most merciful Savior, bring much-needed peace to all the troubled parts of our world where hatred and violence rage and the fear of war spurs despair among humankind," Cyr said in leading the prayer and calling for dialogue, healing and mercy. "May leaders of nations, particularly our own, make wise choices based on the common good of humanity rather than decisions based on prideful and political displays of power ...
"Please protect all of those in harm's way and allow justice and peace to reign together."
Sunday's ceremony was one of few being held in the region and was special in that it was tied into the presence of the National Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima, one of several statues on a two-year tour of 100 dioceses in all 50 states to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the apparitions at Fatima.
"As part of the parish community and as part of the public safety department, we just wanted to put this together today and recognize the importance of this 15th anniversary," said Cozzaglio. "To keep our community spirit together and let's not forget."
There was an open invitation to area departments and the community to attend the memorial.
Normally the statue would have only spent a few hours at St. Elizabeth, as it will other Berkshire County churches, but its presence on this weekend led the local committee charged with organizing the visit to do something special.
"One of her titles given by Pope Benedict XV was 'Queen of Peace,' so the committee decided to tie this in with 9/11 as we search for peace and try to bring about less discordant hatred and everything else," Cyr said. "Deacon George Galli and Laureen Richards started the ball rolling. The group that takes care of the statue decided they would do this for us because of the extra work they put into it and the fact of this very special weekend."
The memorial included the ringing the "Last Alarm," sounded for fallen firefighters, and the lowering of the American flag to half-staff. Fire Director Stephen Meranti, Police Sgt. James Burdick and North Adams Ambulance Service General Manager John Meaney Jr. each read the traditional prayer for their services.
The gathering also sang "God Bless, America" before the procession of Our Lady of Fatima resumed, moving down Eagle and Main streets and back to St. Elizabeth's Parish Center for a reception.
Before the service ended, the Rev. David Anderson of First Baptist Church, the Fire Department's chaplain, noted that today's high school freshman class was born after the events of Sept. 11.
"Most of us gathered here not only remember the day, we remember where we were when we first heard the news. We remember how we felt. We know where we were for much of that day," he said. "Much like Pearl Harbor and the assassination of JFK, 9/11 is becoming an event to discuss as history."
Crowds at memorial events have dwindled over the years, so it was incumbent on everyone to continue to remind the next generation of what had happened. When his daughter asked him what Sept. 11 was, he described it as "a day when evil met us in the still early hours of the day. ...
"It was one of our darkest days but it became one of our most remarkable moments as a people because it was a day when heroes rose up ... it was a day in which heroes ran toward fire and destruction and not away from it. Nine-eleven was a day when heroes did what needed to be done."
Tags: 9/11, memorial, public safety, religious service, terror attacks,
