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Mostly Cloudy Valley Stream honors 9/11 victims
Local leaders memorialize village residents lost
More than 300 people gathered at the Sept. 11 memorial at Hendrickson Park on Sept. 11 to honor the thirty-nine Valley Stream residents and Central High School District alumni who died in the terrorist attacks.
Local religious leaders, school superintendents, organization heads, officials and residents were on hand for the hour-long ceremony. American Legion Post 854 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1790 carried out the presentation of colors, followed by Erin Sullivan singing the National Anthem. Monsignor Romualdo Sosing of Holy Name of Mary Church gave the invocation. Sarah Azeez, a student at Valley Stream South High School, read Michael R. Fee’s poem “A Trace of Hope,” and Kevin Gaffney and Robert Lynch of the Inis Fada Gaelic Band played “Amazing Grace” on the bagpipes. Highlights of speakers’ remarks are below.
Robert G. Bogle, Village Justice and master of ceremonies:
“It has been said that courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else can be more important than that fear. Today, we honor those individuals – family members, friends, neighbors, community volunteers and civil servants who answered the call. They gave America the last full measure of devotion, in the city of New York, in Washington, D.C. and in an obscure planting field in Western Pennsylvania. They proved to all of us through their actions that courage, love and sacrifice will always prevail over cowardice, hate and ignorance. That day was September 11, 2001, 13 years ago today.”
James Darcy, Hempstead Town councilman and former Valley Stream mayor:
