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Mostly Cloudy Cedarhurst 9/11 remembrance on Sunday at 4 p.m.
Since 2002, the Village of Cedarhurst has hosted a 9/11 ceremony in Andrew J. Parise Cedarhurst Park, honoring those who died in the terrorist attacks who lived in the Five Towns or nearby communities: Thomas E. Jurgens, Neil Levin, Kevin O’Rourke, Bettina Browne Radburn, Joseph Rivelli Jr., Howard Selwyn and Ira Zaslow.
On Sunday at 4 p.m., Cedarhurst and Lawrence village officials, members of the Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department and American Legion Post 339, Lawrence School District staff and students and local religious leaders will gather for the 20th annual memorial tribute to the 2,977 who died on Sept. 11, 2001.
The attacks, orchestrated by Al Qaeda, involved four hijacked airplanes. American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 were intentionally crashed into the north and south towers of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, where 2,753 people were killed. The towers and 7 World Trade Center all collapsed.
American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., killing 184. Near Shanksville, Pa., 40 passengers and crew members on United Flight 93 died after they tried to regain control of the plane from terrorists, who, it is believed, crashed the aircraft intentionally, never making it to their intended target, which remains unknown.
“It was such a sad time, not just for our family, but for so many families,” said Town of Hempstead Councilman Bruce Blakeman, who grieved the death of Jurgens, his nephew, “and it’s hard to explain to people just how horrible it was, but we have to do that, because we need people to know what evil is all about, and how we have to fight evil each and every day.”
Jurgens, a Meadowmere Park volunteer firefighter, was a court officer in lower Manhattan. He responded to the need to rescue people at Tower Two, and was there when the building fell.
“And that would be the legacy of my nephew as an Army veteran, as someone who was a court officer, as someone who was a volunteer firefighter whose goal in life was to protect life and to protect the community,” Blakeman said, recalling how Jurgens loved wearing uniforms from the Boy Scouts, his Valley Stream Central High School football team, one from the Army and others. “So if we get something out of it,” Blakeman added, “we should all be mindful of how important it is to give back to the community.”
Cedarhurst Mayor Benjamin Weinstock, who has attended many of the remembrances and presided over the past six, recalled leaving an office building in Hauppauge after a business meeting on Sept. 11, and finding out about the attacks when he saw a UPS driver in tears and asked her what was wrong.
“It’s really important to me to instill memories in our younger generation of events they didn’t witness and experience the way we were exposed,” Weinstock said, explaining why it’s vital to hold the annual event and echoing Blakeman on evil.
Weinstock said that Sept. 11 helped him comprehend the sentiments brought on by the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 that pushed the United States into World War II. “I understand how evil evil can be,” he said. “From the experience, we recognize evil, to combat evil, and we always have to be able to prevent that from spreading.”
Noting that nearly 3,000 people died on Sept. 11, Lawrence Mayor Alex Edelman said the tragedy possibly directly affected roughly 25,000, counting the relatives and friends of the dead, and indirectly impacted the entire country.
“It hit everybody when it was least expected; the world was at peace,” Edelman said. “It was an attack on our homeland. Such a tragic day. Ask anyone, they’ll remember the exact time they heard about it. I remember driving on the Belt Parkway. Cars literally stopped. It was unbelievable. The shock was unbelievable. It will last with me, forever that’s for sure.”
John Feal, an advocate for first responders, will be the guest speaker in Cedarhurst on Sunday. A Commack resident, Feal is retired from the construction business. A demolition supervisor at ground zero, he was injured when a falling steel beam landed on his foot.
Deacon Dan Otton will represent the Catholic churches of the Five Towns: Our Lady of Good Counsel in Inwood, St. Joachim’s in Cedarhurst and St. Joseph in Hewlett. He will give the invocation. Cedarhurst resident Rabbi Benjamin Samson will give the benediction.
Andrew J. Parise Cedarhurst Park is at 257 Cedarhurst Ave., at the intersection of Summit and Cedarhurst Avenues.
