LONDONDERRY — A brisk morning and a cool breeze enveloped the town’s first responders Thursday morning, nearly matching the conditions 24 years ago when two planes flew into New York’s World Trade Center buildings, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.
Leading a procession of police officers and fire personnel, Acting Fire Chief Fred Heinrich and police Chief Kim Bernard marched from the bays of the Londonderry Fire Department to a sunlit area in front of the station which is the location of a “Never Forget” monument made from a piece of the WTC.
There, first responders circled the monument while Town Councilor Shawn Faber delivered a speech, reflecting on what he was doing that morning in 2001.
“I will never forget,” Faber said. “The uncertainty, watching the news, thinking about the lives of the first responders rushing in to save people. We lost good people that day. We must honor their sacrifice.”
During a moment of silence, first responders, veterans and family members brought their hats to their hearts and raised their hands to their heads in a salute to the American Flag as it was raised to half-mast while a bag pipe rang out the familiar chords of Amazing Grace.