RSS 2.0 FeedSeptember 15, 2011, Bellmore Life
Remembering our heroes on 9/11
Reflecting on the past 10 years.
TOWERING STRENGTH: Members of North Bellmore Fire Department’s Engine and Rescue Company 2 stand in deep reverence of two World Trade Center pillars recovered from between the 30-60th floors, as memorials to all of the brave and the innocent who lost their lives on 9/11.
AND THEN THERE WERE THREE: Tara McCarthy, right, sister of fallen firefighter Sean McCarthy of the Bellmore Fire Department, takes her place alongside Mary Ann Rand and Gerry Prior in honoring the fallen heroes of 9/11, at the fire department’s Memorial Plaza on Sunday.
The Bellmore and North Bellmore Fire Departments held memorial observances on Sunday, September 11, to remember their fallen brethren and to remember those in the community and beyond who perished during the “day that shook the world.”
Those born just after September 11, 2001, and those who were teens or younger when the World Trade Centers were attacked and collapsed – the 9/11 generation – spoke to this newspaper about what the 9/11 commemorations, full of solemnity and remembrance, have meant to them as they have grown up.
“This day is a day to celebrate that my uncle was saved,” remarked Christine Rotola, an eight-year-old attending Newbridge Road Elementary School.
“These 10 years represent a decade of both sadness and greatness,” said Kristen Corless, in which “we were knocked down and have gotten right back up.”
Her sister Megan, a student in high school, said she is somewhat embarrassed that students in her school don’t wear the red, white and blue colors of the country as she has seen them do in the elementary schools.
“I think the teachers are still upset to teach the subject,” she continued, as though the wounds are still fresh in them.
Megan was in kindergarten when the towers collapsed, remembering of that time that “It was the only time in kindergarten I was terrified, because they had a lockdown that day.”
Joey Anselmo of North Bellmore Troop 577, a ninth-grader at Mepham High School, said the 9/11 memorial always makes him wonder why “people in the Middle East wanted to hurt us.”
Caitlyn McArdle, a fourth-grader at Newbridge Road School, said 9/11 “is a sad day but also a day to celebrate people who helped us when we were in trouble.”
Nine-year-old Nicole Leisenring said the 9/11 memorial “is a day to celebrate the brave.”
Jimmy Rand, who was two when his uncle died, and now attends Grand Avenue Middle School, said simply of the day: “It’s a day to remember my uncle and all the others who did good things to save lives that day.”
Even adults have become involved in teaching children the importance of 9/11. Dana Nacewicz of North Bellmore told this newspaper that “I have put together a scrapbook so my seven nieces and nephews will always remember.”
Brian Desmond, a Bellmore firefighter and friend of both Kevin Prior and Adam Rand – who wore a T-shirt belonging to Mr. Rand at the 9/11 ceremony – said it is imperative to teach young children to have respect for the 9/11 memorials and their significance in American history.
Mr. Desmond is also a trustee of the Bellmore School District’s Board of Education
Sidebar:
“It reminds me of why I fight,” said Sal Ancona of 9/11 memorials. He is a Bellmore firefighter who joined the Army at age 17, three years after 9/11. Mr. Ancona, who went to Shore Road, Grand Avenue and Kennedy schools, will head to Afghanistan in October as a member of the 10th Mountain Division, Sustainment Brigade Troops Battalion.
He recently spent a 15-month tour of duty in Iraq.
He told this newspaper he wanted to join the New York City Fire Department at 17 to help save people, but the department didn’t accept people at that age. Instead, he joined the Army.
Mr. Ancona spoke of fallen firefighter Adam Rand as his mentor, having seen him when Mr. Ancona began hanging around the Bellmore Fire Department at an early age. He was wearing Mr. Rand’s white shirt during Sunday’s ceremony.
