9/11 Remembrance Ceremony

Article and photos are by Zach Spicer/The Tribune.

As important as it is to never forget what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, many people today would like to see the nation be more like it was on Sept. 12 that year.

People were nice to one another and came together to help each other. American flags were proudly displayed. Churches were full. Americans bravely stepped up to serve in the military or become a first responder.

The nation was united.

That was the theme of the speakers during the city of Seymour’s 9/11 ceremony, conducted Saturday morning at Shields Park.

 Saturday marked the 20th anniversary of terrorists crashing planes into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Seymour Mayor Matt Nicholson said he recently came across a quote by Jeff Parness, founder of the New York Says Thank You Foundation: “When Americans lend a hand to one another, nothing is impossible. We’re not about what happened on 9/11. We are about what happened on 9/12.”

“Think about that as you walk away today and remember that we came together as a nation the day after the most horrific attack we’ve ever seen,” he told the crowd gathered for the ceremony. “Let’s figure out how to come together as a country one more time. Let’s figure out how to make our community better.”

Seymour Fire Chief Brad Lucas shared the breakdown of the 2,977 people who died on 9/11.

“It was such a beautiful almost fall day that day, and you wonder ‘How can anything go wrong? How could anyone penetrate our soil and do something like this? How could 19 Middle Easterners associated with Al-Qaeda be persuaded to take that many lives?'” he said. “I just can’t fathom how that could happen, but it did, and our lives have been forever changed.”

Thousands of others were killed defending the country in Operation Enduring Freedom, and firefighters and others who worked on rescue efforts developed respiratory diseases from the smoke and debris, Lucas said.

Despite all of that, he said a lot of good came about after 9/11. People donated blood and gave money to the 9/11 charity, the Department of Homeland Security was formed to protect America’s borders and a 9/11 memorial with reflective pools was completed where the World Trade Center towers once stood.

“Always remember,” Lucas said in closing after thanking the local first responders and military personnel in attendance and those serving around the world.

Before Saturday’s ceremony, nearly a dozen people gathered at Shields Park to place 2,977 flags on the ground to represent all of the lives lost on 9/11.

Elijah Downey, 14, a freshman at Seymour High School and member of Boy Scout Troop 529, was among those who helped with the hour-and-a-half effort.

While he wasn’t alive when 9/11 happened, Downey said the adults he helped Saturday morning were.

“I know that it personally affected them in some way. I know that it had an impact on pretty much every adult in my life, so I was just thinking I know this affects other people, and it’s important to them that I’m here, that I’m placing all of these flags,” he said.

Once all of the flags were placed, Downey said it put in perspective just how many people died on 9/11.

“Even though I wasn’t around when this happened, it’s still important to remember the lives that were lost, and we need to make sure nothing like this ever happens again because this was a terrible, terrible tragedy that happened,” he said. “History repeats itself, especially if we’re not careful, so we need to educate people about what happened.”