On a warm September morning, Lawrence Township residents gathered to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks that brought down the two towers at the World Trade Center in New York City and damaged the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
The memorial service began at 8:40 a.m. on Sept. 11 at the Lawrence Township 9-1-1 Memorial Park on Pilla Avenue. Mayor Christopher Bobbitt welcomed the attendees, noting “just how normal a day it was” in 2001. The Lawrence Township Police Department’s color guard posted the American flag, the State of New Jersey flag and the Lawrence Township flag.
Six minutes later at 8:46 a.m., the ceremony paused for a moment of silence for the nearly 3,000 people who died. It corresponded with the time that the first hijacked plane crashed into the North Tower at the World Trade Center. A second moment of silence was observed at 9:03 a.m., which marked the time that the second plane plowed into the South Tower.
A bell at the rear of a Lawrence Township Fire Department truck was tolled five times – once at 8:46 a.m. and again at 9:03 a.m. – by a Lawrence Township firefighter. The Fire Department of the City of New York lost 343 firefighters at the World Trade Center.
Keynote speaker Ken Kiernan, who serves on the township’s Patriotic Committee, recalled that he was at work when his wife called him frantically to tell him about the crashes. He left work to pick up his three children so the family could be together and face whatever happened next.
“This was not an accident. It was a deliberate act. Within one hour and 17 minutes, we learned that we were being attacked for the second time in history on our own soil,” Kiernan said of the terror attacks.
Kiernan said that over the next few days, the world learned of the nearly 3,000 deaths of citizens, military service members and first responders who went to work as usual or who tried to help the victims at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in a field where a fourth hijacked plane crashed before it could reach its intended target.
“Over the following months, families, communities, religions and political parties came together as one. We celebrated being American. Nobody came to save us. Our citizens came together and united for each other,” he said.
The terror attacks led to the Global War on Terror, which in turn led to the deaths of 7,000 military service members over 20 years. But even as the soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen put their lives on the line, the United States changed and citizens became increasingly less trustful of one another, he said.
“As this generation aged, we as leaders and citizens failed to preserve the importance of that fateful day and the change of headwinds of the nation. Our country that came together as one is now divided again,” Kiernan said.
And just as they did during the Vietnam War, Americans turned their backs on the military, he said. Police and emergency services members were attacked and the sense of pride in being an American was lost.
Regardless, Kiernan said he would never forget the first responders who went to Ground Zero to help, nor the military members who fought in the Global War on Terror.
To that end, Kiernan has created Bootprints, which is a nonprofit organization to support veterans and first responders and their families who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“The 20 years of the Global War on Terror left a large wound that veterans and first responders carry. We need to help those who have and continue to defend and serve us,” he said.
PTSD comes in two forms – combat-related and cumulative, Kiernan said.
Combat-related PTSD is often tied to traumatic events in combat zones, such as direct life-threatening combat, witnessing the death of injury of comrades or exposure to violence and explosions.
Cumulative PTSD affects first responders – police, firefighters and emergency medical technicians – who are exposed to civilian crises such as accidents, violence, child abuse or death, mass casualties and suicide.
“We can make a difference by helping our veterans and first responders and their families by making the change where we can know and trust our neighbors, and look across the political, religious and economic aisles to be Americans first,” he said.
Lawrence Township can become a beacon for others to follow by teaching children that hate does not belong in their town and that they need to support each other.
“Let us be strong in our resolve to remain diligent and be proud to be Americans again. Let us honor those who paid the sacrifice on Sept. 9, 2001, by treating each other as we did on Sept. 12, 2001,” Kiernan said.
