‘Smallest acts of heroism made the biggest difference’

The impact of Sept. 11 remained close in people’s hearts and minds when Princeton marked the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that changed America.

As voices sang the Star-Spangled Banner and a large American flag draped down from a Princeton Fire Department Fire Engine on Sept.11, families and friends who lost loved ones, residents, volunteers, first responders, and local officials all gathered together at the Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad to remember the lives lost that day and in the aftermath due to 9/11 related illnesses.

“I would like to say for those of us who were in New York City that day and the families and friends of all those who died having you here today is very important,” Mayor Mark Freda said.

“Having ceremonies like this is very important. It is not only important but very meaningful. Sincere thank you for being here and taking part in today’s ceremony.”

Christina Winkler, wife of late Hackensack firefighter Michael Scott Winkler who passed away on Aug. 10, 2003, due to illness, said Sept. 11 means to never forget.

“To always remember the smallest acts of heroism made the biggest difference on 9/11 and the days after,” she added.

Her husband was a Hackensack firefighter for 15 years before he succumbed to illness from being down in the toxic debris of the World Trade Center on 9/11 as part of the bucket brigade.

He was there for 10 days as part of the informal chain of first responders and volunteers who cleared rubble and debris to find survivors.

“He lived there, breathed there. He worked to help to find and hopefully rescue people. If not them, their remains for their families. He went in the day after 9/11,” Winkler said.

“On 9/11 he was off. When I arrived home, he looked at me and told me that he would be going … he said this is something he needs to do.”

She described him as the kind of guy where if you needed your oil changed, he would change it.

“He was called Mr. Consumer Reports because he always knew the best appliances to get. He was a firehouse chef and very talented,” Winkler shared. “He came from a family of firemen.”

She wants people to take away from the anniversary the message of helping each other despite political backgrounds, despite religious beliefs, despite the negativity in this country.

“To be helping your neighbors. To be seeing a need and fulfilling that need,” Winkler said.

The remembrance ceremony featured a wreath presentation in front of Princeton’s 9/11 memorial which contains a beam recovered from the World Trade Center steel.

A calling of the bell which remembered the 343 members of the Fire Department of New York, 37 Port Authority officers, 23 New York Police Department officers, 14 members of Emergency services, New York port officers, FBI and Secret Service, and those who died as a result of the attacks on the World Trade Center and from 9/11 related ilnnesses.

“25 years ago, today on Sept. 11, 2001, we watched the unimaginable unfold. We watched attacks not only on human lives but on our sense of safety and on the ideals of freedom and pluralism that our country strives to uphold,” said Rabbi Andrea Merow from Jewish Center Princeton.

She stressed how 25 years later people remember.

“We remember 3,000 lives and more that were murdered. We remember those who died in New York City, the Pentagon, and Pennsylvania. We remembered firefighters, police officers, emergency workers, first aid responders and members of our military and ordinary citizens who ran boldly towards danger to help people they did not know,” Merow added.

We remember those who became ill in the years after and later died because they answered the call to serve in the days and months that followed. Today we remember the families who lived with an empty chair, an unfinished conversation, a life forever into before and after. For all of us something changed that day.”

Deacon Frank Crivello from St. Paul Parrish in Princeton noted how for the rest of his life he’ll never forget the vision of that pile from the World Trade Center Towers, smoke that was coming from them, and most of all the smell that was coming from that pile.

“That day the New York City skyline was changed forever. I have no choice today but to take a hard stop and put everything else aside because I will never forget,” he said.

“9/11 could never ever be the end. Yes, we came face to face that day with evil no doubt about it, but on that same day we came face to face with evil we also came face to face with goodness of New York City, Shanksville, Washington, D.C. and all of America.”

He people as they meet 9/11 year after year, decade after decade, they should take it as a responsibility to teach their children and grandchildren about that goodness, about that compassion, about that bravery that day and in the aftermath.

“We have a responsibility each and every one of us to gather in precious places just like this. We have a responsibility to gather in these places and to announce that by the way we live our lives that evil will not have the last word,” Crivello shared.

“And that the lessons of goodness and bravery that were on full display on 9/11 and the days, weeks, months that followed are going to be at work in your heart and mind as we live through this day and honor those we lost on those days.”

William Shields, former Princeton fire chief and lead organizer of the remembrance ceremony, explained that main piece of the service and ceremony is to never forget.

“We only done it five years here at the Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad. The display we have is something where people were able to bring something personal to them to reflect on that day. There are cards with people names on it, pictures, books and items to reflect on the day.

There is a new plaque that will be part of the 9/11 Memorial monument with a message – We Must Never Forget.

“These ceremonies are essential to keep the thought going. You need to feel the emotion and be touched. You need to have this stuff available and has to tell the story,” Shields added.