September 11, 2001: We will never forget

The passage of time will never blunt the memory of Sept. 11, 2001 for those who experienced the events of that day as they unfolded. See timeline.

Clear skies over New York were a brilliant blue on that sunny September morning. We went about the business of life unaware that it was about to be forever changed.

As we heard the news of a plane crashing into one of the towers of the World Trade Center, we turned on our televisions in time to watch live as a second jetliner crashed into the second tower. We tried to make sense of what we were seeing as we watched explosions and fires near the top of two of the tallest buildings in the world. News of other commercial jetliner hijackings was reported, followed by the crash of one into the Pentagon and another, headed for the nation’s capital, in a field in western Pennsylvania after a passenger revolt. Stunned, we tried to wrap our heads around what was happening. It was incomprehensible. And terrifying.

First responders rushed into the burning towers to rescue people trapped inside. Hundreds of firefighters and police officers would lose their lives in their heroic effort to save others when the towers, one by one, collapsed and disappeared before our eyes in a cloud of smoke and dust. As it settled and cleared, we could all see that the towers were gone, reduced to a burning pile of rubble, also on live television. News crews recorded video and images of terrified people, covered in ash and dust, running for their lives to escape the plume of smoke, ash and debris erupting from the site that would come to be known as Ground Zero.

The terrorist attacks claimed nearly 3,000 lives, including 343 members of FDNY and 23 members of NYPD. More than 6,000 people were injured.

First responders throughout New York City and across the region, including local police, EMS and firefighters, raced to the scene to help with rescue efforts at the World Trade Center. Hundreds worked at Ground Zero for many months to recover human remains from the rubble. Their exposure to toxins at the site caused a multitude of illnesses and deaths, and today, 23 years later, continues to take a harsh toll on their bodies.

Communities across the city and the wider region lost many residents in the collapse of the Twin Towers on Sept. 11. Among them were three local residents: NYC firefighters Thomas Richard Kelly, 38, and Jonathan Ielpi, 29, of Reeves Park, who were among the 343 FDNY members who rushed into the burning buildings to try to rescue civilians trapped inside; and Derrick Washington, 33, a young father from Calverton, who worked for Verizon.

Local remembrance services today

There are three local Sept. 11 remembrance services today:

10 a.m. at the World Trade Center Memorial Park, Riley Avenue and Edwards Avenue, Calverton;

6 p.m. a candlelight walk on Park Road/Lt. Thomas R. Kelly Drive followed by a memorial service at Sept. 11 Memorial Park on Sound Avenue and Park Road/Lt. Thomas R. Kelly Drive in Riverhead.

6:30 p.m. a remembrance service at Fireman’s Memorial Park, Flanders Road (N.Y. 24) in Flanders.

We will never forget that day, the heroes who sacrificed themselves to save victims of the attack and those who worked selflessly and at great personal risk to recover victims’ remains. And we will never forget the innocent victims who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.

In Memoriam: Names of those who perished