9/11 observances to be held across Greene County

GREENE COUNTY―A quarter century after the attacks of September 11, 2001, an estimated 100 million Americans are too young to remember. That is one of the reasons why thousands of communities across the nation gather each year on the somber anniversary to ensure the lives lost that day are never forgotten.

Across Greene County, several ceremonies and remembrances will take place on Friday.

Greene County will hold its Annual Emergency First Responders Memorial Monument Dedication Ceremony at 11 a.m. at the Greene County Emergency Operations and Training Center in Cairo.

Held annually in conjunction with the national remembrance of September 11, the ceremony honors Greene County first responders who have lost their lives in the line of duty, including members of fire, EMS, law enforcement and corrections.

This year, Honeyford Memorial American Legion Post 110 organized the installation of thousands of flags across the lawn of the Emergency Operations and Training Center to honor each of the 2,977 people killed on 9/11.

At 8:28 a.m., American Legion Bunt-Brewer Post 165 and the Village of Hunter will host a remembrance ceremony at Dolan’s Lake where the 9/11 Memorial stands, erected with steel from the World Trade Center. It features two 14-foot-high towers, an American flag and bronze plaque in honor of those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.

Ram Singal, a 9/11 survivor who was on the 64th floor of the North Tower, will be speaking.

In Durham, a 9/11 memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. at the Michael J. Quill Irish Cultural Centre where there is a replica of the Twin Towers.

At St. Theresa of the Child Jesus church in Windham, a memorial service will take place at 6 p.m., followed by a presentation of flags outside at the Celtic Cross 9/11 Monument.

The Hudson-Athens Lighthouse will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks with a continuous 77-minute tolling of its original, historic 1874 fog bell across the Hudson River. It will begin at 8:46 a.m., the time the first plane struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center, and continue until 10:03 a.m., the time United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

All are invited to Henry Hudson Riverfront Park in Hudson or Athens Riverfront Park in Athens to listen, reflect, and remember together.