The ceremony on the steps of Town Hall included remarks by First Selectman Rob Mallozzi and Fire Chief John Hennessey, prayers by Msgr. William Sheyd of St. Aloysius Church, and the posting of the colors by the New Canaan Police Honor Guard.
“Fourteen years have passed, and I can confidently speak for each and every one of us that the images and emotions that are present today are the same ones we felt in 2001,” said Mallozzi. “Was there ever a time that we all felt so desperately that we wanted to do something for our country, for our community, or for our families? That was the good that came from evil.”
Mallozzi and others remembered the three New Canaan residents who lost their lives in the Sept. 11 attacks: Joseph Coppo, Eamon McEneaney and Bradley Fletcher.
“We all remember where we were that day when it happened,” said Hennesey. “It’s fitting that every year on Sept. 11 Americans join together to honor the memory of those 3,000 people who died that day. It’s also fitting that we observe a moment of silence as a tribute to the analysts and administrative assistants, bankers, brokers and officer workers, technicians and designers, vacationers, business travelers, pilots and flight attendants, soldiers and sailors, firefighters, police officers and medics who were all lost that day in New York City, Arlington, Virginia and Shanksville, Penn. We also with deep respect remember the three members of our immediate New Canaan family who were lost that day in New York City.”
New Canaan first responders placed a wreath at the town’s World Trade Center relic, a 16-foot section of a steel column from the 99th floor of Tower One. The base of the memorial is in the shape of the Pentagon, and there is some earth from Shanksville, Penn. underneath the base.
Nancy Upton of the Volunteer Ambulance Corps closed out the ceremony with a rendition of “God Bless America.”
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