East Northport Fire Department Remembers 9/11 Victims
/
By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com
The East Northport Fire Department hosted its annual memorial service to honor and commemorate the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The memorial marked the 16th anniversary of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people at the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
East Northport Chief Dan Heffernan thanked the residents and around 60 firefighters and police officers for attending the service. “We gather here today to remember those who lost their lives, and we continue to remember every day,” he said.
Firefighters from East Northport and surrounding departments, including Centerport, Cold Spring Harbor, Commack, Eaton’s Neck, FDNY, Greenlawn and Northport, and several police departments, joined together to solemnly read the names of every victim of the attack. The firehouse siren blared at 9:59 a.m. and 10:28 a.m. to mark the respective times that the south and north towers collapsed.
The podium was flanked by a special tribute to the first responders who died at the World Trade Center; an FDNY helmet with the number 343 and a police uniform bearing the number 71 represented the number of people from each service who died on 9/11.
The memorial service also included members of the Northport High School Tights performing the national anthem and God Bless America, a 21-gun salute by the Marine Corps League and Amazing Grace performed by the Northport Pipe Band.
In his closing remarks East Northport Lt. Brian Hinton expressed the feeling of resilience that has helped define many Americans’ reaction to the terrorist attacks on that terrible day.
“We will show evil that we are, and always will be, the land of the free and the home of the brave,” he said.
The memorial service concluded with a flyover from two Suffolk County Police Department helicopters.
