Wyandotte Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1136 members Brian Martin (left) and Jim Stevenson salute after placing wreaths during a 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony Wednesday.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
WYANDOTTE – The sun shone on veterans, first responders and others who gathered to solemnly honor the victims of 9/11 during a remembrance at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1136 Wednesday morning.
VFW Post 1136 Commander Orville Beauchamp said people should never forget the events of 9/11, a day in the country’s history when lives were taken from loved ones and others gave their lives in an attempt to rescue others.
“Buildings crashed, and planes were hijacked, and America has risen again, only to be much stronger,” Beauchamp said. “We have come together, and will stay that way. The memory of this day will be imbedded in our minds forever.”
He said the terrifying tragedy is locked in everyone’s minds, and he praised the rescuers who tried to save others without thought to their own safety.
“People put their lives in danger to do what they could,” Beauchamp said. “This is what America is all about. You may take down our buildings, but you will never take away our pride, and we will never forget those who gave and lost their lives on this tragic day.”
Post Chaplain Gary Evans read a tribute to the U.S. flag, and offered a prayer, calling for peace to envelop those affected by the heart-wrenching losses of 9/11, and called for the country’s leaders to have the insight to successfully bring to justice those responsible, and to develop a plan to prevent a recurrence and to lead the country forward.
Wreathes were then placed next to the post’s Stone of Remembrance by representatives of VFW Post 1136, the post auxiliary and Downriver Unit 127 Military Order of the Purple Heart, Fire Chief Dan Wright, Police Chief Brian Zalewski and Deputy Police Chief Archie Hamilton.
Supporters of the Military Order of the Purple Heart present a wreath during a 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony Wednesday at Wyandotte Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1136.
City Clerk Larry Stec, speaking on behalf of Mayor Joseph Peterson, said it was hard to believe that 18 years have passed since that tragic day. He said 13 children of New York City firefighters who died that day are now part of the NYC fire department.
“I think that says a lot about the fortitude of the people of our country,” Stec said.
Stec thanked VFW Post 1136 for continuing to hold a 9/11 Remembrance each year.
Wright spoke next, and said the country’s mettle and patriotism has been tested over the past century by people who would see freedom and democracy fall into extinction. He called to mind Pearl Harbor Day, Dec. 7, 1941; the Cuban Missile Crisis, Oct. 16 to 28, 1962; and the Battle of Khe Sanh, begun Jan. 21, 1968, which saw the bloodiest fighting of the Vietnam War, a war which took 58,000 American lives.
“For my generation, the events of Sept. 11, 2001, will live in our memories as vividly as the day it happened,” Wright said. “We shall never forget the images of the planes flying into the two towers of the World Trade Center, or the smoke rising above the Pentagon. Nor shall we forget those brave passengers who thrust that airplane into a Pennsylvania field, undoubtedly saving thousands of lives.”
Wright said the 412 firefighters, police officers and other emergency workers who died on 9/11 will never be forgotten.
“Today, we stand together as service members, police officers, firefighters, but most importantly as Americans, behind one ideal,” Wright said. “Whenever and wherever terror and tyranny choose to rise up and attempt to extinguish the light of liberty, we will be there to meet it.”
Zalewski echoed his thoughts, and said Sept. 11 was a day to remember the nearly 3,000 people who died in New York City, at the Pentagon and near Shanksville, Pa., and the more than 6,000 service members who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq in the fight against terrorism.
“Of tens of thousands of our wounded warriors, we honor 71 law enforcement officers and 343 firefighters who perished in the World Trade Center collapse, and the 55 service members that died at the Pentagon,” Zalewski said. “How we remember that day is a mark of our resilient American spirit.”
He said Americans honor and remember those lost, but also recognize that on that day, a date which once had no specific meaning, the country and a generation were changed in an instant which will never be forgotten.
The Wyandotte Veterans Honor Guard closed the ceremony with a gun salute performed by members Don LaCroix, Bill Rice, Tom Rushman and Dennis Terech, led by Officer of the Day Walter Szuper, after which Honor Guard member Jeff Thomas played taps.
(Sue Suchyta can be reached at [email protected])