Riverview ceremony remembers 9/11 victims with Michigan ties

By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers

RIVERVIEW – Scouts, volunteers and local politicians participated in a remembrance ceremony Sept. 10 in Young Patriots Park commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. 

Scouts lowered the U.S. flag to half mast, the Riverview High School band played, and Scouts and volunteers placed flags around the reflecting pond to honor the Michiganders who died during the attacks. 

Speakers included Mayor Andrew Swift and state Sen. Darrin Camilleri (D-4th District).

Swift thanked the Scouts of Crossroads Council for helping the community honor the lives, courage and sacrifice connected with Sept. 11, 2001. 

“Twenty-five years have passed, but for those of us who were alive and old enough to understand what was happening, that morning does not feel like distant history,” he said. “We remember where we were, what we were doing, and who we were with, and we remember who told us, the television images that we could hardly believe, and the calls we made to our families and friends.”

Swift said people remember the uncertainty, the heartbreak and the feeling that the world had just changed in a matter of hours. 

“Here in Riverview, we were hundreds of miles from New York City, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, but the tragedy reached every home and every community in America,” he said. “Riverview families grieved with families that we had never met, parents held their children a little closer, neighbors checked on one another, our police officers, firefighters and emergency responders, veterans and members of the military felt the weight of a new call for service.”

Swift said nearly 3,000 innocent people were killed that day, people simply going about an ordinary day, each of whom we honor. 

“We also remember the extraordinary courage that arose from the devastation,” he said. “Firefighters climbed stairways while others tried to escape.”

Swift said that in one of our nation’s darkest moments, the very best of the American spirit shone through. 

“Today, as one Riverview community, let us pause to remember and speak the names and tell the stories, let us thank the men and women who continue to protect and serve us, and let us renew our commitment to live with courage, kindness, gratitude and a sense of duty to one another,” he said. “May we never forget the lives taken, the heroes who answered the call, or the families whose loss continues to this day.”

Camilleri said he was nine years old during the 9/11 attacks, and it is something that he has never forgotten. 

“In the aftermath of that horrible terrorist attack, the national unity that we faced in the country was phenomenal, to see people come together from all faiths and walks of life and all backgrounds,” he said. “It was beautiful, but it should not have taken a terrorist attack for us to realize our common bonds, so it is something that I think about often, particularly in the world that I live in as your state senator, where we need to be more unified than we are today.”

Camilleri said we should not be letting division find ways to break us apart in our society.

“This day, especially at the 25th anniversary, is a really important and significant milestone because so much has changed in our country since that horrible day,” he said. “But it is a reminder to ensure that we are constantly supporting our public safety, our police officers and our firefighters, and that we are supporting each other as Americans.”

As the names of each of the 42 victims with Michigan connections were read, along with their biographies, a bell tolled for each of them.

A list of the Michigan victims can be found at michiganremembers.org/remembrances/Michigan-victims-of-9-11.