WAYNESBORO- Each year the Washington Township Police Association organizes a ceremony commemorating the attacks of September 11, 2001. All members of the surrounding community are invited to attend. This year’s Day of Remembrance ceremony will take place on Monday, Sept. 11 at 6 p.m. in Red Run Park, 12143 Buchanan Trail E.
One of the rallying cries in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks was to “never forget”. Twenty two years later it is worth a moment to review what is being remembered.
The attacks in 2001 were horrible by many standards. Flying hijacked commercial aircraft full of civilian passengers and fuel into buildings brings to mind kamikazi attacks of WWII, though the kamikazi were interested in military targets. Two of the three 9/11 attacks were against the Twin Towers in New York City. These were clearly civilian buildings where the bulk of the nearly 3000 casualties that day were also civilians.
Responses to the attacks were in many ways as heroic as the attacks were cowardly. Many police and firefighters ran into the burning buildings to render assistance, later to be engulfed as the structure of the towers failed.
In the case of the fourth plane, whose takeoff was delayed by 30 minutes, the passengers had time to learn the fate of the three other flights. In that time they organized a counter-attack on the hijackers. This prevented another crash into an unknown target at the cost of their lives in a field in Shanksville, PA.
There are many lessons to be learned by remembering. Foremost among these is that it remains a dangerous world, and that the cost of our freedom is preparation and vigilance.
The citizens of Washington Township, Waynesboro and the surrounding area built the 9/11 Tribute at Red Run Park between 2011 and its dedication on September 11, 2013. It was and is unique with artifacts of all three attacks incorporated in the design. This makes it an ideal site for a ceremony to reflect on those events.
The ceremony will begin at 6 pm by the 9/11 Tribute. Those attending are advised to bring chairs.
