At 9-11 ceremony, Orleans remembers nearly 3,000 killed in terrorist attack
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Two members of the federal Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team pause and reflect in front of the Sept. 11 memorial on the courthouse lawn.
They attended a 9-11 memorial service on Wednesday evening, which was the 23rd anniversary of the terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people and injured more than 6,000 others when four airplanes were hijacked and crashed – with two into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, one into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and the other into a field in rural Shanksville, Pa.
Firefighters stand under a giant American flag that was hoisted above Main Street by the ladder trucks from Medina and Murray.
Scott Schmidt, Orleans County chief coroner and a local funeral director, served as the keynote speaker at the observance which was attended by about 100 people.
Schmidt spent three weeks with the federal DMORT team and assisted in collecting and identifying remains, and interviewing family members searching for loved ones.
He left for New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. He was there for 20 days, including a week at Ground Zero. Two of his colleagues on DMORT attended the service in Albion on Monday.
Schmidt said Americans showed “strength and resilience” following the attack, and showed a great spirit of patriotism and unity following the attack.
He urged people to remember the victims in the attack and he praised the service of first responders and those in the military.
Brad Nudd served as the bugler for the playing of Taps near the end of the service.
Local law enforcement officers, including Sheriff Chris Bourke, stand next to the Honor Guard, which includes Jim Wells at left in white uniform of the Honor Guard.
Brandon Carmichael, a chaplain with the Sheriff’s Office and pastor of Victory Baptist Church in Albion, shares a prayer and later the benediction at the service. Carmichael said many families remain in mourning from that day.
About 20 firefighters from fire departments and companies in Orleans County stand during the service.
In New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, there were 343 firefighters killed responding to assist people in the World Trade Center.
There were 60 police officers killed in New York City that day.
Doug Egling plays, “America the Beautiful.”
