Memorial service, ceremony planned Sunday on 15th anniversary of Sept. 11 attacks
File photos by Tom Rivers: The ladder trucks from the Albion and Medina fire departments hold up a giant American flag during a Sept. 11 memorial service last year in Albion.
ALBION – Sunday will be the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11, terrorist attacks where nearly 3,000 people were killed when four planes were hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center buildings, the Pentagon and a field in rural Pennsylvania.
Larry Montello, a leader in the American Legion in Orleans County, has been organizing annual memorial services on Sept. 11.
He also pushed for monuments about the tragic day. Those monuments were unveiled five years ago on Sept. 11 and they are placed on the Courthouse lawn, Medina’s Rotary Park and the Legion in Albion.
“It’s part of history,” Montello said about the Sept. 11 attacks. “We can’t forget especially because it was something that happened close by.”
There will be a 10 a.m. memorial service on Sunday at the Elk’s Club on West State Street. Local firefighters, police officers, paramedics and other first responders will be part of the service, as well as local and state legislators.
Local veterans were part of the memorial ceremony Sept. 11, 2015 outside the Orleans County Courthouse by the 9-11 memorial.
Montello said the community is welcome to attend the ceremony. Later on Sunday, there will be a candlelight vigil outside the Courthouse at 6 p.m.
Montello said firefighters form throughout the county have been invited for the services. (There were 343 firefighters who died on Sept. 11 in New York City.)
Montello wants to remember the victims from the terrorist attacks, and also thank “local heroes” for being on the front lines of local emergencies.
He urged residents to proudly display flags on Sunday in memory of the victims, and in support of first responders.
He thanked the Elk’s Club and Orleans County government for hosting the services on Sunday. Local Boy Scouts and the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) also are assisting with the events.
