Orleans plans 9-11 service for Thursday on 24th anniversary of attacks

Photo by Tom Rivers: Rotary Park in Medina has a memorial for the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorists attacks in the United States that killed nearly 3,000 people.

ALBION – Orleans County will have a memorial service at 6 p.m. on Thursday for the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorists attacks. The service on the 24th anniversary of the attacks will again be held at Courthouse Square.

On September 11, 2001, terrorists 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.

Scheduled speakers for the Thursday service include County Legislator John Fitzak, jail chaplain Don Snyder, Orleans County Emergency Management Director Justin Niederhofer, and Chief Coroner Scott Schmidt.

Schmidt will be keynote speaker at the observance. Schmidt spent three weeks with a federal team – U.S. Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT) – 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.

Doug Egling and Trellis Pore will sing “America The Beautiful” and military honors will be presented by the Honor Guard from the American Legion and VFW.