Residents Gather with Memories, Emotion to Honor Responders, Victims of 9/11 Attacks

Sunlight filtered through the trees full with summer leaves, as it rose high into a cloudless sky this morning. Preparations for the Annual Apple Festival's final day surrounded the families filling the chairs set up on the lawn in neat rows, across from Monroe Town Green.

It was difficult to connect with the horror of Sept. 11, 2001, even though everyone was there for the commemoration ceremony on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the terrorist attack that changed the world.

And then, the bell at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church tolled.

An almost unperceivable physical reaction rippled through the crowd, a tightening of gut, a clenching of hand, a sudden intake of breath. The sound at 8:46 a.m. marking the moment Flight 11 hit the North Tower at 466 mph made it real again.

'I lost 31 of my guys down there,” said Jim Eastwood, a retired lieutenant from the Fairfield Fire Department. He was referring to his firefighter friends in New York City who responded that day. "Never Forget!" he urged.

In total, Eastwood lost 343 "brothers" from New York Fire Department and one volunteer firefighter.

"Those first days were chaotic," he said. He was the Fairfield County Rescue Coordinator, at the time. His job was "to protect the community (Fairfield County) first."

"We didn't get in (to New York) until two or three days later," he said, and Eastwood reiterated, "Never forget!"

Eastwood, now a volunteer for the Monroe Fire Department, works with Fire Marshal Bill Davin to keep Monroe safe.

Longtime Monroe residents Ron and Peggy Villani won't forget 9/11. "It hit our family hard," Peggy said, although no family member perished that day.

Her son-in-law has two brothers who are New York City firemen assigned to the firehouse closest to Ground Zero.

"That day one brother was off and was taking his grandmother to the doctor. The other brother, who was on duty, asked another fireman to trade off with him," she said. 

On the heels of the first attack, their firehouse responded first. Thirteen firemen were killed trying to save others, including the fireman who had traded shifts as a favor. Although the brothers returned immediately, there was nothing they could do. Their brothers in blue had become a part of history. Still, they spent weeks working through the rubble with other search and rescue units looking for survivors.

"It was really hard on them," she said shaking her head.

During the ceremony Connecticut State Senator Kevin Kelly paid tribute to the 9/11 responders’ "faith, hope and love of their fellow man."

"They didn't hesitate to do what had to be done to save others then," he said. "They (first responders) don't hesitate now. And they won't hesitate tomorrow. Thank God for them."

In his welcome, First Selectman Steve Vavrek looked out at the diverse crowd and told how just a few weeks before, he and his family visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island "through which many of our relatives passed as they came into this great country." And then they went to Ground Zero.

"As an American, all the feelings we felt on that fateful day 10 years ago came flooding back," he said. "The pride, thankfulness and even joy at living in a country of freedom, a country of resolve, and a country of resilience.

"We came together as Americans that day, after three cowardly terrorist attacks killed over 3,000 innocent people. That feeling we had then, is always in the heart of every first responder. They sacrifice to help others day after day. God, bless them and God bless America."

At 9:03 a.m. St. Peter's bell tolled again marking the moment Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower at 590 mph. 

To a silent crowd, The Reverend Kurt J. Huber, Rector of St. Peter's Episcopal Church, delivered a simple, yet meaningful poem by Joan Murray called Survivors Found. 

"We thought that they were gone …," it began speaking of survivors and ended with the hard-hitting final line, "We saw that they were us."

Covering the ceremony for The Masuk Free Press, the local high school newspaper, was 15-year-old sophomore Jeff Sadownick. He was five when the planes hit. He doesn't really remember 9/11. Back then many parents tried to shield their children from news that might make them overly fearful. He has no family or friend "connection" to the horrific event. But, he does have an opinion. 

"As an American we have an obligation to honor the victims," he said.

And when he goes out into the world, marries and has children of his own, he intends to help them connect with the meaning of 9/11 though education. "We have to remember," he said, looking at Monroe's first responders who had been invited to attend. "We need to never forget."