A small service to remember the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday on the Derby Green.
The service will take place next to the city’s Sept. 11 monument, the only one of its kind in the lower Naugatuck Valley.
Two pieces of steel from the World Trade Center sit atop the monument.
Two granite columns represent the lower Manhattan towers.
The steel sits on a pentagon-shaped granite pedestal, a reference to the plane that crashed into the U.S. Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
Red rocks on the ground next to the monument are a tribute to Flight 93, the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania as terrorists tried to hijack it.
Nearly 3,000 people died in the Sept. 11 attacks of 2001.
The Derby monument exists thanks to donations from the public and the efforts of the Derby Fire Department.
Past Derby Fire Chief William Nicoletti was instrumental in obtaining the piece of steel from the New York City officials for the monument.
The monument was recently updated with engravings identifying the monument for future generations. The engravings read “Sept. 11, 2001 World Trade Center” and “Never Forget New York City.”
The money to create the monument was funded by selling bricks along the walkway surrounding the monument. The bricks feature short personal engravings — usually a person or family’s name.
Future etchings from engraved brick sales are being planned to identify the Pentagon and Flight 93.
The monument is just two years old.
Sunday’s gathering is expected to be less extensive than last year’s, which was the first Sept. 11 service at the monument since it was finished. Nevertheless, the public is welcome to attend and remember the day and the lives lost.
The service is being organized by Hotchkiss Hose and the Derby Fire Department.
