File Photo
A portion of the Derby Sept. 11 memorial photographed in 2018.
DERBY — The public is invited to the Derby Green on Saturday to mark the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America.
“We’re really planning two events this year on Derby Green this year: an all-day honor guard to mark the 20th anniversary, and then our annual memorial service at about 4 p.m.” said Derby Fire Department Chief David Lenart.
Derby has a Sept. 11 memorial on the Elizabeth Street side of the Derby Green. The monument includes steel from The World Trade Center itself.
A photo from last year’s ceremony.
A brief ceremony at 8:30 a.m. will introduce the honor guard. The honor guard is open to uniformed emergency service volunteers or workers from all over the Naugatuck Valley — EMS, police, fire police, and firefighters.
“There will be a brief ceremony at 8:30 a.m., but the honor guard itself will start at 8:46 in the morning which is, of course, when the first plane hit the first tower of The World Trade Center. The honor guard will last for 413 minutes. That’s one minute for every fire, police, and EMS worker that died on Sept. 11.”
The men and women participating will be stationed next to the memorial. Lenart has been circulating a sign-up sheet online for a few weeks.
While the Sept. 11 memorial is in Derby, the honor guard is opened to emergency services from all over the Valley. Each shift will stand guard for about 10 minutes.
The honor guard itself will stop around 3:39 p.m. Saturday, roughly.
As Lenart noted, an annual ceremony is scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday (Sept. 11). There will be a few speakers, Lenart said.
Lenart said it is especially important to remember the lives lost on Sept. 11 this year given the 20 year anniversary.
Lenart was 22 at the time of the 2001 terrorist attacks. He was listening to a radio on Hawthorne Avenue in Derby when he first heard about the attacks. He noted his grandfather, Ed Cotter, a founder of Derby’s Storm Ambulance, was listening to the radio on Hawthorne Avenue when he learned of the attacks on Pearl Harbor.
“Everyone of us, obviously, remembers what we were doing on Sept. 11. But now, at 20 years, we’re seeing people coming into the emergency services who don’t have that frame of reference. Maybe they weren’t born, or maybe they were just too young to really remember. They’re learning about it in school. That’s why it’s so important, especially on the 20th anniversary, to have a ceremony like this.”
Lenart credited ex-Derby Fire Chief William Nicoletti for spearheading an effort to obtain steel from the World Trade Center for Derby’s memorial.
Lenart noted a retaining wall was recently installed at the site. He thanked Derby Public Works for their assistance with the project, along with donations from Home Depot and DiGiovanni Construction.
Lenart said there are plans to add a memorial bench to the site on Veterans Day. The bench will honor those who served in the War on Terror, a global conflict started after the Sept. 11 attacks of 2001.
