By Alexandra Mayer-Hohdahl
The Lowell Sun (Massachusetts)
As the seventh anniversary of 9/11 quickly approaches, residents across Greater Lowell are preparing to pause and reflect on the horrific terrorist attacks that rocked the nation half-a-decade ago.
But this year, the commemorations are bound to be more private than ever.
Most area communities will not hold public remembrance events next week. Instead, many local firefighters are planning to gather privately at their stations to honor their fallen brothers, before heading into Boston on Thursday night for a ceremony at the state’s Fallen Firefighters Memorial.
Four area towns, however, are welcoming the public to memorial events that will take place on Thursday:
• Boxboro will hold its observance in front of Town Hall. Although the time of the event has yet to be finalized, it has traditionally been held around 8:45 a.m. — the time when the first plane hit the World Trace Center in New York City. Rev. Ute Molitor, the pastor of the town’s United Church of Christ Congregational, is expected to lead the observance. Local firefighters will also be on-hand to read the firefighter’s prayer, ring a bell and help lower the flag. For more information, call Cheryl Mahoney, assistant to Town Administrator Selina Shaw, at (978) 263-1116, ext. 103.
• Officials in Hudson, N.H., will gather in Library Park at 6:30 p.m. for their 9/11 ceremony. It will include an invocation, the singing of the national anthem, the presentation of colors, a wreath-laying ceremony, the presentation of arms by the American Legion and closing remarks by Selectmen Chairman Benjamin Nadeau.
• The Fire Department in Pelham, N.H., will be conducting their memorial program at 7 p.m. in the Town Center. It will include performances by a bagpiper and the Crossroads Baptist Church choir, talks by local clergymen and Fire Chief Michael Walker, and a ringing of the fire bell. Denise Gionet, the mother of a local soldier who was killed by an improvised explosive device in Iraq two years ago, has also tentatively agreed to speak. The program will end with light refreshments at the fire station. “We wanted to get together as a community and remember,” Walker said. “It was a hard time for all of us.”
• Tewksbury will hold its commemorative event at 7 p.m. at its 9/11 Memorial. The marble portico, at the corner of Main and Chandler streets, features pavers for each of the 2,973 people killed during the attacks. The event will include the presentation of colors; performances of the national anthem, Amazing Grace and Let There Be Peace On Earth; talks by Dracut resident Cheryl Satryb, the sister-in-law of killed American Airlines Flight 11 attendant Amy Sweeney, and Larissa Gay, the daughter of Tewksbury victim Peter Gay; and a reading of the names of all Massachusetts 9/11 victims. “We will always assemble on this day to stop for a moment and remember,” John Ryan, the co-chairman of the town’s 9/11 Memorial Committee, said. “We have something going out here (with the memorial) that others don’t have.”
For those Greater Lowell residents who may not be able to attend an event on Thursday, Concord offers another alternative.
The Trinitarian Congregational Church will hold its 7th annual Al Filipov Peace & Justice Forum on Saturday, Sept. 20, at 7 p.m. The annual forum, which features nationally known speakers, is named after Alexander Filipov, a 9/11 victim who was a longtime member of the church’s congregation.
This year’s speaker will be James Yee, a U.S. Army chaplain who ministered to Muslim detainees at Guantanamo Bay. He was arrested in 2003 on charges of sedition, aiding the enemy and espionage, but was later cleared. He is the author of For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire.
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