Area Residents Challenged To Remember The Unity Following Attacks

FOLLANSBEE - While taking time to remember the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, two area officials also encouraged residents to recapture the sense of unity felt in the days after.

During a brief ceremony held Friday night at Follansbee Park, marking the 25th anniversary of the attacks, Mayor Scott McMahon and Del. Jimmy Willis issued the challenge.

"I think it’s a very important time of the year that we pause and say thank you and remember," McMahon said, recalling the confusion and fear following the attacks, as well as those who answered the call to protect the nation. "It’s also important to remember what happened on Sept. 12, 13 and the days and months after."

Friday marked 25 years since the terror attacks, which resulted in the deaths of 2,977 individuals when al-Qaida terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing two into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York and one into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pa., after passengers and the crew fought back against the hijackers in an attempt to retake control.

The mayor recalled the nation coming together, donating blood, gathering disaster relief supplies, with first responders from across the country volunteering to travel to the attack sites to assist in rescue and recovery efforts.

Others recalled members of Congress gathering on the steps of the Capitol to sing "God Bless America."

McMahon noted five Brooke County firefighters, including his brother Rob, who stepped forward to assist at Ground Zero.

"It was palpable," McMahon said, encouraging residents to reconnect with their neighbors, volunteer in their community and find common ground for the betterment of others. "We don’t need a disaster to trigger those emotions. We don’t need bad to have good."

Willis, who explained he was only 9 months old on the day of the attacks, issued a similar plea to the community, while also encouraging them to pass on the stories and lessons, reminding those in attendance that, in the next few years, more than half of the nation’s population were either too young to remember or not born when the Sept. 11 attacks took place.

"That’s why events like this are even more important," Willis said, adding Follansbee’s service, and others like it, offer a reminder to all of the turning point in the nation’s history.

He told the story of Welles Crowther, a Boston University graduate, who was a volunteer firefighter and an equities trader working in the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

Referred to as "the Man with the Red Bandana," Crowther’s efforts resulted in the saving of at least 18 lives. His body would be found in March 2002, alongside those of several fallen firefighters and emergency workers in the South Tower lobby.

"Those are the stories we need to remember," Willis said.

Friday’s service also included musical performances by Coty Shingle, music worship leader for Follansbee Re-Focus Church, along with prayers offered by Pastor Joe Cuomo of Christian Assembly Church of Follansbee and Jason Cline of Follansbee Re-Focus Church.