9/11 Remembrance, Flag Ceremony To Be Held In Howard County

ELLICOTT CITY, MD — Howard County's 9/11 Remembrance Wreath Laying and Flag Ceremony will begin Thursday at 8:46 a.m., the time the first plane hit the north tower of the World Trade Center.

Howard County Executive Calvin Ball will be joined in Ellicott City by fellow elected officials and command members from the Howard County police and fire departments and Howard County Sheriff’s Office Sept. 11 to mark the 24th anniversary and pay tribute to all who lost their lives during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, including the four victims from Howard County, with a remembrance wreath laying and flag raising ceremony.

“Although it’s been 24 years since that tragic day, we will never forget those who lost their lives, including our four victims from Howard County, and their families whose lives were forever changed,” Ball said. “No matter what challenges face our nation, state and community, we are stronger when we stand together to preserve the ideals of safety, freedom and liberty.”

The ceremony will take place outside the George Howard Building in the courtyard by the flag poles at 3430 Courthouse Drive in Ellicott City.

Nearly 3,000 Americans, including 4 from Howard County, were killed in the suicide attacks carried out by 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaida.

Sarah M. Clark, 65, Columbia, Aboard American Airlines Flight 77
Sarah was a sixth-grade teacher at Backus Middle School in Washington, D.C., the parent to two adult children and was engaged to be married to John Milton Wesley. Sarah was involved in a science and geography project and had been selected to attend an oceanographic expedition in Santa Barbara, California, accompanied by one of her students, 11-year-old Asia Cottom, as well as two other teachers and students. She left at 5:30 a.m. on Sept. 11 to meet Asia’s father at their home and drive to Dulles International Airport in Arlington, Virginia.

Col. Ronald F. Golinski, Pentagon
Golinski, a retired Army colonel, was working in a civilian job in the office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel at the Pentagon. He’d held many positions during his 36-year Army career, including director of the Enlisted Personnel Management Directorate at the Army Reserve Personnel Command in St. Louis, Missouri. His awards include the Legion of Merit and the Meritorious Service Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters. Golinski was married to his wife, Irene, and had three daughters, one of whom was married just nine days before the terror attacks.

Ian J. Gray, Aboard American Airlines Flight 77
Scottish-born Ian J. Gray was instrumental in the creation of McBee Associates, a national health-care finance and management consulting firm based in Columbia, Maryland. Gray emigrated from Scotland to the U.S. in 1968. He helped start McBee in the late 1970s. His wife, Ana Raley, was the chief executive of Greater Southeast Community Hospital. They had a daughter and a stepson. He enjoyed volunteering with the Special Olympics and the Art Deco Society of Washington.

Lt. J.G. Darin Howard Pontell, Pentagon
When he was just 14, Pontell knew he wanted to enlist in the Navy. His older brother Steven, a Navy pilot, had been killed not too long prior in a crash on the USS Lexington off Pensacola, Florida. Lt. J.G. Pontell graduated with honors from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. He married Devora Volk, an attorney, then began working at the Pentagon. He celebrated his 26th birthday a month before 9/11. During his naval career, he received the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Naval Commendation Medal, the Navy Achievement Medal and the National Defense Service Medal. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal. Pontell was buried next to his brother in the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation Cemetery.