Baltimore County Honors 9/11 Victims

TOWSON, MD — On the 20th anniversary of the attacks, Baltimore County remembered those lost on 9/11.

More than 2,700 people died at the World Trade Center alone on 9/11, including the passengers of American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175. Another 44 died on United Airlines Flight 93 near Shanksville, Pa.

Among those killed in the attacks were a handful of people with Baltimore County ties:

Robert J. Fangman, 33, of Towson, was killed on Flight 175. He was working as a flight attendant.

Cortez Ghee, 54, of Reisterstown, was killed at the Pentagon. He worked for the Army as a budget analyst. Ghee grew up in Washington, D.C., and was a Vietnam veteran, according to the Pentagon Memorial Fund. Before working for the Army, he was employed by the Maryland National Guard and Department of Health and Human Services in Baltimore. Ghee was among 184 people killed when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into The Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

David W. McNeal, 29, a financial analyst working in the south tower, was killed when the second plane crashed into the World Trade Center. He was a 1990 graduate of Loyola Blakefield in Towson, where he was also class president, according to the Catholic Review. A scholarship has been named for him at the school, which will announce this year's recipient at its Sept. 16 mass.

Linda Rosenbaum, 41, of Pikesville, died at the World Trade Center.

Honor Elizabeth Wainio, 27, who grew up in Catonsville, was killed on United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked and crashed in Shanksville, Pa. Employed as a manager for Discovery Channel Stores, Wainio was reportedly on her way to a business meeting in California. She was a member of the class of 1995 at Towson University, which held a ceremony honoring Vainio and other victims as well as first responders Friday, Sept. 10, at the 9/11 Memorial Garden by Newell Hall on campus.

Here is the Baltimore County government's 9/11 ceremony, which occurred Saturday at Patriot Plaza in Towson to recognize the 20-year commemoration:

In addition, a 9/11 Patriot Ride took motorcyclists from Darlington to Parkville. The event began at 8:46 a.m. on Sept. 11 with moments of silence, followed by an honor guard ceremony and special guest speakers.

One participant said the "procession went on for miles" in a show of patriotism.

We did the police escorted Ride to Remember today from Darlington to Parkville, MD. Very moving experience. Not sure the exact number of bikes but the procession went on for miles. What an experience. #Neverforget pic.twitter.com/W7xe3q8btv
— Principal Smith (@TomSmithYBES) September 11, 2021

The ride ended at McAvoy's bar in Parkville, where a candlelight vigil was held at 6:20 p.m.

All 9/11 victims were remembered at memorial services across the nation on Sept. 11 to mark the 20th anniversary of the attacks. At the 9/11 memorial in Lower Manhattan, New York — an area known for years after the attacks as “Ground Zero” — the names of the fallen were read aloud.

“Throughout the ceremony, we will observe six moments of silence, acknowledging when each of the World Trade Center towers was struck and fell and the times corresponding to the attack on the Pentagon and the crash of Flight 93,” organizers with the 9/11 Memorial & Museum said.

The annual “Tribute of Light” — lights pointed to the sky in the shape of the Twin Towers —was illuminated Saturday in New York as well as at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pa.

In Parkville, Baltimore County Councilman David Marks said there was a "stunning display" lighting up the sky there Saturday night too.