Howell Community To Gather For 9/11 Observance Monday

HOWELL, NJ — The Howell 9/11 Memorial Service will take place at 6 p.m. Monday at the Memorial Monument, the township announced.

The monument is located at 251 Preventorium Road, and the Mayor and Council will be leading the event. There will be a tolling of the bell.

The township will have a Police Honor Guard, as well as Police Department and Fire Department personnel in attendance.

Howell High School students will attend, as will area clergy. Students will read biographies of those who died. Five Howell residents died in the attacks, one a Port Authority police officer, and others who worked at the World Trade Center.

The design of the township's 9/11 Memorial Monument has five pillars representing the five victims, the township has said. The pillars form a pentagon, representing the U.S. Pentagon that was also attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.

Elsewhere, the Monmouth County Board of County Commissioners also invites everyone to attend its 9/11 memorial ceremony at 8 a.m. Monday, Sept. 11. It will be held on the top of Mount Mitchill in Atlantic Highlands.

The county will also have its Tribute of Lights this year. The lights will be illuminated from sunset to 11 p.m. on Sept. 11, rain or shine. The lights will be visible throughout Monmouth County and along the Raritan Bayshore.

The board earlier this year declared Monday, Sept. 11, 2023 a county holiday to honor the victims, first responders, volunteers and all who were affected by the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Monmouth County lost 147 residents in the terrorist attacks, among the 2,977 people who were killed. More than 6,000 others were injured. Of the 2,977 fatalities, 2,753 were killed in the World Trade Center and the surrounding area, 184 at the Pentagon, and 40 in Pennsylvania after the crash of Flight 93. These deaths included 265 on the four planes used in the attacks.

The attacks by the 19 hijackers, who also died that day, remain the deadliest terrorist act in world history.