Newark Remembers Sept. 11

Officials, residents, first-responders and dozens of others gathered Wednesday at the city hall rotunda for a ceremony to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, whose victims included five city residents.

Among the guests were the family members of one of those victims, the Rev. Sean Booker. Also killed that day at the World Trade Center in Manhattan were Elizabeth Ann Darling, Harry Ramos, Syed Abdul Fatha and Daphne Elder.

“Everyone has searing memories, some so personal it hurts,” Mayor Cory Booker told the crowd before recounting how city residents headed to high points in the west and north wards to better view the devasting scene unfolding across the Hudson River. Terrorists directed by Osama bin Laden also crashed a plane into the Pentagon in Washington in an attack that claimed 3,000 lives, including the lives of hundreds of New York City first-responders trapped in the collapse of the twin towers.  

Wednesday’s ceremony also helped kick off a “day of service” in Newark on behalf of homeless military veterans. The Newark-based GI Go Fund partnered with Operation Gratitude -- a military veterans support group -- to prepare care packages for homeless veterans.

Among the volunteers helping prepare the packages were young students from the Newark Educators Community Charter School.

The city of Newark features prominently in the events of that day. One of the four planes hijacked by Islamic terrorists on the long-ago Tuesday morning was Flight 93, which took off from Newark International Airport and later crashed in a Pennsylvania field when the passengers aboard fought back against the hijackers.