PASCACK VALLEY AREA, N.J.—The blow was so severe many Americans who lived through it have yet to make much headway in grieving the loss. To say the world changed Sept. 11, 2001 is an understatement. Certainly here, in Bergen County, where 147 residents died among 3,000 (and 6,000 injured), the day will never be forgotten.
This week we note that 18 years have elapsed since 9/11, and the Pascack Valley is fighting on. We’re raising children, many just now coming into their own, who have never known a world that did not have this horror lurking in the collective consciousness.
This generation seems determined to fight for a better world, in fact. It will be interesting to see what they do with their birthright: their passion and purpose. There was rubble, and this was swept away, and there was a rebuilding, and then there is the future.
Communities here and worldwide have for nearly two decades honored the uncontested heroism of those who fought back in the air, those who ran into harm’s way on the ground, and those who rose—who continue to rise—in service, that the day should be recalled as a guiding light.
Here is a guide to Wednesday’s 18th annual Sept. 11 memorials in the Pascack Valley. There will be prayer, readings of the names of fallen, song, salutes, and, as ever, a healing and strengthening. Check town websites for information on rain dates.
- The Emerson Fire Department hosts a memorial service at the firehouse at 6:30 p.m.
- The Hillsdale Fire Department ceremony is at 8:30 a.m. in Veterans Park.
- The Montvale Fire Department hosts at 7 p.m. at Montvale Firehouse on Memorial Drive.
- The Borough of Park Ridge and Cpl. Jedh C. Barker Memorial American Legion Post 153 host a Patriot Day memorial program at Veterans Park. A candlelight ceremony starts at 6 p.m. Scouts are encouraged to attend in uniform. Family members of those who lost their lives, and women whose husbands were killed in 1985 when Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up over residential areas of Lockerbie, Scotland, have been offering a memorial wreath each year.
- River Vale unites at 7:30 p.m. at the 9/11 Memorial Garden in Veterans Memorial Park (next to the River Vale Public Library) at 412 Rivervale Road.
- Washington Township invites you to pay respects at Jack Woods Senior Center, at Town Hall. Arrive for the service at 5:45 p.m. The program begins at 6.
- Westwood’s candlelight ceremony is at 8 p.m. in Veterans Park at the south end of the train station. Open prayer, volunteer color guard, and songs. In addition to honoring the borough’s four victims, the event honors resident and U.S. Marine Sgt. Chris Hrbek, killed in action in Afghanistan. The public is asked to bring candles if possible and to have them in glass containers.
- Woodcliff Lake meets in memorial at the Jack D’Ambrosi Sports Complex at 7 p.m.