Quinn, who lost his brother when the World Trade Center towers fell on Sept. 11, 2001, spoke at the ceremony, which remembered the lives lost on that day 22 years ago and those lost since defending the nation. (U.S. Army photos by Ephraim Rodriguez, Fort Hamilton Public Affairs) VIEW ORIGINAL
The ceremony remembered the lives lost 22 years ago on Sept. 11, 2001, and those lost since defending the nation. (Photo provided by NYPD 68th Precinct) VIEW ORIGINAL
United States Army Garrison Fort Hamilton, in Brooklyn, hosted their annual 9/11 remembrance and observance ceremony Friday, Sept. 8, 2023, at the base’s Community Club.
The solemn event honored the victims and first responders of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
Al-Qaida hijackers commandeered four commercial airplanes and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Shanksville, Pa.
The deadliest attack on American soil spurred military action in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Fort Hamilton served as an emergency staging area for first responders after the attacks.
The Army base near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge supported the response to the fallen towers after hijacked planes struck each of the twin 110-story skyscrapers.
Col. Brian Jacobs, garrison commander of Fort Hamilton, thanked the New York Police and Fire departments and other first responders who “sacrificed their lives in defense of freedom” in remarks at the ceremony.
Guest speaker Joe Quinn, a U.S. Military Academy graduate and Army veteran who lost his brother in the attacks, reflected on how 9/11 changed his life’s path.
“On 9/11, I collapsed to the vinyl tile flooring of my West Point room, as the towers collapsed on television,” Quinn said. “I couldn’t get up as I stared at my roommate Joe Pep’s poorly shined shoes. My brother was in the north tower, and 22 years later I still imagine him falling. He was on the 104th floor.”
Lt. Gen. Steven Gilland, Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy, spoke about honoring the memories of those lost.
“We remember how we came together as Americans in the aftermath of the attacks...and we remember how the global community joined us in solidarity...in sympathy...and in friendship,” Gilland said.
As a final remembrance, service members from the New York National Guard Joint Task Force Empire Shield, headquartered on Fort Hamilton firing detail executed a 21-gun salute, followed by the playing of “Taps”, by Joseph Loposky, Music Program Director at Xaverian High School in Bay Ridge honorably ending the event.
“While today does mark the official day of this observance, the memories of this horrific tragedy are with us every day,” Jacobs said.
The 9/11 memorial services at Fort Hamilton and locations across the country honor the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terrorist attacks, as well as the first responders and service members who sacrificed their lives responding to one of America’s darkest days.
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