Brenda Lynch waited at home on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, hoping her husband, James T. Lynch Jr., would walk through the door. He had been at the Pentagon when it was struck. He never came home.
Twenty-five years later, Lynch stood before a crowd gathered at Sean T. Connaughton Plaza and described how she has measured time ever since: “Before 9/11,” when Jimmy was alive, and “After 9/11,” when he was gone.
“I drove home that morning, crying most of the way home and just sat and waited,” she told the crowd. “Sometimes it is hard to believe that it has been 25 years and other times, it feels like it was yesterday.”
Prince William County held its annual Sept. 11 remembrance ceremony Thursday evening at the McCoart Government Center, bringing together residents, first responders and local leaders to mark the 25th anniversary of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people nationwide, including 22 Prince William County residents.
Even amid the loss, Lynch pointed to something the tragedy produced: a brief, powerful unity.
“The one good thing that came out of this tragedy was that it brought this Country together like I had never seen. People were kind to each other and so patriotic,” she said. “This memorial, the memorial at the Pentagon, the memorial in New York City and the memorial in Shanksville, were built to honor the lives lost on that day and so that future generations never forget what happened on 9/11.”
A Ceremony of Tradition
The ceremony opened with bugler Donna Flory playing “Call to Order,” followed by a presentation of the colors from the Prince William County Joint Honor Guard. The Osbourn Park High School Madrigals sang the national anthem and later performed U2’s “MLK.”
Vickie Taylor, director of the Prince William Public Safety Resilience Center — a wellness and counseling center that supports the county’s first responders — told attendees the gathering was a chance to “pause and honor the innocent lives taken too soon” and to remember the first responders who died trying to save others.
“Twenty-five years later, the profound loss and sorrow remain, but as we look around us tonight, so do the love and hope,” Taylor said. “Our own community felt this tragedy deeply; we lost more members than any other jurisdiction in the entire metro area.”
She added that in the weeks and months after the attacks, “people of vastly diverse backgrounds, cultures and beliefs came together. They stood shoulder to shoulder. They reached out their hands to lift one another up.”
Reading the Names
Board of County Supervisors Chair At-Large Deshundra Jefferson reflected on the people behind the nearly 3,000 lives lost before reading the names of the 22 Prince William County residents killed in the attacks — names etched into the sides of the reflecting pool at the county’s Liberty Memorial.
“Each had a name. Each had a story. Each left behind someone who loved them,” Jefferson said.
Retired Prince William County Fire and Rescue Lt. Jeff Howdyshell, who has performed the tradition at every county Sept. 11 ceremony, then carried out the Tolling of the Bell, honoring firefighters and rescue workers who have died in the line of duty. Fire and Rescue Lt. Eamonn Radburn followed with “Amazing Grace” on the bagpipes.
‘Connection Is Something We Choose’
Prince William County Executive Chris Shorter closed the ceremony by reflecting on how varied experiences of that day still bring people to the same place a quarter-century later.
“Each of us comes to this remembrance ceremony with a different connection to 9/11 and a different perspective ... and yet, 25 years later, we are all here together,” Shorter said. “Because connection is more than something we feel. It is something we choose. We choose to care for one another. We choose to serve one another.”
Shorter invited attendees to visit the Liberty Memorial Fountain and World Trade Center steel on the grounds of the County Complex, as well as a fire truck on loan from the Americans in Wartime Museum that once served with FDNY Squad 252 in Bushwick, Brooklyn. All six members of Squad 252 on duty that day died responding to the World Trade Center. The truck will remain on display at Connaughton Plaza through Sept. 18.
The ceremony closed as it always has: Flory, joined by fellow bugler Bill Skiba, sounded “Echo Taps.”
Photo: Prince William County
Source: Prince William County