Above / One World Trade Center stands today in New York City at the site of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum as a beacon of American freedom. (PN Photo, August 2015)
“May the lives remembered, the deeds recognized, and the spirit reawakened by eternal beacons, which reaffirm respect for life, strengthen our resolve to preserve freedom, and inspire an end to hatred, ignorance and intolerance.” —From the National September 11 Memorial Mission Statement
UPDATE, Sept. 11, 2019 / The 2019 September 11 Observance is hosted by the Exchange Club of Naperville, under the leadership of the Americanism Committee, in cooperation with the City of Naperville at the Cdr. Dan Shanower September 11 Memorial along the Riverwalk. The remembrance begins at 5:30PM with carillon bells followed by music performed by the Naperville Municipal Band. The program begins at 6PM. (In case of rain, the event will take place inside the Municipal Center Council Chambers.)
This year’s guest speaker will be Chuck Johanns.
“Chuck was the chairperson for the construction of the Shanower Memorial Sept. 11,” said Marty Walker, chairman of the observance for the Americanism Committee.
“The Exchange Club of Naperville is honored to be a part of this event once again this year and to partner with the City to commemorate the Sept. 11 tragedy,” said Exchange Club President Ron Amato. “Although 18 years have passed since Sept. 11, 2001, we cannot forget the magnitude of the tragedy and the lives that were lost.”
The Cdr. Dan Shanower Sept. 11 Memorial is located along the Riverwalk between the DuPage River and the Naperville Municipal Center in downtown Naperville.
UPDATE, Sept. 10, 2018 / The 2018 September 11 Observance is hosted by the Exchange Club of Naperville, under the leadership of the Americanism Committee, in cooperation with the City of Naperville at the Cdr. Dan Shanower September 11 Memorial along the Riverwalk. The remembrance begins at 5:30PM with carillon bells followed by music performed by the Naperville Municipal Band. The program begins at 6PM. (In case of rain, the event will take place inside the Municipal Center Council Chambers.)
Immediate Past President Dr. Robin Choquette will preside over the ceremony.
The keynote speaker will be Kris Habermehl, a fixture on Chicago radio and TV for a quarter of a century. Working for decades from aboard the CBS-TV and radio helicopters “Chopper2” and “Chopper 780,” Habermehl has been able to combine work with his other passion, flying. Habermehl has won five regional Emmys and numerous other broadcasting awards. He also lectures on severe weather events, maritime and aviation history and can be seen on various PBS documentaries on Chicago.
Note also that from noon to 12:30PM a special 30-minute concert on the 72 bells of the Millennium Carillon inside Moser Tower will play. A solemn tolling of the “Big Joe” bell followed by “In Memoriam,” a carillon piece written following the events of September 11, 2001, meant to be played in bell towers throughout the world. Carillon music can also be heard beginning at 5:30PM.
Above / As the sun began to set over still waters between the Riverwalk Covered Bridge and the Eagle Street Bridge on Sept. 11, 2017, hundreds of individuals gathered along the banks of the DuPage River to reflect and remember all the victims that day and ever since Sept. 11, 2001.
UPDATE, Sept. 11, 2017 / The Exchange Club of Naperville again has planned the annual observance of Sept. 11 at the Shanower Sept. 11 Memorial along the Riverwalk. The remembrance begins at 5:30PM with carillon bells followed by music performed by the Naperville Municipal Band. The program begins at 6PM. The keynote address will be delivered by Lanson “Lanny” Russell, a retired fire chief who served in Downers Grove, Villa Park, Peotone and DeKalb over his 44-year career.
The Cdr. Dan Shanower Sept. 11 Memorial is located along the Riverwalk behind the Naperville Municipal Center. (PN Photo, August 2016)
Posted, Sept. 11, 2016 / At 9:30AM, Sun., Sept. 11, retired Naperville Fire Department Captain Chuck Wehrli will discuss how he was mobilized on Sept. 11, 2001 after the terrorist attacks on New York in a program in Century Memorial Chapel at Naper Settlement. Because of relationships he made with other first responders, Wehrli was able to procure a steel beam (pictured above) from the World Trade Center, a symbol that now rests at the Cdr. Dan Shanower Sept. 11 Memorial. Admission is free of charge.
The 2016 September 11 Observance will begin at 1PM at the Shanower Memorial located at 400 S. Eagle Street behind the Naperville Municipal Building along the Riverwalk. The Naperville Municipal Band will perform patriotic music beginning at 12:45PM. The ceremony to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the September 11 attacks will be presented in partnership with the City of Naperville and the Exchange Club of Naperville. All are welcome to attend.
Posted Sept. 10, 2015 / During the Naperville Park District regular meeting on Sept. 10, 2015, Executive Director Ray McGury asked the community to pause for moments of silence beginning at 8:45AM in recognition of the minute the first plane flew into the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46AM, Sept. 11, 2001.
In Naperville, the annual September 11 Remembrance will take place at the Cmdr. Dan Shanower Sept. 11 Memorial at 6PM after the largest bell tolls from the Millennium Carillon in the Moser Tower on Rotary Hill.
Editor’s Note / Remember the day that changed the world forever
I will never forget hearing the news of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, from Jeanne Johnson during an early morning meeting at Egg Harbor in downtown Naperville. The meeting ended abruptly.
Rushing home, listening to the radio all the way, I hurried inside and tuned into the horrific replays on TV just as the second plane hit. Stunned, I contacted each of our three children. Then I tried frantically to call several friends in Manhattan, but the phone lines rang busy. By 11AM, I’d heard back from two of them via terse emails that I have saved to remind me never to forget. The terror created by murdering hijackers was unthinkable.
In the days that followed, the heroism of the New York Fire Department and other first responders, some from Naperville who headed to NYC to help; individuals at the Pentagon such as Naperville native Cdr. Dan Shanower who were killed serving our country; and the courageous passengers of Flight 93 led by Wheaton’s Todd Beamer who died preventing an even bigger disaster brought the tragedy closer to home. Shortly afterward, citizens came together to plan Naperville’s fitting memorial to September 11, 2001.
Above / By 2003, the City of Naperville had completed the Cdr. Dan Shanower Sept. 11 Memorial along the Riverwalk behind the Naperville Municipal Center. Ever since, an annual remembrance has been observed.
By the end of two weeks after the attacks, my husband and I also had received news that three of our friends who worked in New York City— Tony Infante (Port Authority), Michael Boccardi (Fred Alger Management) and Bonnie Smithwick (Fred Alger Management) — had been killed, too.
Roughly three months later, as I often did on a Friday in early December, I flew to New York City to attend a luncheon with longtime friends with whom I’d worked as a young adult in Manhattan—many were the same people I’d tried to contact on September 11, 2001. Since my flight arrived early that morning, I had planned to visit Ground Zero first.
We had lived in Manhattan all the while the World Trade Center was being built during the early 1970s. On the day we were married in 1978, we celebrated with our small wedding party overlooking the city from the Windows on the World on the 107th floor of the North Tower in the WTC. What a view! Every time someone came to visit us in NYC, we took them to the top of the Twin Towers observation decks, 110 stories high. Our fond memories and experiences connected us greatly to the events of that fateful day.
After visiting the devastation at Ground Zero and reconnecting with friends at the luncheon on that Friday in 2001, I headed to the Red Hook Firehouse just outside the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. Thanks to a contact of Naperville resident Bev Eigenberg via her son, David Eigenberg, who lived in New York at the time, the Red Hook firefighters welcomed my visit. The story of hope, resiliance and sacrifice that afternoon is indelibly printed in my mind as though it were yesterday. My Daily Herald column about the experience is linked/copied below.
Just as folks recall where they were on Dec. 7, 1941, or Nov. 22, 1963; millions of Americans have personal stories of remembrance of that evil tragedy on Sept. 11, 2001. Mindful of many challenges and unmet needs that call for solutions in our world, I pray for freedom and peace every day. As we move forward, I pray that I’ll always remember, too.
Summer travels in 2015 led to tributes in Chatham, New Jersey
In August 2015, my daughter Ashley and I traveled to Chatham, New Jersey, where we stayed with our former next door neighbors on the street where we used to live. While there, we visited the National September 11 Memorial and the Freedom Tower at One World Trade Center in New York City as well as two memorials in Chatham, New Jersey, where 13 residents and first responders have been remembered.
Above / The September 11 Memorial pictured above is a tribute to 13 borough and township residents who were killed on Sept. 11, 2001. The memorial is located behind the Library of the Chathams at the North Passaic entrance to Memorial Park in Chatham Borough, New Jersey.
Above / The September 11 Memorial is situated in the Firehouse Plaza in Chatham Borough, New Jersey, near the Police Station and the Train Station. The inscription reads, “Dedicated to all who gave their lives on September 11, 2001, including our Brother Firefighters, Police and EMS. Their sacrifice is our loss. Their courage is our strength. Guiding the World towards a better future.” —Chatham Fire Department, September 11, 2014
Naperville’s September 11 Memorial / Reflections 2014
If it’s 8AM Thursday and dry, I’m usually about to meet a friend to begin my weekly walk of the Naperville Riverwalk. Early on the morning of September 11, 2014, I was deeply touched to encounter government students from Naperville Central High School visiting the Cmdr. Dan Shanower/September 11 Memorial behind the Naperville Municipal Center. Thirteen years earlier, the students likely were pre-schoolers.
Above / During an early morning visit to the Cmdr. Dan Shanower / September 11 Memorial, NCHS students in Donna Mohn’s government class were given an opportunity to learn how Sept. 11, 2001, changed the world and directly touched this community.
About an hour later, organizers of the 2014 Sept. 11 Remembrance, including retired firefighters Marty Walker and Chuck Wehrli, also had gathered to begin setting the stage for the annual observance slated to begin with patriotic music at 5:30PM that day followed at 6PM by a program presented by the Exchange Club of Naperville Americanism Committee.
Above / Pause, reflect and remember at the Cmdr. Dan Shanower/September 11 Memorial any day of the year.
The Wall of Faces with the eternal flame provides the backdrop for the sculpture “Lean on Us” at The Cmdr. Dan Shanower / September 11 Memorial. The design of the sculpture, listed among the Century Walk works of public art, includes a beam from the World Trade Center, stone remnants from the Pentagon and granite from Pennslyvania to symbolize the freedom fighters of Flight 93. A message on a bench says, “Freedom isn’t free.”
Brooklyn’s Red Hook firefighters build tribute to ‘Seven in Heaven’
By Stephanie Penick
Copyright © January 08, 2002
Daily Herald / Posted online at Red Hook Raiders
Once a year, I jet halfway across the country for a day to take part in a family reunion of sorts.
The annual journey takes me to New York City, where I lived and worked from the time I was 21 until I was 33. My co-workers at an advertising agency owned by Jerry Della Femina were my family between my childhood and my marriage.
Each year Della Femina hosts an “Old Timer Party,” a reunion for people who have worked in his various agencies since 1967.
This year, my one-day trip has left me with lasting images I never could have imagined before Sept. 11. Images of New Yorkers and their city, of evil and tragedy, of firefighters and bravery.
Before I left on my 16-hour trek, I called New York firefighter Al Nocella, one of the Red Hook Raiders featured in Daily Herald stories, to arrange a visit to the Brooklyn firehouse. Stationed just across the Brooklyn Bridge from the World Trade Center, the Red Hook Engine 202 and Ladder 101 companies were among the first to answer the emergency call on Sept. 11. All seven men of Ladder 101 were killed.
Since that morning, Naperville has joined other communities in raising money and support for the Red Hook families.
When I arrived in New York, I took a cab to the financial district and headed for the attack site. I joined dozens of other onlookers ignoring the rain to peer through an opening in the green make-shift fence surrounding the site. Feeling a mix of sadness, anger and love for my country, I observed evil and heroic goodness all at once.
A police officer kept everyone from stepping too close. He also directed us to a memorial at Trinity Church, two blocks away. The church’s wrought iron fence was graced with photos, flowers, flags and banners emblazoned with affectionate tributes from around the world to the brave firefighters, police officers and innocent victims.
After my luncheon reunion, I crossed the Brooklyn Bridge and made my way to an industrial area near the end of the Battery Tunnel. At 31 Richards St., I found the Red Hook Raiders, one of five firehouses in the 32nd Battalion in Brooklyn.
Nocella was unable to meet with me. In the rescue mission, he sustained a knee injury requiring surgery. The day I visited, he had a doctor’s appointment.
Instead, firefighter Paul Brincat and Capt. Ed Kearon led me to the tribute they’ve created on one side of the garage to honor the “Seven in Heaven:” Lt. Joseph Cullickson and firefighters Patrick Byrne, Salvatore Calabro, Brian Cannizzaro, Thomas Kennedy, Joseph Maffeo and Terence McShane.
Like viewing the remnants of the World Trade Center, it’s another moment I’ll never forget.
In the kitchen, firefighters Joe Farinacci and Anthony Gerrara were stuffing thank you cards into envelopes and attaching mailing labels Brincat had printed. They showed me addresses from Naperville – many names were familiar.
Humbled by the attention they’ve received in recent months, they candidly re-created the morning they responded to the “1060” alert that sounded a major catastrophe.
“I’d never heard a 1060 emergency call in my 20 years with the department,” Kearon said. “We couldn’t begin to imagine what had happened.”
One by one, they recounted events, explaining the bond among firefighters worldwide, now stronger than ever after six weeks of funerals and memorial services.
Kearon showed me an amazing new book called “Brotherhood,” a compilation of pictures taken by 60 photographers during the days following the atrocious attack. Proceeds from the sale of the book will benefit the families of the 343 firefighters who died Sept. 11.
The firefighters’ highest priority is to care for the children who lost their fathers.
“Most of us are Irish or Italian (descent), and most of us send our children to Catholic or parochial schools,” Kearon said. “Keeping that tradition … is probably our biggest concern.”
Frank, witty, modest and truly grateful, they told how the tiniest mention of a need in the media resulted in truckloads of supplies – blankets, socks, gloves, even dog food for the canine corps.
Their daily routines didn’t begin or end on Sept. 11. As most of us sat home, glued to television coverage, firefighters found extraordinary strength to deal with their grief. They carried on with their individual duties, standing alert for other emergencies, always prepared to put their lives on the line to save ordinary people.
As they expressed appreciation for every single kindness from around the world, I discovered resilient, dedicated, brave men who said they “still have the greatest job in the world.”
I was overwhelmed by their heroism. And they don’t expect much in return.
“We just hope people will keep us in their thoughts and prayers next week, two years, three years from now,” Kearon said.
After a couple hours, I asked to call a cab for a ride to LaGuardia Airport. Gerrara’s shift was nearly over and he insisted on giving me a lift.
He may have driven the van, but all the Red Hook Raiders gave me a lift.
For more information about the Red Hook Raiders, visit http://eng202lad101.tripod.com.
—Stephanie Penick / PN
