Talbot County Council President Corey Pack acted as Master of Ceremonies for the Ceremony to Commemorate the Events of 9/11.
To commemorate those who served and the lives lost on 9/11, Talbot County Government and the Town of Easton hosted its 6th annual ceremony on Wednesday, September 11, 2019, at 8:30 a.m. at the corner of West Street/Dover Street in Easton. Representatives of law enforcement, local clergy and the community at large took part in the program.
After the Easton Middle School Advanced Band and Easton High School Band played a prelude, Corey Pack, Talbot County Council President and Master of Ceremonies, welcomed guests by drawing similarities between the 9/11 attacks and the attacks on Pearl Harbor saying, “Sixty years prior to September 11, 2001 this nation came under attack, not by terrorists at the controls of commercial airplanes, but by the trained pilots of the Japanese military. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, then U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed an anxious Congress and a shocked nation and said that the attack was ‘a date which will live in infamy.’ President Roosevelt was deliberate in his remarks, to clearly note that the date, rather than the day, would have its significance in American history. (how many of you remember that date?). Just like the date December 7, 1941, was burnt into the minds of those Americans who bore witness to the horrors of that day, the brutal and senseless attacks on September 11, 2001 are no less infamous to this generation.”
Mayor Robert Willey added, “I am so pleased to see so many young people here today. They will play a large part in the future of our country.”
The Presentation of Flags was provided by the representatives of the Easton Police Department, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Mayor Randy Esty of the Town of Queen Anne, and the “Star-Spangled Banner,” sung by St. Michaels Middle High School student Tori Gomez.
Following the Invocation, which was given by The Reverend Roland C. Brown of Union Baptist Church in Easton, there was a moment of silence and tolling of bells to mark the moment the Tower One of the World Trade Center was struck, as well as an acknowledgment of those who placed their lives in peril for the service of others that day.
Gene Feher, a U.S. Army Vietnam veteran, gave keynote remarks about where he was on 9/11 as a member of an Emergency Medical Services crew in Connecticut. He stated, “We were never dispatched as there was no one to save. I saw the best in us . . . It all came out of the ashes of that horrific day.” He added, “I feel that we as Americans should remember how we felt on 9/11 – pause and remember those innocent lives. To honor their memory is to act as their American family.”
The program ended with a duet by Sts. Peter and Paul’s students Blair Hudson and Katie Fitzgerald, a bagpipe version of “Amazing Grace,” by Sean Guschke of the St. Michaels Fire Department, and additional music by the Easton Middle School Advanced Band and Easton High School Band.
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.