Fifteen years later, Morris County remembers painful lessons of 9/11

Dignitaries pray. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Dignitaries pray. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
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Video playlist by Jeff Sovelove

By Jeff Sovelove

Dignitaries from across the state came together at the 9/11 Memorial in Parsippany on Sunday to mark the 15th anniversary of 9/11.

Freeholders Doug Cabana and Hank Lyon read the names of he 64 Morris County residents who died in the terror attacks, and people placed mementos by the engraved names, including small stones to show that they had been there (a Jewish tradition).

Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.) led the Pledge of Allegiance.  Speaker Paul J. Fishman, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, gave a passionate speech about how 9/11 led him to return to public service.

“For terrorists to win, we have to be terrorized. But that’s not who we are. We are not terrorized,” said Fishman, who cautioned against trampling civil liberties in the name of revenge. “We are and must be better than that.”

Slideshow photos by Jeff Sovelove

Morris County remembers, 15 years later. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Wreckage from World Trade Center. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
The Pledge of Allegiance. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Morris County remembers, 15 years later. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Cub Scout Packs 228 and 125 from Morristown.  They handed out programs and candles to help before the memorial.
Old Glory above 9/11 service. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Flag above 9/11 Memorial. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Morris County remembers, 15 years later. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Names of the dead. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Names of the dead. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
World Trade Center wreckage in Parsippany. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
State Police march in Parsippany. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
T he Police Pipes and Drums of Morris County. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Morris County remembers, 15 years later. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Presentation of the flag to Loretta Viglione, brother slain of NYC firefighter Tommy Sabella. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Presentation of the flag to Loretta Viglione, brother slain of NYC firefighter Tommy Sabella. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
More names of the dead. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
A woman flashes a peace sign. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Kathryn A. DeFillippo, Freeholder Director. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Paul J. Fishman, US Attorney for New Jersey. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Token of affection for lost loved one. Sept. 11, 2016. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Token of affection for lost loved one. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.) Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Steel from the World Trade Center. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Morris County remembers, 15 years later. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Vincent and Loretta Viglione, brother-in-law and sister of firefighter Tommy Sabella, who refused to evacuate the North tower after the South tower fell. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Kim Guadagno, Lt. Governor of NJ. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Frank J. Druetzler, Mayor of Morris Plains. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Morris County remembers, 15 years later. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
F. Tony Ramirez of Denville American Legion Post #390 plays Taps. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Morris County remembers, 15 years later. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Token of affection for lost loved one. Sept. 11, 2016.Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Token of affection for lost loved one. Sept. 11, 2016.  By Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.Token of affection for lost loved one. Sept. 11, 2016.  By Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Daniel Rodriquez, the '9/11 Singing Policeman,' sings with the MPAC Performing Arts Company on the 15th anniversary of 9/11. Photo by Pamela Babcock
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Although the nation feels divided now, said Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, we must remember one of the great lessons from that tragic Tuesday in 2001. “It didn’t matter what we were,” she said. “All that mattered was that we were Americans.”

Old Glory above 9/11 service. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Old Glory above 9/11 service. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.

The evening’s most eloquent and moving moments came not from officials, however, but from Vincent and Loretta Viglione, brother-in-law and sister of firefighter Tommy Sabella, who refused to evacuate the North tower after the South tower fell.

Dignitaries pray. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.
Dignitaries pray. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, Sept. 11, 2016.

Sabella’s body never was recovered. After his death, the Vigliones joined the Families of 9/11 to continue in his spirit of public service.

“Through an act of hate, we learned that love has no limits,” Vincent Viglione said.

“Through an act of ignorance, we learned that compassion abounds.

“Through an act of savagery, we learned the world is full of kind and generous people.”

“Still,” he noted, “we are not grateful for having learned those lessons. Because the price was far too high.”

 * * *

Earlier on Sunday, the “9/11 Singing Policeman,” Daniel Rodriguez, sang at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown.

When Rodriguez recorded his first album, he said, he was “really looking for songs that spoke about America, spoke about what this country means to each and every one of us.”

And then he pulled up a stool and sang Frank Sinatra’s The House I Live In:

The place I work in, the worker by my side
The little town or city where my people lived and died
The “howdy” and the handshake, the air of feeling free
And the right to speak my mind out, that’s America to me

–Pamela Babcock contributed to this report.

Daniel Rodriquez, the '9/11 Singing Policeman,' sings with the MPAC Performing Arts Company on the 15th anniversary of 9/11. Photo by Pamela Babcock
Daniel Rodriquez, the ‘9/11 Singing Policeman,’ sings ‘America the Beautiful’ with the MPAC Performing Arts Company on the 15th anniversary of 9/11. Photo by Pamela Babcock

Video playlist by Jeff Sovelove (above):

  1. The Vigliones on lessons learned from 9/11
  2. US Attorney Paul Fishman on 9/11 in Morris
  3. Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno on 9/11 after 15 years
  4. Honor Guard at 9/11 ceremony in Morris County
  5. Remembrance of the dead, 9/11 in Morris
  6. Taps in Morris County, 9/11
  7. Amazing Grace in Morris County 9/11/16

 

 

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