Shamokin dedicates 9/11 memorial near city hall
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Three firefighters from the Shamokin Bureau of Fire place a piece of steel from the World Trade Center inside the new 9/11 Memorial near city hall on Sept. 11, 2023.
SHAMOKIN – This Northumberland County city now has a permanent memorial to those who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on 9/11.
A ceremony was held to dedicate the memorial along East Lincoln Street near City Hall Monday evening.
Firefighters from the City of Shamokin Bureau of Fire donned their dress uniforms for the ceremony, and began by raising the American flag and a firefighting flag at the memorial.
Nearly 100 people attended the ceremony, which also included a candlelight vigil and the singing of Amazing Grace.
Retired Battalion Chief John Carroll of the FDNY served as keynote speaker for the dedication. He was one of the many firefighters who responded to Ground Zero on the day of the attacks to assist in search and rescue efforts. He is now involved in the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
He was a captain at a truck company in the Bronx the day of the attack.
“We were out on a gas leak, came back to the firehouse and one of the guys came running and said a plane just hit the towers,” Carroll said. “My initial thoughts were probably just like many of you, that it was just a small Piper plane that crashed into the towers.”
He said he and his crew found out about the second strike after returning from a trash fire.
“With that, NYC implemented a plan. They relocated companies and they set up staging areas,” Carroll said. “So we went from the Bronx into Manhattan.”
In the days following the attack, firefighters were either kept at Ground Zero to assist in the search, sent back to man their firehouses, or sent home.
“Traditionally, if there’s a line of duty death, everybody goes to the funeral that’s not working,” Carroll said. “If you weren’t assigned to the site and you weren’t assigned to your firehouse working that day, you went to a funeral, and that lasted a year.”
He said that 343 firefighters were lost that day.
“That was the toughest part of 9/11 for me,” Carroll said. “Day after day, going to see these families suffering and listening to eulogies.”
Carroll also highlighted how the country came together following the attack and the support the department saw in the time following.
“As a country, as Americans, we are the best country in the world,” Carroll said.
Part of the memorial dedicated Monday included a donated piece of steel from the World Trade Center, and Carroll said he heard a 9/11 memorial on the radio on the way to Shamokin.
“It resonated with me, what she said [on the radio of the Ground Zero memorial,]” Caroll said. “She said ‘This is like a burial ground. Every piece of steel, every piece of equipment that was taken out of that site had somebody’s DNA with it. No matter where that steel goes, no matter what came out of that site, that’s where our loved ones are buried.'”
“I just want you to know how important that piece of steel is. That is somebody’s loved one that is sitting right there,” Carroll said. “40% [of victims] were never found and this is how [their survivors] look at it. You’re looking at someone’s loved one.”
The memorial also includes artifacts from the Pentagon and from Somerset County, where Flight 93 crashed.
Full Photo Gallery
About Author
