September 11 not forgotten in Mineola, the Willistons

Noah Manskar

Friday’s sunlit morning, Mineola Mayor Scott Strauss recalled, was not unlike the same morning 14 years before.

But Sept. 11, 2001 took a very different course for him and thousands of others on Long Island when terrorist attacks destroyed the World Trade Center in Manhattan and killed 2,996 people.

“The day that started out bright and sunny ended with a level of devastation, a level of pain and a level of depravity we had never seen,” said Strauss, a Sept. 11 first responder, speaking at Mineola’s Sept. 11 remembrance ceremony in Memorial Park Friday evening. “For some of us, that day hasn’t ended.”

Veterans, lawmakers and residents gathered there and in many other North Shore villages to remember the day no one can forget, as state Assemblyman Ed Ra (R-Garden City) said at Mineola’s ceremony. 

For many, Ra said, the gatherings have been a way of processing the attack’s impact since they first happened.

“We saw comfort in each other’s company, in each other’s grief and mourning together,” he said. “… I hope that each year, and each day, we can remember that.”

In a more intimate ceremony at East Williston’s Village Green, the village remembered its five residents who were killed in the attacks by having Boy and Girl Scouts read their names.

A candlelight vigil followed remarks from village officials, some of whom let poetry speak for them.

Village of East Williston Deputy Mayor Bonnie Perente, whose two brothers were firefighters on the scene at the World Trade Center, said hearing the news of the attack made her rethink what was important. Each anniversary, she said, is a good opportunity to do that again.

“My hope for today, and for every 9/11, is that we remember, and we reset our priorities on that day,” she said.

Perente and North Hempstead Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth, who attended at Williston Park’s remembrance, both spoke to the importance of teaching young children about the day’s significance. The Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and Little League baseball players who comprised the color guard at Kelleher Field are “what will ensure that this legacy will go on,” Bosworth said.

The flags were the centerpiece of the ceremony, brightly lit by stadium lights. 

The names of the seven Williston Park residents killed in the Sept. 11 attacks were read. Robert Guastella, past commander of Williston Park’s American Legion post, played “Taps” on his bugle to memorialize them.

Some teared up as the crowd sang “God Bless America” together. The day still hits hard for many, Guastella said, because it reminds them as Americans that their nation is “vulnerable.”

“It just makes us more aware of our surroundings,” he said.

In all three villages, lawmakers asked the crowd to remember those suffering Sept. 11’s long-term health effects. 

Their remarks come as the part of the federal James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act that covers first responders’ medical costs related to the attacks is set to expire at the end of the month.

“Even after all these years, those events and that day are still claiming victims,” said Nassau County Legislator Rich Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park).

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