by Brooks DuBose
Capital News Service
ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — On a somber, overcast Tuesday, bagpipes performed “Amazing Grace” as Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, Comptroller Peter Franchot and other state leaders paid tribute on the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks at a wreath-laying ceremony in Annapolis.
Hogan, Franchot and Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley laid red, white and blue wreaths at the foot of the Maryland Fire-Rescue Services Memorial statue in remembrance of the nearly 3,000 victims who lost their lives almost two decades ago in the most deadly attack on U.S. soil in the nation’s history.
“It was a normal day for most citizens in the United States,” said Annapolis Deputy Fire Chief Doug Remaley. “Firefighters, EMTs and police officers throughout New York went to work like any other given day.”
“At the airports, there were several citizens that entered four airlines … little did they know that that day was going to change the lives of everybody in the United States,” he said.
Hogan did not speak at the ceremony but shared his thoughts and condolences on Twitter.
“Today we remember the thousands of Americans who lost their lives, the families who are still mourning their loss, and the heroic first responders who risked their own lives to save countless others,” Hogan wrote. “The First Lady and I stand with all Marylanders as we take this day to mourn the fallen and revere our heroes – always remembering that our great nation can overcome any obstacle when we are united as one. We will never forget.”
Remaley recognized the more than 400 first responders who died in the aftermath of the attacks, adding that the number of casualties has grown over the years.
“Unfortunately that hasn’t stopped for us 17 years later,” he said. “We are still losing first responders to illnesses related to digging through the rubble and the rescue efforts at those sites.”
After the ceremony, the governor and the comptroller shared their memories of the initial chaos and confusion on the morning of the 11th. Hogan was in Ocean City, Maryland, when the attacks occurred. He remembered watching the events unfold on television and thinking it was an accident. “When the first plane hit we thought it was a terrible accident and then when we saw the second plane hit we knew it was something different,” he said.
Franchot had been waiting for a flight at Baltimore/Washington International Airport that morning and also thought it was an accident. “Then it became horribly apparent that it was not,” he said.
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen issued a statement on Facebook recalling in the wake of the tragedy “the American spirit took hold—our sense of security may have been violated, but our fighting spirit, and the will to fight back took center stage.”
Elsewhere in the state, Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the World Trade Center in Baltimore where a steel beam salvaged from the wreckage of the World Trade Center’s North Tower was placed in 2011 to commemorate the 63 victims who lived in or had close ties to Maryland.