Heroes of 9/11 honored
Theron Myers and Jim McDonough, ironworkers with Pittsburgh’s iron workers union, lower the flag during a 16th annual 9/11 memorial service in Eldersville, which honored iron workers at Ground Zero in New York City.
Theron Myers and Jim McDonough of Pittsburgh’s ironworkers union stand in front of American flags during a 16th annual 9/11 memorial service in Eldersville, which honored ironworkers at Ground Zero in New York City.
Jim McDonough, a member of Pittsburgh’s ironworkers union, speaks to a crowd in Eldersville about the work that ironworkers did at Ground Zero in New York City following the terror attacks Sept. 11, 2001.
Diane Huggins, of Eldersville, holds up a picture of Lt. John Napolitan, a fireman who died after saving several people from the World Trade Towers that collapsed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Huggins organizes a memorial service every year at the Veterans Memorial site on Cedar Grove Road in Eldersville.
The heroes at Ground Zero 16 years ago were remembered Sunday by a small group of community members in Eldersville.
Diane Huggins, a resident, has organized a service at the Veterans Memorial site on Cedar Grove Road every year since the terror attacks that killed thousands of people Sept. 11, 2001, in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville.
“Each year, we recognize a special group of people that worked at Ground Zero,” Huggins said.
This year, she chose to honor and remember the ironworkers who worked in the rubble of the two World Trade Center towers, for days following the attacks.
“These men risked their lives to burn through steel, clearing paths for equipment and emergency personnel,” Huggins read from a website about Ground Zero’s cleanup. “As fires burned in the pit below, the workers navigated the constantly shifting and dangerous terrain in search of survivors.”
Huggins invited ironworkers from Pittsburgh’s ironworkers union, Jim McDonough and Theron Myers to lower the American flag to half-staff and to talk about the work their fellow ironworkers did after 9/11.
“We never want to forget what those police, firemen and first responders went through,” McDonough said. “Ironworkers were needed that day with just the sheer amount of rubble. Firemen aren’t trained or expected to lift 10 to 20 tons of steel – it’s what we do every day.”
McDonough called for people to never forget the ironworkers who either died in the rubble or died as a result of an illness caused by the toxins they breathed.
Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Carroll Township, also addressed the audience of about 20 people. She reflected on being a private pilot and remembered how there were no planes in the sky in the days that immediately followed the attacks.