crich area community news
5th Anniversary of terrorists attack on New York & Washington DC 11th September 2001
Derek Killingsley-Smith
Six years ago Kate and I stood with International Police Association friends at the very top of the World Trade Centre, New York. I even purchased a T-shirt! Little did we then know that one year later we would be totally devastated, along with the whole world as we watched live TV coverage of the horrific events unfolding both in New York and in Washington DC.
Immediately after these appalling events I wrote with our thoughts, prayers and condolences to the honorary editor of a similar community magazine to ours at Battery Park, N.Y. (a community in close proximity to the Twin Towers). As I recorded in my C.A.C.N. editorial Spring 2001: “Sadly the letter sent to the Battery Park Community Newsletter in New York has been returned unopened, dirty and crumpled, poignantly marked UNABLE TO DELIVER.”
Poignant indeed, as in September 2006 we stood in the crater of the World Trade Centre ruins to pay our respects to three friends who tragically lost their lives in the attack.
We had been privileged to attend a Memorial Service in the USA shortly after the atrocity for ALL who lost their lives, for the many emergency service personnel in their number and especially for three friends in the NYPD - Officer John PERRY, Detective Claude RICHARDS and Officer Jerome DOMINGUES. But nothing could have really prepared us for our September 2006 visit to the site.
We stood at the hole which had housed the twin towers, whose collapse had changed forever, not only the panorama of New York but also the lives of so many ordinary people, so many of our friends.
I had prepared a small plaque to lay at the site and Kate and I solemnly laid this on the ground. The wind and rain were strong (the tail end of Hurricane Ernesto), the Stars and Stripes proudly flying as we held hands and silently prayed for continuing support for many friends and acquaintances still involved in the physical and emotional ‘clear up’.
We made our way through the void to St, Paul’s Chapel which was in the shadow of the twin towers prior to September 2001. St.Pauls was the scene of a miracle, only a short block away from the total destruction of the W.T.C. and yet surviving intact without a single window broken. Since the attack this tiny chapel has played an important role in the area and indeed in the life of the American nation. Amidst the chaos and aguish of the initial days following the attack, the extraordinary ministry of hope and compassion sprang up in response to the tragedy.
Thousands of volunteers from around America gave their time and compassion to provide refuge and solace, serve meals providing makeshift beds, counselling, praying with and for emergency service personnel, construction workers and others who lived and worked in the area.
Today St. Paul’s Chapel continues with its mission as a sacred place to worship for all, welcoming the many visitors from around the world who make a pilgrimage to Ground Zero, seeking healing and hope amidst the memory of the tragedy. After standing strong for so may years the “little chapel that stood” continues to inspire all in need of healing and spiritual comfort.
We attended a short service of memorial and prayer for peace and I was honoured to be able to lay a token plaque on the Memorial Altar where it will remain.
Over the past five years Kate and I have spoken with and to many friends in the USA, particularly New York, some directly involved, some on the periphery. We have listened to stories of immense courage and bravery. Hearing of numerous officers who, after reaching safety, returned back into the hell to save others only to perish themselves. We salute each and every one of them. God bless them all.
The medal by the title of this article was presented to me two years after the tragedy by the then President of the International Police Association, NY Section, Julio Martinez.