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JEFFERSON VALLEY, N.Y.-- Lake Mohegan Fire Chief Brian Wolert said hell never forget 9/11, nor will he forget what it was like obtaining steel to create a memorial for 9/11.
Wolert was one of many from the Lake Mohegan Fire Department who went down to JFK Airport in May to get two pieces of steel that now stand as a memorial for 9/11, and were dedicated as such Sunday night.
This was something different, and I just didnt know what, he said. You walked in the front door the terminal of the hanger, and there was a timeline. A whole wall of what happened, when the first plane struckit took up I dont know how many feet, but it sent a chill up my spine. Just sitting there, there was no carpet on the floor, it wasnt very clean, but that mural said it all.
Wolert said to say the journey back with the steel was emotional, is simply an understatement.
I dont believe in ghosts, or spirits, but something was unique. Standing in that terminal, I got goosebumps, the hair stood up on the back of my neck and I cant explain it. It was truly a surreal experience, he said.
The ceremony, which began a little after 7 p.m. Sunday, included members of the Lake Mohegan Fire District and took place at the Jefferson Valley Station, as well as Yorktown Police officers and volunteers.
It really hits you right here, said Bob Gordineer, co-chair for the committee for the memorial, with his fist over his heart. It really gets you right in the heart, but its great, its wonderful that everything turned out so nicely and that the memorial is now in place.
Steven Yagoda is the other co-chair on the committee, and said before the memorials dedication it was amazing to see the support it had already received from the community.
It is very gratifying to see this memorial here, set up, with the community here to see it, he said. But, I cant even put into words what Ill think of every time I see this memorial. I just cant describe it.
For that reason the memorial will only feature two words on it, as a way to allow everyone to see it and allow themselves to feel what they want when the view the memorial.
This monument isnt just about the first responders who perished that day, or about the Pentagon or in Pennsylvania. It also includes mothers, fathers, spouses and children, sisters and brothers aunts and uncles and grandparents that went to work that day and never came home, Wolert said. It includes every one that was affected on that tragic day in history. With that, the plaque says it all: Never forget.
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