Mainers honor victims, heroes

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AUGUSTA – A somber ceremony led by the governor on the sun-drenched steps of Maine’s State House was among the observances across Maine on Monday that paid tribute to the victims and heroes of the Sept. 11 attacks five years ago.

About 100 people gathered at the Capitol’s entrance as legislators and uniformed Maine National Guard, state police and firefighting units looked on.

Haunting notes of bagpipes opened and closed the noon ceremony, led by Gov. John Baldacci.

“We owe it to those who lost their lives and those who helped save lives to never forget,” Baldacci said. “Our message to those here and abroad should be that we can overcome all obstacles when we are united as a nation.”

Senate Minority Leader Paul Davis said the nation’s resolve not to back down from terrorism after the attacks made a powerful statement.

“What clearer message can we send to our enemy [than] that they have failed to stop freedom’s march?” said Davis, R-Sangerville.

Tears glistened in the eyes of some who attended the ceremony, one of many across the state. Other commemorative events were held in Bangor, Orono and Belfast.

Afterward, participants in Augusta filed into the State House to view a memorial that incorporated a section of a girder recovered from the World Trade Center in New York.

Across the state, U.S. and Maine flags flew at half-staff as fire companies held observances to honor the 343 firefighters who died in the terror attacks in New York.

In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who chairs the Senate panel that oversees homeland security, recalled how Congress responded to the attacks by creating the Department of Homeland Security and restructuring the nation’s intelligence community. The latest step, she said, is legislation that will bolster port security.

“Five years ago, our nation experienced one of its darkest days and finest hours,” Collins said. “It was an attack on the United States, an attack on freedom, an attack on civilization. We must never forget what was lost and what remains at stake.”

Fellow Maine Republican U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe drew attention to the Mainers who were lost in the attacks: Carol Flyzik, Robert Jalbert, Jacqueline Norton, Robert Norton, James Roux, Robert Schlegel and Stephen Ward.

“We are not immune to feeling a full array of emotions, perhaps the strongest being the persistent, gnawing disbelief that such calculated savagery could exist in the world and could be perpetrated so brutally against innocent people,” Snowe’s statement said. “Those feelings intensify when we put faces and names with the long line of those who perished.”

Bangor

In Bangor, a somber, early morning ceremony outside the Central Fire Station on Main Street drew about 75 people, many of them firefighters.

The American flag hung about 75 feet above the ground from Ladder No. 1 while nearby, the massive, high-tech regional Emergency Command and Communications truck, purchased in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, served as a backdrop for the ceremony.

A bell was sounded in a series of five rings repeated four times, a fire call indicating that a firefighter has died in service.

“May we go in peace, and may we never forget,” firefighter Ron Green Jr., who spearheaded the remembrance effort, told the audience that included local dignitaries.

In the wake of the attacks, firefighters across the country responded to the call for assistance. In Bangor, firefighters volunteered to head to New York to fill in for firefighters working around the clock.

The Bangor firefighters were never called in, Lt. Tom Higgins said, so they did what they could. Firefighters set about to raise money for disaster relief and in a matter of days had collected $50,000.

Air National Guard members from Michigan, Washington, D.C., and South Dakota, stopping early Monday evening at Bangor International Airport on their way overseas, shared their thoughts about the significance of the day.

The servicemen and women were being sent to Germany and Qatar to help with maintenance of aircraft used in conflicts in the Middle East.

Master Sgt. Jeff Irvine, 39, of Sioux Falls, S.D., with the 114th Maintenance Company, said being deployed on the anniversary “adds a little emotion, but has no effect on what we’re doing or how we’re going to do it.”

Senior Master Sgt. Lou Keller, 43, of Waldorf, Md., with the 113th Maintenance Company, said he was on his fifth deployment to the Middle East.

“This doesn’t feel like just another trip though; this one has real meaning because of the date it happened to fall on,” Keller said.

Staff Sgt. Doug Isham, 26, of the 127th Maintenance Company, based in Selfridge, Mich., said it was the first time he had seen this many units being deployed at once, and the fact that it occurred on the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks was just an odd coincidence.

Isham said he was struck by the amount of support the troops received from the dozens of well-wishers who bid them farewell at BIA.

“This is the first time I’ve experienced anything like this kind of support you guys give out here – it’s mind-boggling,” he said.

Orono

Emergency rescuers from Old Town joined others in Orono for a remembrance ceremony at the Orono Fire Station.

“One thing we need to remember is it really is a good day today,” said Orono firefighter Dennis Bean, who led Monday’s ceremony. “We are all one here today.”

The Orono event featured music, poems and other readings about the terrorist attacks, as well as Sept. 11-inspired artwork created by Bean.

University of Maine student Martha Reynolds, a fifth-year elementary education student originally from Yonkers, N.Y., participated in the ceremony to reflect on her former neighbor who lost his life in the attacks.

Sean Tallon was a firefighter with Ladder 10, she said, and at age 26 he died in the rescue efforts.

“It means a lot to me that here in Maine you still remember those who were lost in New York,” said Reynolds, who was a high school student at the time.

Despite a few tearful moments, Bean reminded the more than 20 rescue workers and dozen or so residents that it was a day to remember what’s great about the United States.

Belfast

A solemn Belfast Area High School student body honored those killed in the terrorist attacks. Most of them were attending grade school or junior high when they happened five years ago.

“I was really confused because I didn’t really know what happened,” senior Jared Lenfest recalled after Monday’s honor ceremony. “Then when I went home and saw it on TV, I was crushed. It really stunned me. It still doesn’t seem like it was five years ago.”

Under a clear blue sky similar to that of five years ago, the 640 students gathered at the Dennis “Bear” Bryant Athletic Field to honor the 2,973 who lost their lives.

“We’re here to remember all those who were killed and to celebrate the efforts of all those who worked to save them,” teacher Molly Ross told the assembly. “Many, many families lost loved ones that day.”

BDN writers Doug Kesseli, Aimee Dolloff, Walter Griffin, Nick McCrea and The Associated Press contributed to this report.