New Hampshire honors victims and heroes of Sept. 11
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Church bells rang and bagpipes played Thursday morning as New Hampshire residents paused to remember the second anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
In Manchester, several hundred people, including many police officers and firefighters, gathered at the Massabesic traffic circle, where two fire department ladder trucks held a huge American flag over the road.
A new flagpole was dedicated and a flag raised. The crowd observed a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., the moment the first of two hijacked jets hit the World Trade Center in 2001.
Gov. Craig Benson told the gathering the country was forever changed because of the attacks.
"Our bond as a country has become stronger and now this day is observed in the year 2003 as 'Patriot Day,' in honor of those who have fought for the freedom our country stands upon, those who lost their lives in the defense of our freedom, and those who work towards the advancement of freedom," Benson said in a statement released Wednesday night.
Churches throughout New Hampshire rang their bells Thursday morning. Evening prayer services were planned in Rindge and Newmarket.
In New London, a vigil was planned at Colby-Sawyer College. A peace vigil was planned at the Statehouse in Concord.
The memorials began Wednesday night. At a ceremony in a Nashua park, Cheryl McGuinness, whose husband, Tom, died on American Airlines Flight 11, said she is focused on the project that they started together: raising their two children.
"My dream is that my children -- all of our children -- will rise up from the ashes of September 11th and become a generation equipped to face the challenges of tomorrow," McGuinness told about 1,000 people who gathered for the observance.
McGuinness, who lives in Greenland, said knowing the right thing to say to people, especially her children, has become her most important job. In a strong voice, she urged parents and children in the crowd to work to make the world safer, so that tragedies like Sept. 11 never happen again.
Representatives from 15 families who lost members in the terrorist attacks sat in the front row.
Benson presented each family with a proclamation honoring their sacrifices.
"We lost a lot of great Granite State citizens on September 11th.... They stood up for our freedom and ability to dream," Benson said.
Friends of Amy Sweeney, a flight attendant on Flight 11, also spoke. Sweeney lived in Massachusetts but grew up in New Hampshire, where her parents still live.
Sweeney made a chilling phone call to her supervisor at Logan International Airport in Boston just before Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center. She described how the hijackers slit the throat of a passenger. "We just don't know how to stop them," she said in that phone call.
Other New Hampshire victims include Thelma Cuccinello of Wilmot; Douglas Stone of Dover; Carol Flyzik of Plaistow; David Kovalcin of Hudson; Louis Mariani of Derry; and Robert LeBlanc of Lee.
Jim Ogonowski, the pilot Flight 11, lived in Dracut, Mass., but attended St. Patrick's Church in Pelham.
Other observances were held around the state Wednesday night, including candlelight vigils in Laconia and Albany.
On Saturday, hikers will try to put American flags atop the 48 White Mountain peaks taller than 4,000 feet. The tradition began when some hikers posted a flag on Mount Liberty just days after the 2001 attacks. Last year flags were flown all the 4,000-footers on Sept. 14.
