9 11 1Watch the full video of the 9/11 Ceremony at “The Rising.”

September 11, 2018 -- It has been seventeen years since the tragic events of September 11, 2001, and in a solemn ceremony Tuesday afternoon, Westchester County paid tribute to every life that was lost on that day. Standing beneath “The Rising,” the County’s beautiful 9/11 Memorial, surrounded by dignitaries, clergy, colleagues, local residents and families of the fallen, County Executive George Latimer commemorated the Westchester residents who passed on that day. Latimer also made special mention of the first responders, as well as those who have died from 9/11 related illness since the attacks.

Latimer said: “Seventeen years ago today, I remember exactly where I was standing and what I was doing when I learned the twin towers had been struck. I’m sure many of you do, too. Without hesitation, police, firefighters and EMT’s rushed to ground zero to help save as many lives as they could. They were heroes - but in doing so, many gave of their own lives. At this time of great unrest in our country it is an opportunity to unite us, and bring us all together to remember this important day.”

Emcee Tom Kaminski, a WCBS880 Traffic Reporter who was reporting from a helicopter as the twin towers were hit, recalled the morning of 9/11: “While I was a reporter that day, I was also a friend and a New Yorker. While life will never be the same – it shouldn’t. We live, we change and we grow. Standing here under this beautiful sculpture of “The Rising” – it reminds us that we must always be rising and lifting. But we must also remember where we started, and the base of who we are.”

Chairman of the Westchester County Board of Legislators Benjamin Boykin said: “We gather today, as we do every September 11th, to commemorate the lives of the Westchester residents and former residents taken from us on that terrible day 17 years ago. We also remember the many lives claimed by related illnesses over the years – the courageous men and women who worked tirelessly in that toxic mess to find the fallen. We join as one community with all their families. We can never feel the same emptiness and absence you feel, but we hope that by sharing your grief, we can make your burden just a little bit lighter.”

The ceremony included the presentation of colors, led by the Westchester County Police Department’s Ceremonial Unit Color Guard. Pipes and drums of the Police Emerald Society of Westchester County followed, along with the Civil Air Patrol. Students from the Valhalla Union Free School District led the Pledge of Allegiance, and Concordia College’s Brass Quartet played. A commemorative wreath was laid on the “Beam of Remembrance,” a steel beam that was pulled from the ashes of the World Trade Center, and dedicated to the County as a lasting reminder of our nation’s sacrifice and strength on that fateful day.  

The names of those who were lost, as displayed on the “Circle of Remembrance,” were read aloud by elected officials. The names of the Westchester County men and women who died on September 11, 2001 are as follows:

  • William Abrahamson
  • Peter Craig Alderman
  • Kazuhiro Anai
  • Sharon Balkcom
  • Yelena Belilovsky
  • Michael J. Berkeley
  • George Bishop
  • Michael A. Boccardi
  • Michelle Renee Bratton
  • Thomas M. Brennan
  • Jonathan Eric Briley
  • Mark Brisman
  • Lloyd Brown
  • Ronald Bucca
  • Tom Burke
  • Mary T. Caulfield
  • Alex Ciccone
  • Kevin Francis Cleary
  • Robert J. Coll
  • Helen Crossin-Kittle
  • Joan Cullinan
  • Patrick W. Danahy
  • Dwight Darcy
  • Marisa DiNardo
  • Simon Dedvukaj
  • Simon A. Dhanani
  • John J. Doherty
  • Christopher Michael Duffy
  • Paul Fiori
  • Thomas Fitzpatrick
  • Kevin Joseph Frawley
  • Alan W. Friedlander
  • John Patrick Gallagher
  • Charles Garbarini
  • Peter Gelinas
  • Kieran Joseph Gorman
  • Yugi Goya
  • Gary Haag
  • Richard B. Hall
  • Vincent Halloran
  • W. Ward Haynes
  • Nobuhiro Hayatsu
  • Katsuyuki Hirai
  • Thomas Warren Hohlweck, Jr.
  • Montgomery McCullogh Hord
  • Louis Steven Inghilterra
  • Ariel Louis Jacobs
  • Arthur Joseph Jones
  • Douglas G. Karpiloff
  • Satoshi Kikuchihara
  • Takashi Kinoshita
  • Glenn Kirwin
  • Richard J. Klares
  • Gary Koecheler
  • Vanessa Langer
  • Denis Lavelle
  •  Joseph Leavey
  • Michael A. Lepore
  • Richard Lynch, Jr.
  • Michael J. Lyons
  • Katie Marie McCloskey
  • John T. McErlean, Jr.
  • Francis McGuinn
  • Michael McHugh, Jr.
  • Barry J. McKeon
  • Robert C. McLaughlin, Jr.
  • Christopher D. Mello
  • Yamel Merino
  • William Minardi
  • Krishna V. Moorthy
  • George Morell
  • Dennis Moroney
  • Takuya Nakamura
  • Soichi Numata
  • James A. Oakley
  • Diana J. O'Connor
  • Amy O’Doherty
  • Marni Pont O'Doherty
  • Samuel Oitice
  • Sean Gordon Corbett O'Neill
  • Chris Orgielewicz
  • Timothy F. O’Sullivan
  • Michael B. Packer
  • Thomas Palazzo
  • James Nicholas Pappageorge
  • William H. Pohlmann
  • Hemanth Kumar Puttur
  • Vincent A. Princiotta
  • Valsa Raju
  • Robert A. Rasmussen
  • John Reo
  • Joseph R. Riverso
  • Gregory E. Rodriguez
  • Edward Ryan
  • Tatiana Ryjova
  • Sam Salvo
  • Eric Sand
  • Robert Scandole
  • Marian Serva
  • Daniel Shea
  • Joseph Shea
  • Linda Sheehan
  • Thomas J. Shubert
  • Allan Shwartzstein
  • David Silver
  • Michael John Simon
  • Thomas E. Sinton, III
  • Rochelle M. Snell
  • Robert Speisman
  • Joseph P. Spor, Jr.
  • Timothy C. Stout
  • John Swaine
  • Sean Patrick Tallon
  • Michael A. Tamuccio
  • Kenichiro Tanaka
  • Joanna Vidal
  • Jeffrey Walz
  • James Arthur Waring
  • Timothy Matthew Welty
  • William Wik
  • Marc Zeplin
  • Ivelin Ziminski
  • Joseph J. Zuccala

Latimer added: “In the years that followed the attacks, the number of first responders who lost their battles to 9/11 related illness has grown exponentially. My administration is now looking into ways to include those names at this memorial site, so that they too can be honored and remembered.”

The names of those men and women were read aloud by their surviving family members. They are as follows: 

  • New York City Battalion Chief Kevin Byrnes, Sr. of Pleasantville – Feb 4, 2004

  • New York City Detective Joseph Seabrook of Mount Vernon --  May 29, 2010

  • Peekskill Detective Charles Wassil Jr. of White Plains – May 1, 2013

  • New York City Police Officer Nicholas Finelli of Hawthorne – June 8, 2013

  • New York City Firefighter – EMS – Luis de Peña of Mount Vernon – Nov 7, 2013

  • New York City Police Captain Ronald G. Peifer Sr. of Hartsdale – March 5, 2014

  • New York City Detective First Grade James W. Monahan of Ossining – Oct 13, 2014

  • Yonkers Police Officer Anthony Maggiore of Cortlandt – Nov 22, 2014

  • Yonkers Police Lieutenant Roy McLaughlin of Yonkers – Sept 10, 2015

  • New York City Police Officer Joseph Heid of Yonkers – July 20, 2016

  • New York City Police Sgt. Patrick Boyle of Yorktown Heights  – Sept 15, 2016

  • New York City Police Sgt. Patrick Coyne of Mt. Kisco – March 12, 2017

  • Fairview Firefighter Robert A. Mentrasti of Greenburgh – April 14, 2017

  • Retired New York City firefighter Michael O'Hanlon of Cortlandt – August 28, 2017

  • Harrison PD , Walter Mallinson of Harrison – Sept 9, 2107

  • White Plains Fire Dept, Clark Douglass of White Plains – July 21, 2018

  • New Rochelle PD Kathleen O'Connor of New Rochelle – August 16, 2018

The ceremony concluded with September 11 song, along with an interfaith prayer.