Politics & Government

Union County To Commemorate 9/11 Attacks

Sixty Union County residents will be remembered at Echo Lake Park.

The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders has invited members of the public to attend a special ceremony to honor the memory of the 60 Union County residents killed in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the event, according to a press release distributed Wednesday. The ceremony will be held at the Union County Sept. 11 Memorial in Echo Lake Park, in Mountainside, beginning at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 11.

In conjunction with the ceremony, the New York Blood Center will conduct a blood drive near the memorial from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

“We hope that the donation of blood – literally giving part of oneself for the sake of a perfect stranger – will be an experience that helps to knit the Union County community more closely together on the anniversary of this tragic day, strengthens our respect for all life, and reaffirms the value we place on freedom and liberty as universal human rights,” Freeholder Vice Chairman and Fanwood resident Alexander Mirabella said in the press release.

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The Union County Sept. 11 Memorial is located near the Springfield Avenue entrance of Echo Lake Park on the border of Mountainside and Springfield. Dedicated on Sept. 13, 2003, it was constructed through private donations including in-kind work by labor unions and materials at cost.

The names of the 60 deceased Union County residents are etched into the memorial. The memorial also honors all those affected in the multiple attacks, through design elements that include two girders from the World Trade Center arranged within a five-sided area representing the Pentagon, and an "eternal flame" representing those who died in Pennsylvania.

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The eternal flame also honors members of the Armed Services and emergency responders.

In addition to the ceremony at the Memorial, Echo Lake Park will host a display of 343 American flags from Friday, Sept. 9, through Monday, Sept. 12, 2011. The display is sponsored by the Union County Fire Chiefs’ Association to memorialize the 343 New York City firefighters who died at the World Trade Center, and to honor the legacy of service that all firefighters continue to practice.

The Freeholder Board worked with residents of Cranford, Elizabeth, Kenilworth, Linden, Mountainside, Rahway, Scotch Plains, Summit, Union, and Westfield in planning and building the Union County Sept. 11 Memorial.

Union County residents killed in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001:

  • Patrick Murphy, Berkeley Heights
  • Scott Hazelcorn, Berkeley Heights
  • James A. Nelson, Clark
  • Gregory Milanowycz, Cranford
  • Thomas Michael Regan, Cranford
  • Robert Henry Lynch, Cranford
  • Christopher Michael Grady, Cranford
  • Dean Philip Eberling, Cranford
  • Leonard Joseph Snyder, Jr., Cranford
  • Arcelia Castillo, Elizabeth
  • Carlos S. DaCosta, Elizabeth
  • Colleen Laura Fraser, Elizabeth
  • Margaret Susan Lewis, Elizabeth
  • Frankie Serrano, Elizabeth
  • Anthony Tempesta, Elizabeth
  • Robert Kaulfers, Kenilworth
  • John J. Tobin, Kenilworth
  • Wanda Anita Green, Linden
  • Anthony Infante, Mountainside
  • William Tselepis, Jr., New Providence
  • Gerard J. Coppola, New Providence
  • Richard A. Dunstan, New Providence
  • Michael Gogliormella, New Providence
  • Robert Wayne Hobson, III, New Providence
  • Susan D. Murray, New Providence
  • Tyrone May, Rahway
  • Manette Marie Beckles, Rahway
  • Mark Stephen Carney, Rahway
  • John G. Ueltzhoeffer, Roselle Park
  • Matthew Horning, Scotch Plains
  • Mark Rothenberg, Scotch Plains
  • James Walsh, Scotch Plains
  • JoAnn L. Heltibridle, Springfield
  • Lee Adler, Springfield
  • Thomas R. Clark, Summit
  • James Lee Connor, Summit
  • Kevin Raymond Crotty, Summit
  • Thomas I. Glasser, Summit
  • Robert A. Lawrence, Jr., Summit
  • A. Todd Rancke, Summit
  • Clive “Ian” Thompson, Summit
  • David Brian Brady, Summit
  • Mark Bruce, Summit
  • Robert Alan Hepburn, Union
  • Edward Calderon, Union
  • Khalid M. Shahid, Union
  • Charles Karczewski, Union
  • Brian Frederic Goldberg, Union
  • Thomas J. Fisher, Union
  • Wing-Wai Ching, Union
  • Bella Bhukhan, Union
  • Wayne Alan Russo, Union
  • Andrew J. Alameno, Westfield
  • Michael A. Davidson, Westfield
  • Stephen Mark Fogel, Westfield
  • Leo Russell Keene, III, Westfield
  • Richard B. Madden, Westfield
  • John “Pepe” Salerno, Jr., Westfield
  • See-Wong Shum, Westfield
  • Anthony Starita, Westfield

Scotch Plains will dedicate its own memorial on Sunday, Sept. 11, to the residents who died in the 2001 attacks. To learn more about the township's memorial, which incorporates steel from the World Trade Center, click here.


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