ALFRED, Maine – Sept. 11, 2001, is a day that most people in North America – and particularly those in the United States – won’t forget.
It was the day that America’s vulnerability on its own soil was made apparent in the worse of ways. Innocent civilians, trying to go about their daily lives – at work in the World Trade Center or at the Pentagon, traveling for business or perhaps to see a friend or loved one, perished at the hands of terrorists. It was a day so many first responders were hurt or killed as they worked to save as many as they could.
It was a terrible day.
On Sept 11 – designated by Congress in December 2001 as Patriot Day throughout the land – some current and former York County government employees gathered on the third floor of York County Court House in Alfred as they have in previous years to ring the bell, a signal to all in the area to pause and remember.
The bell was rung for three minutes at 8:46 a.m., the time the first aircraft hijacked by terrorists slammed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. It was rung at 9:03 a.m., to mark when a second hijacked aircraft struck the south tower. The bell pealed at 9:37 a.m., to mark the time a third hijacked aircraft struck the Pentagon and at 10:02 a.m., when the fourth hijacked aircraft plowed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
USA Today reports there 2,977 deaths in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania that day. The newspaper reported 343 firefighters died on Sept. 11, 2001, and the numbers of firefighters who have died from related illnesses in the ensuing years continues to climb. As well, USA Today reported about 80,000 people have been diagnosed with physical and mental health conditions brought on by exposure to the dust, smoke, debris and trauma of the 9/11 attacks.
Throughout history, bells have been rung to call people to church, to announce a death, to signal danger, or for a variety of other reasons. In Alfred, the York County seat, the courthouse bell is rung on Sept. 11 to remember.
York County government employees Dan Hotaling and Dennis Chagnon ring the bell at York County Court House in Alfred on the morning of Sept. 11, 2024 to remember those who perished and those injured in body and in spirit at the hands of terrorists on that day in 2001. Current and former county employees ran the bell at 8:46 a.m., 9:03 a.m., 9:37 a.m. and 10:02 a.m., – the times that aircraft hijacked by terrorists slammed into the north and south towers of the World Trade Center, The Pentagon, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
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