Generally Speaking: Remembering the 15th anniversary of 9/11

September 9, 2016 Theodore W. General

BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/Photos by Ted General

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Among the many 9/11 memorial ceremonies across the country in houses of worship and outdoor sites marking the 15th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, two outdoor remembrance events are taking place in Southwest Brooklyn.

Out at the Fort Hamilton Army Base, on Friday morning, September 9, at 10 a.m., in front of the Army Garrison Headquarters (Building 113) on Schum Avenue there will be a wreath-laying ceremony.

On Sunday, September 11, at 7:30 p.m., State Senator Marty Golden will hold the 15th annual memorial ceremony on the American Veterans Memorial Pier, at the foot of Bay Ridge Avenue and Shore Road. The program will include patriotic musical selections, a candlelight ceremony, a 21-gun salute, Taps and a moment of silence.

From the pier, you can see the Freedom Tower and the twin high-density spotlights beaming from where the Twin Towers were once located.

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Apparently, not everyone in the U.S.A. takes this coming Sunday’s 15th anniversary of 9/11, the worst attack ever on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941, as seriously and appropriately. Frankly, I don’t understand why the Miss America Pageant would schedule its annual production and TV show on 9/11. Others we won’t mention here are holding a fundraiser!

The annual pageant has always been popular with my family. We have been watching the Miss America competition for several years. In fact, as a correspondent for this paper, my wife Janet and I flew out to Las Vegas when the pageant was held out on the west coast, to cover a young woman, Bethlene Pancoast, 25, from Bay Ridge who competed in 2007 as “Miss New York.” Unfortunately, the crown that year was won by Lauren Nelson from Oklahoma. But finally in 2013, a Brooklyn gal, Mallory Hytes Hagan, scored big time and copped the Miss America tiara!

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We are deeply saddened by the premature death of Giuseppe “Joey” Parrelli, at age 16, on August 28. Joey had a rare genetic connective disease. We were out at his house in Dyker Heights earlier in the month with a group of FDNY bagpipers and the FDNY Rescue 5 Squad from Staten Island who played for him and presented him with an American Flag that flew over Ground Zero. Our heartfelt condolence to Joey’s family and friends.