🇺🇸 September 11th Remembrance Ceremony Special Edition

Celebrating Springfield's Biggest, Best and Brightest!

2026 SEPTEMBER 11TH SPECIAL EDITION

September 11th Remembrance Ceremony

In the shadow of Springfield's September 11th Monument, the Springfield Fire and Police Departments and the Spirit of Springfield will hold Springfield's annual Remembrance Ceremony to honor the 498 first responders who lost their lives 25 years ago on September 11, 2001.

The ceremony will be held at 6pm with a prelude beginning at 5pm in Riverfront Park. From 5pm to 6pm, the Sci-Tech Drumline and the Springfield Kiltie Band will perform while a 25th anniversary video produced by Penfield Productions is shown on a 16-foot by 9-foot screen provided by JX2 Productions.

At 6pm, welcoming remarks will be made by Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno and U. S. Congressman Richard Neal. Retired Springfield Fire Department Lieutenant Daniel Keenan will give a firsthand account of his experience working with the New York City Fire Department in days following the horrific attacks on the World Trade Center.

Messages will be read from Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore of the New York City Fire Department; Jan Seidler Ramierz, Executive Vice President of Collections & Chief Curator for National September 11 Memorial & Museum; and Edward Cetnar, Superintendent of Police/Director of Public Safety, The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.

Springfield Fire Commissioner Miguel Rivera, Springfield Police Superintendent Lawrence Akers, and American Medical Response Regional Director Patrick Leonardo will offer remembrances. This will be followed by the roll out of equipment across the Memorial Bridge, tolling of the fire bell, rifle salute, taps, and retiring of the colors.

The program will conclude with the lighting of the monument. The lights, strategically placed when the monument was designed by Salmon Studios, will cast the shadow of the World Trade Center artifact onto the bronze wall to symbolize the Twin Towers.

Forever In Our Hearts Photo Exhibit

From Friday, September 4th to Monday, September 21st, One Financial Plaza will host a photography exhibit entitled "Forever In Our Hearts." Curated by Springfield photographer Chris Marion and dedicated to the memory of Private Dennis Leger, former Aide to the Springfield Fire Commissioner, it will feature photographs taken by Chris Marion when he documented the creation of Springfield's September 11th Monument and images captured by Dennis Leger of remembrance ceremonies and of his colleagues serving as Honor Guard for New York City Firefighter funerals in the days following the attacks.

Other photographs were provided by the Springfield Police Department, Hoang "Leon" Nguyen, and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

The exhibit opened on Friday, September 4th at 10am with Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, members of Dennis Leger's family, Springfield Fire Commissioner Miguel Rivera, Springfield Police Deputy Chief David Kane, photographer Chris Marion, and Ray Berry, President of White Lion Brewing.

The 25th anniversary video produced by Penfield Productions features many of the photographs in the exhibit and will be played throughout the exhibit.

It can be viewed online.

Springfield's September 11th Monument

Springfield's September 11th Monument is devoted to the 498 first responders who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, in New York City, at The Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Some ran into danger to save others, some were working at their desks, and one environmental police officer tried to stop the hijackers before the plane crashed into a field.

It was dedicated on June 19, 2019, on a beautiful evening in Riverfront Park with Andrew Card, Chief of Staff to Former President George W. Bush, serving as the keynote speaker. The park was silent as he spoke about his firsthand experiences from telling President Bush that the country was being attacked to the days, weeks, and months that followed.

In 2025, a kiosk to identify the monument was added.

During daylight hours, the monument with the World Trade Center I-beam surrounded by a bronze wall bearing the names of the first responders makes a strong statement. At night, it is stunning when two lights come on to cast the shadow of the artifact on the bronze wall in a blank space that bears no names. It is then that the Twin Towers appear.

Two names on the monument are the same, New York City Firefighters Michael Francis Lynch, and they are not related. There is a father and son, Joseph Angellini, Sr. and Joseph John Angellini, Jr., both members of the New York City Fire Department. There is a set of cousins, Francis Esposito and Michael A. Esposito, also New York City Firefighters, and four sets of brothers. They were Harvey L. Harrell and Stephen G. Harrell; Thomas Theodore Haskell, Jr. and Timothy Shawn Haskell. They were all members of the New York City Fire Department. Peter Langone, was a New York City Firefighter and his brother Thomas Michael Langone was with the New York City Police Department, as was Firefighter John T. Vigiano, II, and Officer Joseph Vincent Vigiano. There is also a paw print for K-9 Sirius from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.