Hermosa Unveils 9/11 Victims Memorial Bench

As local families, public safety officers and politicians gathered on the Hermosa greenbelt for a remembrance ceremony Saturday, Charles Helwig III, an Air Force commander who was in Europe during the 9/11 terrorist attacks nine years ago, said that he was humbled by the response of hundreds of Europeans who gave their respects in a book of condolences.

Overseas, Helwig told the crowd, there was one phrase that was repeated in many languages: "We are all Americans."

"Victims [of 9/11] came from more than 80 countries," he said. "All who were killed working for the American dream, they were all Americans."

At the ceremony, the city unveiled its 9/11 memorial bench in honor of those who died in the terrorist attacks.

The service was held at the intersection of Valley Drive and Pier Avenue, where the bench was built with the help of the City Council and the Kiwanis Builders Club at Hermosa Valley School.

Covering the bench are 2,997 buttons embedded in a clear plastic coating. According to Gabrielle Wolf, the young president of the Kiwanis Builders Club, each button represents a person who died in the 9/11 attacks.

"Each button was collected from a student, a celebrity, a congressman, a family member that wanted people to remember what took place on that fateful day," Wolf said. "We have focused our time learning about this attack, so we could prevent it from ever repeating."

Hermosa Beach Police Department Chaplain Gila Katz told the crowd that the bench represents the past, present and future of the city.

"It represents the past, because it was nine years ago today that we were attacked," Katz said. "The present, because this bench, the kids gave all of us the opportunity to come and to take a moment to reflect. And it's the future, because it was our kids who built the bench. This bench represents the best of Hermosa Beach, because this is truly a communal effort."

Along with Helwig and Katz, two other guests spoke at the ceremony about the lasting impact of the 9/11 attacks. The first, KTLA news anchor Glen Walker, gave his haunting recollections of being a journalist in New York City on that day.

"You would see things falling from the building, but our shot was so far away, I didn't realize at the time what was going on, that there were people jumping out," Walker said.

"What an awful thing, for those people," he added. "It was a beautiful Tuesday morning, bright, sunny, clear and crisp and they go to work like they do every day. They're not even at work for an hour and suddenly, it's over with."

Darren Shiroma, local council president of the Los Angeles Association of Flight Attendants, asked the audience to remember the flight attendants, pilots and passengers who died on the planes in the 9/11 attacks.

"We are thankful for the opportunity to have served and worked alongside them in our roles as safety and security professionals and we promise to sustain vigilance over our respected professions," Shiroma said.

Helwig said that he hopes Hermosa's memorial bench will provide an opportunity for all Americans to reflect and share their personal stories of what happened on 9/11.

"For in remembering, we honor those who were directly or indirectly involved," he said.

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