Howell Ceremony Will Mark 25th Anniversary Of 9/11 Attacks

HOWELL, NJ — Howell Township will mark the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people on Friday.

The ceremony, honoring the 2,977 people who died in the attacks, is set for 6 p.m. at the township's 9/11 Memorial monument at 251 Preventorium Road in Howell.

The monument has five columns, representing the five people from Howell who were killed in the attacks. It also pays tribute to the attacks at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and to the crash of United Flight 93.

Four planes were hijacked by 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaida.

At the World Trade Center, 2,763 died, including 343 firefighters and paramedics, 23 New York City police officers and 37 Port Authority police officers, when two airliners hit the towers. At the Pentagon, 189 people were killed, including 64 on American Airlines Flight 77, the airliner that struck the building. On United Flight 93, 44 people died when the passengers who realized the plane had been hijacked plane caused the plane to crash in Pennsylvania.

The five Howell residents who were killed were:

John Joseph "Jay" Lennon Jr., 44, was a Port Authority police officer who worked out of Jersey City and served as a court liaison who transported prisoners, according to his obituary on Legacy.com. He lived with his family in Howell Township, N.J.

He met his wife, Patricia, when they were 15 in nearby neighborhoods of Brooklyn. It was love at first sight, she said, and they were married at 23. "He made a comment to a friend a few years after we met that at 16 he knew I was the girl he was going to marry," Patricia Lennon said. "When I heard that, I thought he was crazy. But he knew. He knew."

He was one of 37 Port Authority police officers lost in the terror attacks. A survivor of the attacks being interviewed on television when the individual said he and many other people owed their lives to an "Officer Lennon" who led them out of the smoke-filled building to safety, the Legacy.com memorial said, and went back in to help more. Jay had been a member of the Port Authority's Emergency Service and Rescue Unit, and had been part of the crew pulling the dead from the World Trade Center in 1993 after that terrorist bombing.

Jay's father said his son feared heights, but put aside his fears to save a potential suicide victim by "rappeling off the side of the Brooklyn Bridge," he said.

Jay coached baseball in the Howell Central Little League for 12 years and coached baseball and basketball at St. Veronica's School in the township for two years.

He and Patricia had four children: Melissa, Katie, John III, and Christopher.

Colin Richard McArthur, 52, was a senior vice president for Aon Corp. on the 104th Floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center. He was originally from Glasgow, Scotland and had immigrated to the Canada as an adult, according to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. He met and married his wife, Brenda, in Toronto, and became a dual Canadian-British citizen before moving to Howell in 1997 when the company moved him to its New York office. Friends remembered him as a wonderful guitar player and the life of the party in tributes on Legacy.com.

John Frederick Rhodes Jr., 57, was a senior vice president for Aon Risk Services in the South Tower of the World Trade Center. His family was his world, and he would always tell his wife, Linda, "Make sure you take care of family, because without family you have nothing," according to his obituary on Legacy.com. He became a grandfather seven months before the attacks, when the wife of his son, John IV, gave birth to twin boys.

John planned his business trips so he would be home on Friday and not have to work weekends. He became an avid golfer in his 40s and took joy in every improvement.

"He really enjoyed the journey rather than the destination," John IV said, according to Legacy.com. "He didn't talk about where he would be in 10 years. He truly lived for the moment."

Joseph F. Sacerdote, 48, was a vice president for eSpeed, a division of Cantor Fitzgerald. "Joe’s life was devoted to his family," including his wife, Arlene, and daughters Andrea and Alison, according to his biography on the Voices Center for Resilience site. "He was unsurpassed as a father. From the minute his teenage daughter was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, nothing else mattered to him but to find a cure for her. He did more than humanly possible, continuing to investigate treatments until her death." Alison died in April 2001, according to her obituary.

He was a graduate of St. John’s University, Class of 1977. Joe was a loving husband to Arlene and a caring father to Andrea and Alison. He loved to joke, his obituary on Legacy.com said, "a guy who ate a dozen garlic cloves on a bond trader's dare and who called a cousin's neighbor named Crystal 'Cut Glass,' " and would prank call his sister Jane. He loved offbeat vacations and countless family barbecues and spending time with his family. He earned a black belt in karate and the karate school in Freehold retired his locker with his uniform and black belt in it, his obituary said. "Joe gave unconditionally to everyone and had an unforgettable smile," his family said.

Alan L. Wisniewski, 47, was associate director of the Sandler O'Neill investment banking firm and worked in the South Tower at the World Trade Center, writing computer programs to help banks convert stocks after a sale, according to his obituary on Legacy.com.

He worked hard, but he was equally devoted to his family, including his wife, Kathy, and their children, Erica, Jessica, and Matthew, Kathy said.

He was an avid fan of the Yankees and Notre Dame, loved to bicycle around the Shore and would spend time each summer at a Dad and Kids YMCA camp with his children in the Poconos.

His daughter, Erica, told MetroUK that she fond memories of those camping trips and that his kindness and compassion led to her efforts to help others, from children in need at Christmas to veterans struggling with PTSD after their service in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

World Trade Center Ceremony

As is traditional, the names of the 2,977 people killed in the 9/11 attacks and six others who died in the 1993 World Trade Center attack will be read at a ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in Manhattan.

Four former presidents — Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton — are expected to attend the 25th-anniversary ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial in New York City.

President Donald Trump is not expected at Ground Zero. Vice President JD Vance will represent the administration in New York.

The ceremony will be livestreamed. On Friday evening, the annual Tribute in Light will send twin beams into the sky, accompanied this year by a one-hour national broadcast beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern on ABC, Disney+, Hulu, National Geographic and ABC News Live.

Pentagon Observance

Trump will attend the 9/11 observance at the Pentagon, where 184 people were killed when American Airlines Flight 77 was hijacked and flown into the structure

Defense and military leaders traditionally gather for a ceremony centered on the memorial’s 184 illuminated benches, one for each victim. Details about public access to the Pentagon ceremony and a possible livestream had not yet been posted on the Pentagon Memorial’s official webpage on Tuesday.

Pennsylvania Memorial Details

The Flight 93 National Memorial, near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, begins with an 8:30 a.m. ceremony that includes the reading of the 40 passengers’ and crew members’ names, the Bells of Remembrance, and wreath-layings timed to the four attacks.

A second ceremony begins at 1 p.m., and both will be livestreamed. A luminaria ceremony is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12.

Stephen M. Clark, the superintendent of the Flight 93 National Memorial, will lead the morning remembrance events. Confirmed speakers at the afternoon ceremony include Gordie Felt, the brother of Flight 93 passenger Edward P. Felt, and Capt. Morrie Wiener (Ret.), the pilot who flew Flight 93 prior to September 2001.

Trump administration officials are expected to attend and lay wreaths on behalf of the federal government, though top executive leaders are split across other national sites.

‘Steel Across America’

A 16,900-pound steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center’s South Tower is being carried across the country by the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, a nonprofit created in memory of FDNY firefighter Stephen Siller, who was killed responding to the attacks.

The foundation provides mortgage-free and specially adapted homes to families of fallen or severely injured first responders and military members, assists homeless veterans and supports 9/11 education and remembrance programs. Its 10,500-mile “Steel Across America” tour has taken the beam to more than 35 cities in at least 21 states and will conclude Friday at Ground Zero.