The past week has shown rather convincingly that the events of Sept. 11, 2001 shaped the decade that followed. For many, the phrase “post-9/11” calls to mind the sense of fear, of vulnerability, that followed the Sept. 11 attacks, as well as the renewed emphasis on American security—and insecurity—that came with it. Islamophobia was another, related reality of post-9/11 America. While fear, discrimination and hate acts focused on Arab, Muslim, Sikh and Indian Americans were not unheard of before 9/11, their prevalence increased significantly following the attacks and continued throughout the …
As the nation paused to remember the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks over the weekend, Philadelphia and its surrounding suburbs reflected as well. Click through the gallery to see services and tributes from this Patch and others throughout the area.
At Sunday’s noon 9/11 memorial service, members of the volunteer Merion Fire Co. of Ardmore —Montgomery County Station 25—honored men who died on Sept. 11, 2001 from New York City Fire Department Ladder 25. The stories were snippets from real lives lost, personal notes on real people with everyday lives. Speaking at the short ceremony was company President Brooke McCullen, Firefighter Tim Van Winkle, Fire Chief Tom Hayden Jr., Deputy Chief Chuck Powers, Assistant Chief Dan Rodgers, 1st Assistant Chief Tony Van Dyke, 2nd Assistant Chief Daniel Marsh, and 3rd Assistant Chief Mike O’Sullivan. …
Millions of people across the country were affected by the 9/11 attacks. Some experienced the tragic loss of a loved one, some found an inspiring way to help those who were grieving, and others experienced a political awakening. To help reflect the endless diversity of their experiences, Patch looked out across our sites to pull together 911 snapshots of everyday Americans whose lives were changed by the events of that day.From across the country, this Patch site and hundreds of others captured the faces, keepsakes, memorials, ceremonies, flags, fund-raisers, deployments and the still-raw …
Editor's Notebook Let’s face it, said Adam Palmer Yaari, a 2003 graduate of Lower Merion High School, just the other day—people from the Main Line generally do not go into the military. At least not the stereotypical child of the Main Line, with its leafy private schools, high-achieving public schools, and dozen or so colleges and universities: places of privilege, security, the higher mind. So when most of Yaari’s friends and family members told him with a laugh that he was out of his higher mind to join the U.S. Army (with his hopes of becoming an officer in the infantry, no less), or …
At the 9 a.m. hour on September 11, 2001, the Merion Fire Co. of Ardmore, made up almost entirely of volunteers, was doing something fairly unusual for a weekday morning on the Main Line: fighting a fire. It was a fairly serious one, too, recalled Tom Hayden Jr., then and still the company’s chief, who owns a printing company in Ardmore. “We were working a basement fire when it happened,” Hayden said. “We were hearing reports about it on the radio. It was odd that it was happening while were out on a call.” Hayden and some of his fellow volunteers couldn’t help but think of several New York …
Recently, Mary Brown, a former Lower Merion High teacher, was asked what the teachers and administrators were thinking about on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, after a picture-perfect blue-sky day turned into a national nightmare. “Protection and care for the students, who were obviously confused and shaken, upset, crying—all sorts of things,” Brown replied, without a second’s hesitation. “So we obviously suspended lesson plans, all of us, and we just made sure that we stayed close to students to make sure that we could help them in whatever way was useful.” One of those ways was to create an …
Above are 13 screen-grabs from large-file photographs provided by Mary Brown, a Wynnewood resident who on Sept. 11, 2001 was a Latin teacher at Lower Merion High School. The photos are taken from three large panels created in the days after the attacks that brought down four planes in New York City, Washington, D.C. and just outside Shanksville, Pa. (Click here for the full story and interview with Brown.) The comments ran the gamut from the trite to the profound, knee-jerk promises of revenge to deep concern for the still-unknown number of dead and their families. There are political …
“I hope it's a good place for the families...” Eric Lowry, a home energy auditor and civil engineer, sitting on the porch of his Ardmore home, can’t help but get choked up about the place where he spent summers in his youth, and holidays, and pretty much every other family get-together: Shanksville, Pa., on a farm owned by his grandparents. That farm, so full of life and celebrations and memories for Lowry and his family, is now part of a permanent memorial for the crew and passengers of United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed there on Sept. 11, 2001, after the plane’s hijackers were rushed…
The Merion Fire Co. of Ardmore will hold a short 9/11 memorial ceremony Sunday, Sept. 11, at noon at its Greenfield Avenue station house in Ardmore. The Company has a stirring home page set up on its website honoring those that gave their lives that day. Included in the ceremony will be a moment of silence to be observed for the hundreds of firefighters who lost their lives 10 years ago in the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. The public is invited to the ceremony. Afterward, a luncheon will be served for members.
The Bryn Mawr Fire Co. started a ceremony 10 years ago that involved reading the names of firefighters and police officers who lost their lives on Sept. 11. It’s evolved since then and now includes an hour-long ceremony with a choir, video presentation, guest speakers and candle lighting in front of the fire house, said Jeff Josephson, third assistant chief at the Bryn Mawr Fire Co. and organizer of the event. “It’s an event that we feel very strongly about,” Josephson said, “so it doesn’t become just one of those things that happened in the past and everyone forgets about.” The ceremony will…
