On Sunday, Sept. 11, Hunterdon County Sheriff Fred W. Brown hosted the county’s annual 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony, which included local dignitaries, first responders and special guest speaker Mark Desire, a forensic biologist for the New York City Office of Medical Examiner and manager of the World Trade Center (WTC) Identification Team.
The ceremony began at 8:30 a.m. with a procession from Court Street of all first responders in attendance, led by Brown, onto the Historic Courthouse portico, while Jim Curry, Readington Township’s public safety director, played the bagpipes.
Master of Ceremonies Dan Torrone greeted the crowd and introduced Hunterdon County Surrogate Susan J. Hoffman, who presented the Pledge of Allegiance, the Rev. Dave Errickson who offered the invocation, and the Hunterdon Harmonizers who sang “God Bless the USA,” the national anthem and “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”
Brown recognized the dignitaries, elected officials and all members of the First Responder community in attendance at the ceremony, including the National Guard from the Flemington and Morristown Armories who presented the Colors, and Chaplain Larry Coyne, a member of the Clinton Fire Department and Hunterdon County Fire Chiefs Association, who said the benediction.
The program continued with guest speaker Mark Desire, who discussed his personal experiences at the WTC on Sept. 11, 2001.
Desire was dispatched to the WTC with two other medical examiner colleagues to begin the gruesome task of assessing those who had died, after the first tower had been hit. This was before the second plane, flight 175, crashed into the South Tower.
Desire described his harrowing escape from the building, referencing the tattered and torn agency windbreaker he was wearing on Sept. 11, which was on display next to the podium during the ceremony, and that in spite of his injuries, he was back at work the very next day.
As the only remaining member of the original WTC DNA Identification Team, Desire has been identifying loved ones for 21 years to bring closure to every family who lost someone on that day.
Following Desire’s remarks, the Historic Courthouse bell rang 16 times to honor the 16 Hunterdon County residents who perished on Sept. 11, and Mark Winey, a bugler with NJ Taps, played taps.
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