WESTFORD — First responders, veterans and town and state officials gathered at Westford’s Public Safety Courtyard on Main Street on Thursday, to commemorate 24 years since the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Each year, the town of Westford holds a commemoration ceremony at the 9/11 memorial located in the courtyard, honoring the 2,997 men, women and children that lost their lives that day, in the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and in the plane crash in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.
Among the victims were Susan MacKay and James Hayden of Westford, who were killed when the planes they were on crashed into the North Tower and South Tower of the World Trade Center.
Westford resident and Massachusetts state representative James Arciero spoke at Thursday’s event, remembering the lives of MacKay and Hayden.
“On 9/11/2001, the Westford community lost two of very own,” Arciero said. “Susan MacKay and James Hayden, who were on the airplanes that crashed into the World Trade Center. Susan MacKay was 44 years old, and aboard American Airlines Flight 11, when it crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. She left behind a husband and two young children when she was killed. James Hayden was 47 years old, and aboard United Airlines Flight 175, when it crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. He left behind a wife and two teenage children when he died. Two decades seem like a long time, but for those families of the victims left behind, their losses and their pain will never recede.”
This year’s commemoration ceremony was organized by Westford’s veterans services officer Colin Bode, who recently assumed the position last May.
WestfordCAT spoke to Bode and asked him about what went into organizing the ceremony, and why it is important to have it each year.
“Westford’s community is really used to doing 9/11 ceremonies and everybody always shows up, so it’s really just a matter of confirming they’re aware of the time in that sense,” Bode said. “It’s really important that we have these ceremonies so that we can pay respect to the victims of the 9/11 attacks. Of course, two of them were residents in Westford. So it’s very important that we show that respect to the community, and also remember the fact that 9/11 united the nation — in a time that we are so divided from politics to immigration and everything else.”
The ceremony concluded with salutes from members of the Westford Fire Department and Police Department honor guards, and Westford Fire Captain David Lefebvre ringing the alarm bell at the memorial in honor of the victims.
