25th 9/11 Memorial in Hunter Sees New Faces

Photos and Article By Max Oppen

HUNTER – A steady breeze moved through the 25th 9/11 Memorial service in the Village of Hunter last Friday. Clouds drifted

across the sky, casting shadows over the mountains. When the sun emerged, the shadows of the two steel beams from

the Twin Towers starkly reflected the severity of the day. New to this year’s service were 153 students from the Hunter-Tannersville Central School District. Last year, just 10 students attended.

District Superintendent Dr. Vincent Butera said, “My brother was among the first firefighters into the North Tower. Thankfully, he made it home - but sadly, many that day did not. This memorial matters because the sacrifice and bravery of so many deserve to be remembered. When Jim Jones called and asked whether students could attend, it became clear that all our students needed to experience the significance of that day, so we made plans to ensure our entire secondary school community was invited. These significant moments in history must never be forgotten.”

HTC Middle/High School Principal Ismael “Ish” Villafane said, “We have 153 students here. After this, we will have our community service day working with the fire department washing their trucks and helping wash business windows in Hunter and Tannersville.

This is great – none of these kids and some of the teachers were even born. They hear about [9/11] and study this at school, and today they’ll hear from some of those who were there that day and make a connection.” That connection came through guest speaker Ram Singal, who was working in the North Tower that fateful day. Singal said, “I was working on the 54th floor as a project manager, and I was writing an email. All of a sudden I heard a big bang and the Tower started to shake.” Singal said he first thought it was an earthquake. “Then everything stood still,” Singal noted. He and his coworkers then thought a small plane had hit a Tower due to a medical emergency. Singal said. "hey didn’t know what to do. “Then we started to go down the stairs.” As they were walking down the stairs, the South Tower was hit. That was when, Singal said, reality hit them. “Now we knew it was an attack,” Singal said. “We thought it was the beginning of World War 3."

Singal said the staircase ended up being blocked by debris, so they had to make their way to another staircase. As they were heading down the second staircase, fast-moving water from the pipelines began to flow so heavily that it consumed some of his colleagues down the stairs. “We had to hold onto the staircase railing to stay safe,” he said. Singal said they were again directed to find another way down due to debris. “To get to the third staircase, we had to walk through total darkness in ankle-deep water. We also had to duck to avoid hanging wires.” Singal said they made it out, and about 5 minutes later, they felt the ground shaking. Singal and his coworkers looked back to see the North Tower collapsing. “We were so close to the tower that if the tower had toppled in our direction, we would have been underneath it.”

As the North Tower began to fall, Singal said they started running. He said all of their clothes were covered in ash. Singal is now an integral figure with Peace Village in Haines Falls. He said 25 years ago during the escape, people gravitated toward him because of his demeanor, and they knew he was into meditation. He then brought people to a meditation center on 5th Ave. “I offered them food and water until the trains started to run.” Singal said the events of that day caused him to have a revelation of sorts. He said, “Today I will forgive myself for all of the wrong things I have done. I felt so light, as if a burden had been taken off my shoulders.”

Jim Jones, Commander of the American Legion Bunt-Brewer Post 165, said, “Today was a day of remembrance. As 25 years have passed, we needed the community’s support. The school graciously brought middle and high school students down.” Jones says that earlier in the year he had several conversations with school officials to coordinate the inclusion of local middle and high school students. “It’s important these students saw and heard and knew what was going on 25 years ago. You hear about it in the history books, but a lot of us old-timers lived it. For me, personally, it was important. I’ve had friends who were firefighters who are no longer with us due to the long-term effects of inhaling [toxic air] – but they did what they had to do. They did the job at great risk to themselves, and they didn’t even know [how toxic] the air was at the time.” Jones continued, “In the end, it was a beautiful turnout from the public. The support of our Legion members helped allow them to participate, and they take it very seously. There were a lot of uniforms, and it was great to see.”

Legion Vice Commander Kristin Benjamin, former Commander of American Legion Bunt-Brewer Post 165, and Navy Reserve Petty Officer 1st Class, was also involved with setting up the event and emceed the service. Benjamin also serves as secretary and is a volunteer firefighter for the Village of Tannersville’s fire department.

Ladder 11 (Manhattan) Lieutenant Joe Jove (retired) has been the 9/11 memorial organizer in Hunter for the past 15 years and was also part of the discussions to get students involved. Both Jones and Jove communicated for months, setting up the timeline of the solemn service. Jove said his wife had convinced him to retire from Ladder 11 on the 4th of July, 2001, at age 53. He wanted to wait until 55, but relented to his wife’s wishes. "If I hadn’t retired, I wouldn’t be alive. My whole crew is gone,” he said. Jove contributed to the cleanup for about two weeks. “They were only finding [body] parts,” he said. As victims were identified, the funerals began. After attending 32 funerals, Jove said he couldn’t do it anymore. He added there were at least 25 funerals a day following the attacks. 343 Firefighters lost their lives that day.

Village of Hunter Mayor Alan Higgins said, “We were honored to have such an amazing memorial at our park, and this year’s service was special because the high school sent so many students. The students were very attentive and respectful - with the students, the first responders, the American Legion, and the public, it was heartwarming to see that many people turn out. We intend to begin expansion of the memorial this fall and complete it in the spring. It will include a Pentagon-shaped concrete sidewalk [including] 500+ pavers and lighting for the monument, and another stone monument with a plaque to mention Shanksville, Pennsylvania. After the expansion is complete, we will then begin a campaign to sponsor bricks and will have more information at that time.”