North Salem Residents Remember 9/11 a Decade Later

NORTH SALEM, N.Y. - At three o’clock Sunday afternoon, town officials, members of the police and volunteer fire departments and the ambulance corps will join scores of North Salem residents at the Titicus Road firehouse to pay tribute to the innocent victims of the 9/11 disaster.

North Salem’s Vincent Halloran was one of the New York City firefighters who sacrificed their lives that day. Halloran was the father of five young boys and a little girl, born after his death. He will be honored at the ceremony, along with the thousands of people who belonged to other towns, other families.

Kurt Guldan, president of the North Salem Volunteer Ambulance Corps, was one of the first responders after the news broke. He rushed down to New York, along with many of his fellow volunteers.

A moving ceremony was held on Friday at North Salem High School. All of the Middle/High School students assembled on the lawn and listened thoughtfully as Vice Principal George Bovino described the 9/11 attack as “a senseless, violent act which changed our world forever.”

Marine Corps Sgt. Matthew Engelhardt, a 1998 graduate of the high school, presented one of the few remaining American flags flown in Iraq. It had been presented to his unit before they demobilized.

Sgt. Andrew Brown of the North Salem Police spoke inspiringly about turning loss into triumph by recognizing that “need is not disaster-driven.” He implored students to understand that, “people need help every day,” and urged them to “share in the goodness of your community, not only for others but for yourselves.”

North Salem resident Richard Falco, an internationally acclaimed photographer and president of Vision Project, spent many hours at the site of the Twin Towers, documenting the devastation on film. His breathtaking photos can be seen on the Vision Project website.

The Vision Project is an organization dedicated to producing documentary material, including photographs, videos, multimedia, and investigative journalism, to encourage a broader understanding of social issues.

Falco’s photographs of Ground Zero are both heartbreaking and stirring. They represent yet another way to honor the fallen.

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