Ocean City Commemorates 20 Year Anniversary of 9/11 Attacks

OCEAN CITY, Md. – First Responders and Officials from the Ocean City Fire Department gathered on North Division St. Saturday morning to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

Speakers at the event said that the attacks hit especially hard in the Fire Department and First Responder community.

“Imagine losing in a matter of seconds 343 of your brothers and sisters- and for our brothers and sisters that served in the New York fire department that’s exactly what happened,” Ocean City Fire Department Chaplain Kevin Knowles said.

As part of the proceedings, harrowing recordings of the actual 9/11 dispatch calls were played letting the crowd experience those frantic moments as firefighters readied themselves to enter the unknown.

Former New York City Fire Lieutenant Joe DiMartino was the events keynote speaker.

He said he wants people to understand that the 343 firemen did not have their lives taken, but rather that they gave them, and their memory lives on through the thousands of lives they were able to save.

“9/11 was the worst day for the New York City Fire Department, 9/11 was the best day for the New York City Fire Department,” DiMartino said.

Dimartino leads the bell ringing ceremony, a 200-year-old tradition to honor the lives of fallen firefighters.

He believes that while the memories of that day are painful, ceremonies like these can help people grieve among people who feel the same pain and replace a feeling of isolation with one of embrace from a community that has felt the same loss.

“This is I think a great educational tool and a great step forward and one of the good things to come out of 9/11,” he said.

DiMartino told 47ABC that many firefighters from that day still have serious health problems from the smoke in the debris, including himself. He says he wants to spread the message that any firefighter who is still unsure of how to get the best treatment or pay for it should contact the World Trade Center Health Registry.