Ocean City Honors Those Lost in 9/11 Attacks

(OCEAN CITY, Md) – In Ocean City, locals and out-of-towners alike gathered on the boardwalk, paying their respects to those who lost their lives in the September 11th attacks.

And plenty of people we spoke to remember where they were on that day in 2001.

Joseph Manginello, an Ocean City resident recalls, “…By the time I got to work, I worked up in Chevy Chase, Maryland. By the time I got there, was all over the news and people were in shock. They didn’t didn’t realize that could happen.”

“I can vividly remember hearing the screams of terror from my librarian at the time and various administrators in the school. I had heard that planes had hit the towers,” says Connor Lennox of Chester County, Pennsylvania, who was only around nine years old when the attack happened.

The same goes for first responders like Ocean City Deputy Fire Chief, James Jester, who sees a lot of parallels between the September 11th attacks and another day of American tragedy.

He says, “And we still celebrate or remember more than celebrate Pearl Harbor Day. That’s because my father instilled it in his generation as well as mine, and I need to carry that forward for 9/11.”

For plenty of people, the memories will never fade away. That’s why it’s important to pass these memories on to the next generation…

Especially as next year will mark 25 years since the attack.

“I think we always need to remember. We can’t forget this,” says William Dooley from Dover.

While Deputy Chief Jester says, “We have individuals that are graduating college today that weren’t even born when 911 happened. So it’s my responsibility to my generation, as well as my responsibility to the next generation to make sure that that doesn’t get forgotten.”

While he couldn’t go into details, Chief Jester says they plan to do something special for next year’s ceremony: the 25th anniversary of the attacks.