Almost everyone who was alive on Sept. 11, 2001, remembers where they were when the planes struck, Kathy Weiss, president of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Chamber of Commerce, told a crowd gathered Thursday at Queen’s Royal Park.

Twenty-four years later, the town continues to mark the anniversary of the terrorist attacks that killed 2,976 people, including 24 Canadians.

This was the second year the commemoration was held at the park, overlooking Fort Niagara in New York. It had previously taken place at the cenotaph on Queen Street.

Coun. Gary Burroughs, who was lord mayor in 2001, said the new location carries weight.

“This is actually a better place because you can see the U.S.,” he said.

A community remembers

The 20-minute ceremony featured remarks from Weiss, Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa, Niagara Falls MP Tony Baldinelli and Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates.

“Canadians supported our American friends that day, and in the many days that followed,” said Zalepa, who also thanked local first responders for their daily work.

Gates noted the town’s unique role.

“This is the only community in Niagara that is honouring 9/11,” he said. “We never, ever should forget what happened that day.”

Fire Chief Jay Plato lowered the flag while “Amazing Grace” played, joined by 17 firefighters in formation. The service concluded with both national anthems, a moment of silence and closing remarks from Weiss.

First responders reflect

The attacks remain deeply personal for emergency workers: 441 first responders — including 343 firefighters and 71 police officers — were among the dead.

Niagara-on-the-Lake’s chief administrative officer, Nick Ruller, and deputy lord mayor, Erwin Wiens, were both working in emergency services on 9/11.

Wiens, then a Hamilton police officer with the tactical unit, was at the hospital with his wife, Dorothy, who was in surgery, when he was called to John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport. Authorities feared it could be a target.

The situation was “changing by the minute,” he recalled. “Because you don’t know what’s happening. Any planes in the area, how are we going to react?”

His team screened every passenger from arriving flights.

Wiens also had a personal connection. His brother-in-law worked in World Trade Center 7, which collapsed later that day. Though the building’s fall caused no casualties, his family anxiously waited for word.

“He lives within walking distance of the trade centres,” Wiens said. “Dorothy was worried.”

With his wife in surgery, concern for her brother in New York, and his own deployment, Wiens said she showed strength: “Dorothy was a trooper.”

Ruller, just two years into his career as a Toronto firefighter, was in training when the towers were hit.

“We were all advised to report to the classroom at the training centre,” he said. “I remember us going up and they kind of shared what was transpiring … All non-essential activities kind of halted.”

Watching the towers fall, he was stunned by the scale of loss.

While he didn’t know anyone at the sites, he said solidarity among firefighters made the devastation personal.

“You hear these accounts … recognizing that it was bad,” Ruller said. “You have these committed individuals that — truly selfless in nature — recognized that they were going into a situation that was likely to have a very poor outcome for themselves. But their commitment was to continue that service. I think that’s admirable.”

Wiens added that first responders, including himself, “wouldn’t have flinched” to help.

Bonds across borders

Weiss highlighted Canada’s key role in sheltering diverted aircraft and passengers.

And while U.S.-Canada relations may face strain today, Plato, Ruller and Wiens said the shared experience of 9/11 remains unchanged.

Speaking before the ceremony, Ruller said the aftermath reinforced his decision to remain a firefighter.

“It reaffirmed that that career was the right choice for me,” he said.

Wiens said the memory of the first responders’ bravery “still chokes me up now.”

The day that changed the world

The attacks began at 8:46 a.m., when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center. United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower 17 minutes later.

At 9:37 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. At 10:03 a.m., United Airlines Flight 93 went down in a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought back — preventing it from reaching Washington.

The South Tower fell at 9:58 a.m., followed by the North Tower at 10:28 a.m.

daniel@niagaranow.com