Greenbelt Vigil Pays Tribute to 9/11 Heroes

It was a night that sent chills down your spine, as any reminder of 9/11 does. A crowd of about 50 people going to a candlelight vigil on Saturday night, Sept. 10, 2011, was greeted by a Greenbelt Volunteer Fire Department truck at Roosevelt Center, holding up an American flag lit by floodlights.

In remarks at the beginning of the vigil, Greenbelt police Capt. Thomas Kemp reminded the crowd that he and other Greenbelt police officers — with their armored personnel carrier and tactical unit — were first responders at the Pentagon on 9/11, patrolling the perimeter that day and for several days afterwards. 

, chair of the Greenbelt Pubic Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC), which organized the vigil, spoke about her role as a veterinarian treating rescue dogs at Ground Zero in New York City in the days following 9/11.

After the remarks, candles were lit for a moment of silence and a candlelight vigil. This was followed by a slide show, using slides Kressler collected at Ground Zero.

The chills returned when "America the Beautiful" played.

One family — a couple and their three sons — came from University Park and stumbled across the vigil. They felt it was quite a coincidence because for two years they had rented the home of an entire family — a couple and their young son and daughter — that had died when their plane crashed into the Pentagon.