Howell's Memorial Commemorates 9//11 on Local, National Level

Driving up to on Preventorium Road, it is virtually impossible not to notice the memorial built in honor of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

As the 10th anniversary of the tragic day approaches, the memorial will serve as the site of the town's commemoration ceremony honoring the five Howell residents who were killed on that day as well as all the other victims. With the town's emergency services also represented at the ceremony, it will also pay tribute to the first responders who gave their time to help in the time following the attacks.

A closer look at the memorial shows the attention to detail that was put into the structure that was built in 2005. The five columns represent John Lennon Jr., Colin McArthur, John Rhodes, Joseph Sacerdote and Alan Wisnewski, the Howell residents who were among the victims of the attack. They meet at the top of the structure at a stone carving in the shape of the Pentagon.

There is also a boulder from the same area where Flight 93 went down in Shanksville, PA. and a piece of steel from the World Trade Center. Adding to the tribute, the bench that encircles the memorial has the names of all those lost on that sunny September day. Then, on the ground is a depiction of the World Trade Center in its entirety from before the attacks.

Township Manager Helene Schlegel, who at the time was the director of the parks and recreation department was one of the people charged by the administration at the time with putting the memorial together. She said a lot of thought went into its construction and that the memories of that day will stay with her forever. "We didn't want it to just be a memorial. Anybody can build a statue, anybody can put up a monument but there is meaning to every single piece in that memorial."

The day hit particularly close to home for Schlegel and the members of their department as one of the victims from the town was the son one of her employees and the father of her son DJ's best friend. It was because of that close connection that a month after the attacks Schlegel and fellow township employees Irene Plantz, Patricia Allen and Gregory Roper got permission to volunteer at Ground Zero. 

Working at Nino's Restaurant, the four were part of a group serving food to the first responders who were spending their days digging through the rubble looking for survivors. "We were so close to it because Jack Lennon's son had been killed so we needed to do something," she said. "It wasn't even a second thought, we just did it."

Representing the township was an honor for the four Schlegel said, but the reaction they got from the first responders was one she never expected. "That we could give back a little bit it was important to us," she said. "We just saw people there that they were giving so much of themselves looking for survivors. They were thanking us and we were just so thankful for them."

The fact that they were being thanked by the people who were going above and beyond their regular duties to find people in the rubble was something they could not understand. "To us, what they were doing was just amazing. They were using everything they had in them to find survivors. And to us, it was an honor to serve them and it was a privilege that we were there to represent Howell Township."

Schlegel said Sunday's service will be another chance for the township to remember those who were lost while honoring those who gave their time at the site of the attacks. That will include many of the personnel who will be at the memorial whether they were representing the township at the time or moved to the town since that unforgettable day."It will just be a solemn ceremony," she said. "We're not celebrating anything, we're recognizing the tragedy that happened."

Currently, the memorial is located on the grounds of Town Hall, but barring some unforseen circumstances, in a few years the township will move its hub to the Building on Route 9. Schlegel said even if the township goes ahead with move, the memorial's meaning will remain just as strong. "I think that that memorial will stand as a representation of the tragedy forever," she said. "It will never not be that. You can always see it from the hill and it will stand as a memorial of what happened forever."

Sunday's ceremony is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. with all residents of the township invited to attend alongside several local and state dignitaries. Schlegel said those invited and scheduled to attend include Assemblyman David Rible, Monmouth County Freeholder Thomas Arnone, State Senators Sean Kean and Robert Singer and Major Karl Kleeberg representing Gov. Chris Christie.