Last Friday, millions of Americans were transported to where they were 25 years ago when they heard the news that a plane had hit one of the World Trade Centers. For those who attended the sixth annual Marshfield Remembers memorial, they were brought back to that day surrounded by twin towers of light piercing the sky and 2,963 flags representing each person lost. .
“It was a dark scar on the nation,” remembers Sonya Ferguson.
Sonya was one of over a hundred visitors to attend the evening ceremony that day, as part of the ceremony taking place outside the Dr. Tommy Macdonnell Aquatic Center in Patriot Park.
Walking through the field of flags in a ceremonial 102 minutes of silence- the time between the first tower being hit and the second tower collapsing- Sonya did not struggle to remember the frantic call she received that morning from the boss's wife, the tense hours she spent that morning in a cramped office room with all 15 of her colleagues, watching events unfold on a tiny black-and-white TV. Her partner, Tom Pierce, was huddled with his colleagues around a radio on a construction site in the middle of nowhere in Colorado, but they were no less taken from their daily lives.
Another memorial attendee, Denver Gardener, remembers “feeling the world stopping” that morning as she watched the towers fall on the TV wheeled into her third-grade classroom. Time had stopped and then blurred for her as a kid, and the next thing she knew, Denver remembered the green bullets tracing their way across the sky on screen as the evening news covered the invasion of Afghanistan that followed.
Denver was one of many visitors to share their memory with their children that night as well. Laiken Gardner, born thirteen years after 9/11, watched the short documentary screened during the evening ceremony and discussed her family’s memories of that night.
“I come here to learn and never forget,” Laiken said.
The Gardners are one of a number of families that have attended every Marshfield Remembers memorial since the event was established by Mayor McNish in 2021. “It's the least we can do,” said Denver.
Mayor McNish has expanded the memorial a little every year, involving an art project by local sixth graders, songs by the Marshfield High School Choir, and a new banner this year listing every name lost that night. Her vision was to create a space where locals were encouraged to reflect, pay respect, and share their stories.
Those stories, which were often given in soft voices standing over the flags of the fallen, ranged across the whole human experience felt that day. John Matthews remembers seeing news anchors Dan Rathers and Peter Jennings at a loss for words for the first time. Susan King remembers comforting and guiding her daughter, at home sick on a school day, after they saw the towers fall on their living room TV. Jeremy Burns remembers that the skies were quiet while his son, Gavin, recounts his grandfather telling him how he found out at work and came straight home.
“They didn't deserve it,” said Gavin.
However, not everyone felt time stopped for them on that day. Gerald Gardner remembers being told of the towers being hit by his foreman, but he also remembers being told to keep working that day by that very same foreman. His uncle, Joe Gardner, who carefully aligned shots of the flags on his handheld camera for his budding photography hobby at 82 years old, remembers not even being sure of what tower was being hit.
“One of the guys at the rail yard came in and said that a tower had been hit. We thought it was a conservation tower, then maybe the Springfield [federal] prison tower. Another guy came in when the second tower got hit, and that’s when we knew it was that tower in New York,” Joe recounts.
What everyone in attendance did seem to remember and mention when thinking back was the solidarity felt the day after. “The whole nation came together,” said Denver Gardner. “It was our modern-day Pearl Harbor,” remarked John Matthews. These sentiments are just as important to Mayor McNish as the tragedy of the day.
“Some people feel bad about how much fun they have at this event every year, but this memorial is just as much about unity and pride and coming together as Americans,” Mayor McNish said.
Susan King, whose daughter is now all grown up and bringing her own little girl to the field of flags to share their stories, struggles to think of how anyone who did not experience that day could truly understand what it meant. She hopes, however, that her granddaughter takes one thing away:
“When we were attacked, we came together.”
