9/11 victims remembered at Town of Huntington ceremony

Around 120 people turned out for a 9/11 ceremony in Huntington on Sunday, despite cloudy skies and a forecast for rain.

The tribute was held in front of a Heckscher Park memorial, honoring the 2,753 victims lost during the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. Nearly 1 in 5 of the dead were Long Islanders, including 43 from Huntington.

“Everyone knew that there were torrential downpours all around us, so we knew that it was imminent for us. And yet they came,” said Christine Geed, director of communications for the Town of Huntington. “Rain or shine, come hell or high water, our residents — the people of the town — we do not forget. We will never forget in the Town of Huntington.”

The annual event has been organized by Huntington Town every year, rain or shine, since the attacks by terrorists plotting with al-Qaida. Although past ceremonies have been held in oppressive heat, there has never been a downpour like the one seen on Sunday, flooding pavement and drenching attendees, Geed said.

“For all intents and purposes, we all expected these people to be standing with us today,” Geed said of those remembered at the ceremony. She knew many of the victims personally.

“These were people that we saw daily, on a regular basis. They were a part of our lives,” she said. “One of the reasons why we almost insist that we have this event where it’s held every year, in front of that memorial, is so that we can make sure that they’re still there with us, that they’re a part of this day.

“We will continue to do that, forever, because of the impact their loss has had on our community.”

Sunday’s ceremony was attended by relatives of people who were killed during the attacks, and first responders from 9/11, according to Geed. A significant part of the Huntington ceremony is a reading of the names of all the town residents who perished during the attacks.

Geed said that even though the ceremony was sped up “a teeny bit” due to the rain, organizers still accomplished “everything that we needed to do today.”

The town never hosts the memorial on Sept. 11, so that families have the space to honor and remember their loved ones in their own way, she said.

Morty Roberts, 97, a World War II veteran from East Northport with a front row seat to the ceremony, which included a color guard and the Faith Missionary Youth Choir singing the national anthem, highlighted the importance of honoring those lost each year.

Roberts belongs to Huntington’s Veterans Advisory Board, which helped organize the event.

“It never happened here before,” he said, reflecting on the attacks. “It was horrible. I watched it on television. My son lived in New Jersey, and he called us and he said, ‘Dad, there’s another plane coming.’”

By Brianne Ledda

brianne.ledda@newsday.com@brianne_ledda

Brianne Ledda covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. She previously covered Southold and Greenport for The Suffolk Times and is a graduate of Stony Brook University.