Glendale Hts. parade to honor police, firefighters

Seven years have past since the Twin Towers fell in New York during the nation's largest terror attack.

On Thursday, Sept. 11, dozens of emergency services vehicles will line up in a silent parade in Glendale Heights to remember the police, firefighters and thousands of others killed in that tragedy.

Patriot Day is a single event aimed at keeping alive the heroics of an unimaginable event, explained Gina Thorsen, Glendale Heights public relations manager.

"We should never forget the terror in the eyes of those people. Those fire fighters who stood with those people who needed help getting out of those buildings and who didn't get out when they could have. The police officers who never slept," she said. "All those people who went down there to help."

Thorsen said, "I remember that first week afterwards. People were standing in Camera Park holding hands and singing 'God Bless America.' People for that period of time were much kinder to each other. In an instant there were people whose lives would never be the same."

Police and fire vehicles will leave the fire station at the corner of Bloomingdale Road and Fullerton Avenue at 7:15 p.m. and drive to Village Hall. There is a candlelight service in front of the building along with a tunnel of scouts thanking emergency service workers and a moment of silence and reflection.

In the event of inclement weather, the services will take place inside Village Hall. For more information please call (630) 909-5392.