Carpentersville holding nighttime 9/11 ceremony for 25th anniversary

Carpentersville Fire Chief Bill Anaszewicz is like millions of people around the world who remember the moment he saw the news coverage of airplanes slamming into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

A week later, Anaszewicz was in New York to help first responders at the site and attended the funerals of firefighters and police officers who died in the terrorist attacks.

Those memories came flooding back as he helped organize the village’s 9/11 memorial for what will be the event’s 25th anniversary, he said. The special nighttime ceremony will feature two light columns representing the Twin Towers, a candlelight vigil, a musical tribute including the Dundee-Crown High School marching band, and guest speakers.

It will be held from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 11, at the village’s new riverfront park at 155 S. Washington St.

The park will also have a Field of Honor for which 403 flags will be erected — one for every firefighter and police officer who died on 9/11. Spotlights will be rented to form two vertical beams representing the Twin Towers.

“We are hoping that puts a nice touch on it,” Anaszewicz said.

It was Village Manager Brad Stewart who suggested holding the ceremony at the new riverfront park, which is as yet unnamed, as a way to introduce it to the community, he said. Holding the event at night helps emphasize the significance of the 25th anniversary, said Jen Hyde, marketing and special events coordinator.

“We wanted to elevate the 25th anniversary,” Hyde said. “We were interested in finding a way to remember and experience it in a different way than we have in the years past. We wanted a way to give this the gravity and reverence it needs.”

For years, the village has held its 9/11 memorials at Station 91 because there’s a “piece of the 9/11 tower in front of (it),” Anaszewicz said.

Anaszewicz and Hyde were part of a village-wide committee that organized the event.

Anaszewicz is one of the speakers and will recount his experiences at Ground Zero while he was with the Elmhurst Fire Department. Attending the funerals was particularly hard, he said.

“It was sad to see the young firefighters with young kids. You knew how it would impact their lives,” Anaszewicz said. “(The firefighters) were going to work and in a matter of seconds, the towers were struck, and life changed.”

What he remembers most is how “everybody came together,” he said. “It was like everyone was working as one. Everywhere you went, people were just united. That’s something I will never forget. The support for first responders and (how) everyone was so nice to each other. It was really something special to see.”

Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The (Elgin) Courier-News.