First responders marched beneath an American flag through downtown Green Cove Springs Friday morning before gathering at Spring Park to honor the 441 first responders who died during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The Honor March began on Palmetto Avenue, continued beneath the flag hanging over Walnut Street and ended at the Spring Park gazebo, where hundreds of people gathered for Clay County’s 25th anniversary remembrance ceremony.
The ceremony began with a bagpipe processional as first responders entered the park.
Clay County District 1 Commissioner John Sgromolo opened the ceremony before introducing Clay County Sheriff’s Office Chaplain Tim Martin, who delivered the invocation.
“This is not a celebration, God. This is a memorial,” Martin said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis then addressed the crowd, remembering the first responders and civilians who died in the attacks and those who have since suffered from related illnesses.
“We won’t forget here in the state of Florida and we can never forget if we want to continue our heritage as great Americans,” DeSantis said.
The ceremony then shifted to the reading of the names of those who died.
Sgromolo invited elected officials and community leaders to the front of the gazebo, where they read the names of first responders and other emergency personnel killed in the attacks. The reading began with John G. Coughlin of the New York City Police Department and continued through hundreds of names from agencies across New York City.
Clay County Fire Chief Lorin Mock, who helped organize the ceremony, said the length of the reading was part of what made it significant.
“It was the amount of time it took to read more than 400 names, to hear the agencies that they came from across the city of New York, and then to remember those names,” Mock said.
Mock, 70, was the operations chief for the Jacksonville Fire Department on Sept. 11, 2001. As the attacks unfolded, he said he worried the violence could spread to other cities along the East Coast.
“I wasn’t so sure that it wasn’t going to spiral down the east coast of the United States and involve multiple cities,” Mock said.
He spent that morning coordinating with other Jacksonville officials and activating a system designed to respond to mass-casualty incidents.
Twenty-five years later, Mock said the attacks remain a defining event for the fire service.
“The 9/11 event is the seminal event in the fire service for our generation,” he said.
The memories of the attacks also remain vivid for civilians who attended Friday’s ceremony.
Michael Rinehart, 69, a military veteran, was with his father in Lakewood, Colorado, when they first heard that a plane had struck the World Trade Center.
Rinehart remembers the two returning home and watching the television with his mother as the scale of the attacks became clear.
“We were just completely at a loss for words,” Rinehart said.
He said he remembers feeling angry that he could not do anything to protect his country.
Beth Wrigley, 73, was homeschooling her 6-year-old when she watched the second plane hit the World Trade Center on television.
She said what stayed with her was the response from first responders who rushed into the buildings despite the danger.
“The first responders didn’t even give a thought about their own lives,” Wrigley said. “They were up in those buildings so quickly and helping people to get out.”
Wrigley attended Friday’s ceremony with her dog, Zoey.
For John Long, a Clay County Fire Rescue employee who works with the department’s search-and-rescue dogs, the anniversary is a reminder of the risks first responders accept every day.
Long was a Jacksonville firefighter when the attacks occurred. He now works with Stone and Cable, Clay County Fire Rescue’s K-9s for the Department of Public Safety.
“It’s a reminder of the loss of life and the attack on us, and it’s a lot of the reasons why we do what we do,” Long said.
The ceremony also focused on community members who were younger or not yet old enough to understand what happened 25 years ago.
Laura Christmas, director of communications for the Clay County Board of County Commissioners, was 11 when the attacks occurred. She remembers watching television with her mother and siblings and asking questions they could not answer.
Now, she has two sons, ages 7 and 8.
“Another thing we wanted to do with this ceremony today was not only remember for us, but also for the future generations,” Christmas said.
She said she wants her sons to understand the significance of a day they will never personally remember.
The ceremony ended with the Clay County Fire Rescue Honor Guard performing the “Striking of the Four Fives,” a historic fire service tradition used to honor firefighters who died in the line of duty.
The bells rang through Spring Park before bagpipes played “Amazing Grace” as the crowd stood in silence.
Christmas said preserving those memories will eventually become the responsibility of people who did not experience the attacks themselves.
“I want to continue that so they can tell their children when those of us who remember that day are no longer here,” she said.
Wrigley said remembering the sacrifices of previous generations should also remind Americans to appreciate the freedoms they have today.
“Don’t give up on your dreams because there isn’t another country on the face of this earth where you can dream and have them come true,” she said. “Takes a little work, but we’re so fortunate to live here.”
