People never forget where they were on 9/11

The 9/11 attack on America is one of those “where were you when you heard?” events.

Ask anyone who walked through the 9/11 flag memorial in the Christ Church courtyard Friday and Saturday and the answer came quickly.

Pat Foltz of River Bend was living in Illinois 10 years ago today and had turned off the television as she and her husband prepared for a morning round of golf. Her daughter from Green Bay called and gave her the news.

“As we turned the TV on, the second plane was going into the tower,” said Foltz, a Navy veteran from the 1960s. “It was just unbelievable. It is such an incredible thing. So many people lost their lives. It was dreadful, and then, the Pentagon, too.”

Foltz came with her next-door neighbor Becky Doumeng to see the memorial of 403 flags honoring New York firemen, police and Port Authority members who died that day.

“I was here in New Bern and going into yoga,” said Doumeng. “I couldn’t believe it. In the little edifice where I was, they had a TV and there was the plane going in. I felt like I was half paralyzed.”

Remembering the victims was the reason former Washington, D.C., fireman Phil Buffa planned the flag memorial with names and photos.

“It is good for us to remember and think of what we can do in the future to prevent such things from happening,” said Lisa Jones of Ernul, who was in town with her husband Michael for a pancake breakfast at Sherwood Free Will Baptist Church.

Ronnie Everington of New Bern and his family meet each Saturday morning at the Boston Deli for breakfast. Saturday, they stood along Middle Street and gazed at the neatly lined rows of flags, glistening in the morning sun.

“We should never forget. This was like Pearl Harbor,” said Everington, who was working in the parts department at the Joe Alcoke dealership on Sept. 11. “We were attacked and it showed if there is another one, there will be a price to pay. Think how many lives were changed, all over the country.”

Buffa had hoped for about 40 volunteers when he came to the church to plant the flags Friday morning. He planned to give each volunteer 10 flags. The community response was volunteers in the hundreds. The number of flags handed out was changed to five and later to two.

“This was a community effort. People came up and said ‘what can I do?’” he said Saturday morning.

He said many people knew there was a name in the memorial field that they knew.

So, volunteers Tom Conway and Annette Williams walked the rows for more than two hours and wrote down the names. Williams compiled a written list on her computer that is now at the site.

Participants from the Monarch Day Program created and distributed more than 100 ribbons to note the significance of the event, according to Eileen Bress, the program’s community coordinator.

A light was brought in Friday evening to illuminate the field of flags at night.

On Friday night, New Bern Civic Theatre held a memorial ceremony on Pollock Street in front of the theater to honor 9/11 victims. It drew a large crowd, including many people who were downtown for the September ArtWalk.

The ceremony included a color guard, the national anthem sung by Krissy Bocci and vocalist John Van Dyke singing a variety of famous songs about New York.

Theater Executive Director Angelina Hardy, who served in the Marines, told the crowd that Cherry Point air station and its Marines had long been an important part of Civic Theatre’s history.

She said the theater had specially planned the opening of  “Guys and Dolls” for the anniversary weekend.

“It is a great show, the epitome of America and about New York City,” she said. “And tonight is about giving back.”

A number of Sept. 11 memorial events are planned Sunday.

An 8 a.m. ceremony is set before the start of the second day of the New Bern Bike MS event, which has attracted a record 2,400 cyclists. The ceremony includes Steve Jassett of the New Bern Fire Department playing “Amazing Grace” on bagpipes.

Havelock has scheduled a memorial beginning at 8 a.m. near the city’s Harrier  monument. During the ceremony, a new memorial that includes a piece of steel from the Trade Center towers will be unveiled. Havelock secured the artifact from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

In Fairfield Harbour, two steel beams from the fallen twin towers, an American flag and concrete pieces resembling rubble from Ground Zero, have been placed in front of the fire station. A dedication with dignitaries, emergency personnel and citizens is set for 2 p.m. at the firehouse.

Christ Church’s 9/11 memorial is set for 7 p.m., featuring Schola Cantorum, the choir of the Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina. It will present a program featuring “Memorial Requiem” by Cynthia Roberts-Greene. Prayers and remembrances for the victims, families of victims and for the nation will be offered. The doors open at 6 p.m.

Charlie Hall can be reached at 252-635-5667 or chall@freedomenc.com