Michael Massaroli’s father went to work at the World Trade Center’s North Tower on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. When terrorists crashed a passenger jet into the tower, he was one of the 2,753 people who died. While the morning is clear in Mr. Massaroli’s mind, his sister, who was born just two months earlier, has no memory of the event.
Mr. Massaroli, a junior at the George Washington University, reflected on the dozen-plus years that have passed since that horrific day during a remembrance vigil held in the Marvin Center’s Great Hall on Thursday. His 13-year-old sister, he said, will soon be in high school, and eventually college, with classmates who will not remember 9/11.
“As time passes, thoughts of 9/11 become less personal, and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Mr. Massaroli said. “It is up to us, those who do remember, to keep alive the memories of those we lost on that horrible day, as the memories of others fade over the years to come.”
GW students, faculty and staff filled the Great Hall on Thursday, honoring the nearly 3,000 people who died 13 years ago during the 9/11 attacks, including nine GW alumni.
On the morning of Sept.11, 2001, the GW community watched as smoke rose from the Pentagon, where terrorists had crashed an airliner that was bound for Los Angeles. The following evening, more than 3,000 people gathered in University Yard to pay tribute to the 9/11 victims. Though more than a decade has passed since that day, this tradition has lived on.
“It is only appropriate that our community gathers each year to reflect on that terrible tragedy that struck our nation. And we respond in hopeful ways,” said Provost Steven Lerman during the vigil.
In 2009, the university answered President Obama’s call for a National Day of Service and Remembrance by establishing the Freshman Day of Service, which now takes place each September. During this year’s Day of Service, more than 2,400 GW freshmen served on community projects throughout Washington, D.C., Dr. Lerman noted.
The university’s annual Interfaith Dinner, which brings together students from different faiths as a way to promote unity and tolerance, was also established following 9/11. The event continues to this day.
Thursday’s program included opening remarks from Student Association President Nick Gumas, a presentation of the colors from the NROTC color guard, songs from the GW Troubadours and a shared invocation from campus clergy. Vice Admiral (retired) Mel Williams, associate provost for military and veterans affairs, reflected on his own memory of Sept.11, 2001. Adm. Williams was stationed in Yokosuka, Japan, on the USS Kitty Hawk and watched the events of 9/11 unfold on television.
Days later, after receiving orders to respond to the attacks, his crew left Japan and traveled 7,000 miles in 12 days, arriving in the North Arabian Sea. Six hundred special forces were inserted in Afghanistan, and Adm. Williams’s crew became the first coalition response to the 9/11 attacks.
“As people who believe in freedom and liberty, we have the resiliency, we have the resolve, to continue to do the things that we believe in. As a sailor who served in that initial response, it was a privilege for me,” Adm. Williams said.
Mr. Gumas then read the names of the nine GW alumni who died on 9/11, as nine student volunteers stood at the front of the stage, representing each of the victims. Attendees stood silently, heads bowed in reflection, as the GW Chamber Choir sang.
A similar tribute took place early on Thursday morning in University Yard. As the American flag flew at half-staff, George Washington President Steven Knapp placed a wreath at the flagpole’s base as a way to honor the nine GW alumni. At 8:46 a.m., Dr. Knapp and a small crowd who had gathered at University Yard joined the rest of the university community in a moment of silence.
Later that day, Vice President Joe Biden visited the Charles E. Smith Center to help volunteers at a 9/11 Day of Service event hosted by Points of Light, the Corporation for National and Community Service and Operation Gratitude. The vice president stopped to talk with GW students outside the Charles E. Smith Center.
At the end of the GW’s 9/11 remembrance vigil, Mr. Massaroli said he was proud to be part of a university community that continues to keep the memory of his father and the thousands of other 9/11 victims alive.
“Although the fire at ground zero is out, the Pentagon is repaired and people’s hearts have begun to heal, we will never forget what happened that day,” Mr. Massaroli said.
September 11, 2014
