Never Forget

Organizers were hurriedly erecting additional shade structures Friday morning, September 11, at the Marco Fire Department. More shade was needed to accommodate the overflow crowd who showed up for the Marco Island Fire Rescue Foundation’s 9/11 Memorial and the unveiling of its Twin Towers memorial commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

But temperatures hovering around 90 degrees did little to discourage the crowd, who listened to the Marco Island Charter Middle School band and were reminded of why they were there by Fire Chief Chris Byrne, Police Chief Joe Belardo, and Marco Island Fire Rescue Foundation president and Chamber of Commerce executive director Dianna Dohm.

Retired fire chief Mike Murphy, who was Marco’s fire chief on 9/11/2001, will never forget.

“I remember the day as if it was just yesterday,” Murphy said, “and the sacrifice made by all of the firefighters, police officers, civilians. And watching it unfold, knowing that it was going to open up a new era of the United States and our response to terrorism across the world. It’s made us a better system as the result of this tragedy. I lost some friends. I was the co-chair of the state terrorism response system for Florida, appointed by Governor Bush. It shakes you to your core to see the valiance and everybody trying to do their best to save their fellow citizens. And the memory that it’s been 25 years ago is hard to believe. The other thing is that we have a whole new generation of youth that didn’t experience that. We hope that the systems that we’ve put in place allow them to never experience that in the future.”

Dohm could not have been more pleased with how the Marco community came together to make the new 9/11 memorial a reality.

“It has been almost nine months coming to fruition,” Dohm said. “It has been such a team effort between our community coming up and financially supporting this and our first responders. Our ad hoc 9/11 committee is made up of five Knights of Columbus members who wanted to be part of this. This is a true community event. We are also happy to have the jazz band here from Marco Island Charter Middle School. We wanted to make sure we had our kids involved. This monument is an actual replica of the Twin Towers. It will be lit up every night. It’s our community’s remembrance.”

Byrne was with the Marco Island Fire Control District on 9/11 as a battalion chief. He’s been on the force for 42 years.

“I saw the community come together in support then and they’re still doing it today,” Byrne said, "25 years later Marco Island has committed to never forget. It is now even more of a forever lasting commitment with this memorial. We’re just grateful to live and work in such a beautiful community.”

For new Police Chief Belardo, the ceremony was an emotional one.

“It’s pretty solemn,” Belardo said, “25 years for a lot of people feels like it was just yesterday. It’s important that we don’t forget. It’s important that we remember what happened and the reasons why we all came together after. They're some of the same reasons why we should stay together as a nation today.”

Several members of Belardo’s Marco police force were serving in New York City when the attacks occurred.

“Obviously I hold them in very high regard,” Belardo said. “Those of us who were in law enforcement but not down there, we hold those guys in reverence. They experienced something most people will never experience. That is just something that you can never imagine. They don’t talk about it a lot, but I know it’s something that has shaped them in those 25 years. They’re all heroes."