CARIBOU, Maine — Eleven-year-olds Madison Hewitt, Emily Collins and Livia Bouchard weren’t alive when terrorist attacks struck at the Twin Towers in New York City, the Pentagon in Virginia and just outside of Shanksville in Somerset County in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001, but they knew it was important for them to attend last Thursday’s remembrance ceremony at the Caribou Fire Department.
“If we didn’t hold ceremonies like this, then no one would remember what happened that day,” Hewitt said. She and her classmates listened to teachers explain the terrorist attacks during class last Wednesday, the day before the ceremony.
Middle level Caribou social studies teacher Cathy Bouchard was surprised when her students expressed genuine interested in knowing where she was and what she was doing when she found out the terrorist attacks were happening.
“This was an attack on Americans, on American soil, and (the lesson) wasn’t to scare (the students), but to help them understand that people laid down their lives for others that day,” Bouchard explained.
Fire and Ambulance Chief Scott Susi was pleased with Thursday’s excellent turnout and said that it really makes him feel good when the schools call and ask if they can bring their students to the ceremony.
Susi thinks it’s important for students to learn about the tragedy that occurred on Sept. 11 and he continues to host the ceremony every year out of respect.
“I do it every year out of respect for our brothers and sisters who went away. September 11, 2001 was the most deadly day for emergency service personnel in history; 343 firefighters and 72 police officers died instantly,” the chief said.
But Susi was also quick to add that a hero is not just a fireman or a policeman.
“September 11 had multiple stories of bus drivers who, with things crumbling around them, waited until their buses were full to get as many people out of there, and train conductors who waited until their trains were full even though the subways were crashing around them,” Susi said.
Eleven-year-old middle school student Emily Collins said that learning about the events of September 11 makes her sad for all the people who died and the firefighters who were killed, but she was very happy that the school brought her and her classmates to the ceremony on Sept. 11.
“It means a lot to us because people gave their lives for other people on that day,” classmate Livia Bouchard said.
