Red Bank Fire Department Chief Frank Woods speaks at the September 11 remembrance ceremony. (Photos by Brian Donohue.Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
First responders, schoolchildren, elected officials and citizens filled Riverside Gardens Park for the somber annual ritual of the September 11 memorial ceremony Thursday.
“We gather to remember all those who are still grieving,” Pastor Janet Jones of the Shrewsbury Avenue AME church, who delivered the convocation. “We gather to remember that love is stronger than hate.”
Pastor Janet Jones, Col. William Whitman III and Council Member Nancy Facey-Blackwood share a smile during Whitman’s introduction at the 2025 September 11 memorial ceremony in Riverside Gardens Park. Students from Red Bank Middle School stand behind them.
The keynote address was delivered by Col. William Whitman III, of the 99th Readines Division Joint Base McGuire-Dix in Lakehurst, who entered ROTC two weeks before September 11, 2001 and was eventually deployed to Iraq.
But he told attendees, “I never got the tragedy of that day” until he was later assigned to the Dover Air Force Base Mortuary Affairs Division, which received the remains of fallen service members during the post 9/11 wars.
As part of the job, he was assigned to curate a case in the lobby containing unclaimed personal effects of victims of the attack on the Pentagon on 9/11.
Among the items he found was a damaged calculator with a handwritten note attached reading: “Even this cannot add up my love for you.”
“That’s when I – as a young officer, who thought he was invincible to the world – that’s when I truly got it.”
Students from the Red Bank Charter School singing during the September 11 ceremony.
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331 or yelling his name loudly as he walks by. Do you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen? Please become a financial supporter if you haven’t already. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.
