Red Bank volunteer firefighters and officials dedicated a new 9/11 monument outside borough hall Monday. Beginning and ending in prayer, the Memorial Day ceremony included speeches from those who had lost loved ones to war as well as recognition by Mayor Pasquale Menna of the Red Bank volunteer fire department‘s efforts as related to the 343 New York City firefighters who lost their lives almost 11 years ago.
This monument is dedicated to every man, woman, and child who gave the ultimate sacrifice on that awful day, September 11,” Menna said. “We remember them, and we remember their heroism.” (Photos by Danielle Tepper. Click to enlarge.)
NAACP Red Bank chapter president Rev. Henry P. Davis leads a convocation prayer at the event. (Click to enlarge)
A bust of native son William ‘Count’ Basie stood, without any official public acknowledgment, inside the Red Bank train station for so long that Dr. Gene Cheslock, was growing frustrated.
The bronze bust had been commissioned by Cheslock and fellow Little Silver resident Ray Brennan to commemorate the 2004 centennial of the bandleader’s birth. But that milestone past without a ceremony coming together to formally unveil the likeness.
“I was going to mount a campaign: ‘Free the Count,'” Cheslock told redbankgreen with a laugh last Friday, when he finally got his wish. More →