9/11 Memorial Held In Benton Harbor

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The 20th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks is on Saturday, and local police officers, firefighters, EMTs, and community leaders gathered at Benton Harbor’s Resiliency Plaza on Friday to pay tribute to those who lost their lives that day. Benton Harbor Department of Public Safety Chief Dan McGinnis told WSJM News the Resiliency Plaza, which includes an steal beam from the attack site in New York, is a symbol of the community coming together.

“That is an actual piece from Ground Zero, and that’s a symbol that although there’s tragedy, there’s unity that comes through tragedy,” McGinnis said. “So it’s tremendous and I’m glad it’s here in Benton Harbor downtown, and I think that it shows a pillar of unity, not just on 9/11, but us in Berrien County coming together and working together.”

Speakers on Friday included St. Joseph Mayor Mike Garey and Congressman Fred Upton, who told his own 9/11 story of being in Washington when the Pentagon was hit. He recalled driving his car to an area nearby and listening as military jets rushed over at low altitudes.

“I sat there by the Capitol south,” Upton said. “I had the top down. I had a local radio station on, an all-news station and all of a sudden, my car was thronged with all of these people coming up from the escalator wanting to know what the news was. They hadn’t heard it. They were on the metro, they were underground. So I probably had, I don’t know, 100 or so people circling my car, and I turned up the volume.”

State Senator Kim LaSata said 9/11 will “forever be a day that unites us as Americans.” She said it reminds that our “freedoms and way of life are worth defending.”