Warwick Sept. 11 Ceremony Held Wednesday

WARWICK, RI — The City of Warwick’s annual Sept. 11 ceremony honoring the memories of lives lost during the 2001 terrorist attacks will be  held Wednesday, Sept. 11 at the Oakland Beach Sept. 11 Memorial, the 23^rd anniversary of the events.

As in prior observances, the ceremony begins at 10:28 a.m. with a moment of silence to observe the exact time when the North Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed.

Warwick’s Police and Fire Honor Guard will be in attendance, as well as Warwick students who will recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Invocation and Benediction will be offered by Father Marciano.

Mayor Frank Picozzi, and Representative Camille Vella-Wilkinson (D-Dist. 21) will be joined by the Warwick City Council. Judy Cobden, former School Committee member and a survivor of the terrorist attacks, will attend and share her story.

Sept. 11 ceremony: Local ties

During the 2019 Sept. 11 ceremony, Wilkinson asked the crowd to consider the three local people who lost their lives to the Sept. 11 attacks, memorialized at Oakland Beach with stones bearing their images: Carol Marie Bouchard, Renee Newell, and Mark Charrette.

The three people with Warwick ties were among the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives to the Sept. 11 attacks and in the resulting rescue responses after 19 Al qaeda militants hijacked four airliners then targeted them at the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon and, likely, in the case of United Airlines Flight 93, toward the U.S. Capitol. The heroic passengers of that flight, realizing the intent of the hijackers from cell phone conversations as reports of the attacks spread, attempted to to regain control of the plane, which crashed in a Pennsylvania field just 20 minutes short of the Capitol.

Memorial stones bearing the names and images of Warwick’s casualties from those events: Carol Marie Bouchard of Warwick, a  Secretary in the emergency room of Kent Hospital; Renee Newell of Cranston, an American Airlines customer service rep at TF Green Airport; and Mark Charrette, an insurance broker at Marsh & McLennan in Morristown, N.J. who was born and raised in Warwick; are part of the City’s standing memorial and annual Sept. 11 ceremony recalling the day.

“At a time when some elements of American history are being erased or sanitized, the city of Warwick continues to commemorate how three tragic hours took the lives of several Rhode Islanders with nearly 3,000 other victims,” said Vella-Wilkinson. “We will not forget. Events such as these serve to bring us closer together as we honor those who fell.”

This year, the Providence Canteen truck will be providing free refreshments, but will be accepting donations.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will honor the deceased, survivors and their families while expressing respect and thanks to all first responders. Police, firefighters and veterans are asked to wear a hat or shirt to represent your affiliation.