‘The unity we shared in the darkest hours’

September 11, 2026 marked the 25th anniversary of 9/11. 

Like most towns across the nation, Harrison Township paid tribute to the day – known as Patriots Day – and the lives changed forever. 

“We remember the 2,977 people from 90 different countries lost on September 11, 2001, along with the 6,000 injured. We remember and pay tribute to the 415 first responders in uniform who lost their lives by running into those burning buildings to save innocent lives and victims,” Mayor Adam Wingate said during one of his speeches at Harrison Township’s annual Patriot Day Commemoration on the evening of September 11. 

“We remember and recognize that their sacrifice continues to this day,” he continued. “Sadly, the number of post-9/11 cancer- and respiratory-related deaths now approaches 5,000, more than (those who) died in the event itself.” 

Harrison Township committee, police department, fire district, veterans from the American Legion, youth students from OKKA Karate, loved ones and civilians gathered outside of Mullica Hill Baptist Church at the township’s own 9/11 Memorial site for the event. The memorial was built in 2018 and features two pillars to represent the Twin Towers, as well as three artifacts from the 9/11 crash sites: A steel beam from the World Trade Center, a concrete slab from the Pentagon and a stone from the Flight 93 crash site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. 

The township has held its annual ceremony since the memorial was installed eight years ago. During the ceremony, four wreaths symbolizing each plane were layered at the memorial. The members of the fire district, police department, American Legion and the Zupsic family (local residents) layered the wreaths. 

“This permanent memorial and our annual remembrance ceremony represent a promise, a promise that our children, our children’s children and every generation that follows will know what happened on September 11, 2001,” Wingate said.

Wingate and the other speakers emphasized the youth in the crowd who were not alive when the event occurred, a common thread across many towns, states and countries this year. 

“They were too young to have any personal memories of that day. And as the years continue to pass, it falls upon all of us to remember to make sure that they understand what happened, who we lost, and the heroism we witnessed,” he said. 

“To you, this is history. But to us, this is true. And we owe the truth to your generation. Evil is real, and there’s one thing that defeats it: People who refuse to be divided, and people who refuse to look away” committeeman Kevin French said, who also told a personal story about his experience in Middletown, Monmouth County during the time of the attacks. He told the crowd about the 37 people in his town who lost their lives that day, many of which had their cars left untouched at the Middletown train station for weeks. 

“On September 12, nobody asked who you voted for or what political party you were affiliated with,” he said. “We were truly one nation under God on that day. It’s important that we all carry that forward. Not the fear, but the unity.”

Reverend Sharron Patterson from Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church and Father Nicholas Dudo from Catholic Community of the Holy Spirit shared an opening and closing prayer, respectively. 

In Patterson’s prayer, she touched on another theme echoed throughout the ceremony: American unity. 

“In a world still fractured by division and fear, draw us together across our many traditions, backgrounds and identities,” she said in her prayer. “As we gather today, remind us of the unity we shared in the darkest hours.”

“For a moment, there (were) no differences between us. You were simply Americans,” Wingate said of 9/11 and the following days. 

Harrison Township, like most towns, has its own ties to 9/11. Following the attacks, the township’s chief of police sent five officers to New York City to assist at Ground Zero. The five officers were Brian Bartholomew, Ronald Cundey, Michael Gaull, Ed Selb and Jon Thompson. 

Cundey, the department’s recently retired chief, said this occurred when he was only about three years into his career as a police officer. He said they assisted with tasks like moving light debris from the towers around that night. Twenty-five years and a retirement later, he still remembers his experience. 

“Going up the Turnpike, it was just a really surreal, eerie feeling. We were the only car on the road. Everything was shut down. You could see the smoke billowing for miles and miles away,” Cundey said after the ceremony. “We got to walk around Ground Zero, and it was just like a scene out of a movie. Upside down fire trucks, the dust, the buildings all warped and twisted. I wish we could have done more.”

“That next day, we were all on the same team, and I think that’s what we need to get back to in society,” he continued. “We’re Americans first. It doesn’t matter what race, what religion, what sexual orientation. We’re all Americans first, and you have to put America first.”