Remembering 9/11: Brentwood marks the 19th anniversary of the terrorist attacks

BRENTWOOD – Selectman Ken Christiansen was on his way home from a business trip. Joyce Keegal was on the phone with her mother. Sarah Parkhurst was in Wales, but the shock waves of Sept. 11, 2001, spread across the globe.

Brentwood gathered this past Friday to mark the 19th anniversary of the deadliest terror attacks on American soil.

Residents converged outside the fire station to share where they were and what they learned.

Many residents wore masks due to the coronavirus pandemic, while most observed the six-foot space between them.

As he waited for the ceremony to start, Christiansen recalled that he was driving away from the Manchester/Boston Regional Airport. A member of the state police told him to turn his radio on, and he did.

"My wife," he said, "was stuck in Rome, Italy." They managed to get her home, but the ripple effect continued for Christiansen, who remembered feeling "devastated."

But like others, Christiansen also remembers bullets being dodged. He had professional relationships with three actuaries who worked at the Twin Towers, "and all three of them were working from home that day," he said.

Keegal's father had a friend who worked at the Pentagon, "but he wasn't there that day."

Her brother lives in Oregon, where wildfires continue to rage, "and I'm thinking of him today," Keegal said.

Parkhurst, a recent addition to the Town Hall staff, is a native of England and was in Wales when the Towers were struck. "All the channels changed to a live feed," she recalled. "We were devastated, utterly in shock."

Parkhurst still tears up at the memory, "That some humans could be that cruel."

Geri Smith of Newmarket was babysitting her grandson Arlo Smith, 3, of Brentwood, and she came over to the ceremony. Some day, she said, he will understand the impact of what happened.

Julie Kelly brought five children, her own, Anna Lou, Charlotte and Sophia, and their friends Kate and Owen McCarthy. The children wore patriotic gear and carried small American flags.

"This is a very important day," Kelly said. "Even though these kids weren't born yet, it's important for them to know the significance of this day."

Her daughter Charlotte said, "It's important that we remember not to do the things those people did."

"This is so we can remember the people who sacrificed themselves so we can live," said Kate McCarthy

Former Fire Chief Kevin Lemoine and current Chief Joe Bird conducted the observance. The ceremony began with the ringing of a bell, then a moment of silence. The members of the Fire Department saluted as Bird raised and then lowered the American flag.

EMT Carrie Mason laid a bouquet at the department's 9/11 memorial plaque, and firefighter Stephanie Lazott read a tribute. Lemoine read the sequence of events on that September day and the toll of who was lost: 2,996 dead, 6,000 injured, and 353 firefighters, 72 members of law enforcement, and 55 members of the military lost doing what they were trained for.

It is important to remember, he said, "with everything that's going on in the world now."

As the group broke up to go inside the station for coffee and doughnuts, one man called out, "Thank you for your service!"

For Mason, the events of that day are still real. "I was on a rescue squad in New Jersey when it happened," she said. "We responded."

She doesn't usually do September 11 events, she said, preferring to stay home and remember quietly. "But this year I felt it was important to be here," she added.

And as she joined her colleagues for fellowship and making new memories, Mason added, "When I got out of my car this morning, I knew I'd do it all over again."