The September 11th Memorial Greenwich will host a remembrance ceremony on Monday, September 11, 2023, starting at 8:46am at the memorial site in Cos Cob Park.
The ceremony will include remarks by Col Francis V. Kelly, Ret., who is the brother of Greenwich Board of Education chair, Joe Kelly.
Col. Kelly leads a community of professionals versed in international law, domestic military and relief operations, civil law, contract and fiscal law, and general legal assistance to Soldiers and their families. His operational assignments include Command Judge Advocate for the 641st Regional Support Group and Director of Soldier Readiness. Kelly has been deployed five times including combat, and has overseen $2.2 billion of construction, rehabilitation, and engineering projects in Iraq. He has also served as Trial Counsel and Administrative Law Attorney at the 10th Mountain Division, Light Infantry, Ft.Drum, NY. Kelly has been awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Global War on Terror Medal, Iraqi Campaign Medal, Army Reserve Component Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, and Aviation Survival Course. Kelly is a civil trial and appellate attorney and partner at Rebar Kelly.
Also in attendance will be elected officials from the Town of Greenwich and the State of Connecticut. Members of the community’s first responder organizations; the Greenwich Police and Fire Departments and Greenwich Emergency Medical Service will present the colors with an Honor Guard, members of the GEMS Explorer Post and the American Red Cross will also assist in the ceremony.
A gathering of over 200 people is expected to attend the annual ceremony and pay tribute to those who were lost. Opening the service will be Wells Noonan, Robert Noonan’s sister.
A reading of the names of the deceased and a moment of silence will happen during the service with State Rep Steve Meskers (D-150) reading the names, and Frank Gaudio, President and CEO of First Bank of Greenwich, ringing the bell.
Greenwich Police Dept Captain Jim Bonney will play the bagpipes.
Ken Pond from the Round Hill Volunteer Fire Company, and his son Dylan, will play TAPS on the bugle. Neil Spitzer will play the saxophone.
Our vocalists will be Megan Tyre, a lifelong resident and lead singer in the local band “Cover Story Band” and the group “Melody Men” made up of Greenwich Veterans (who first performed at the 1975 Annual Retired Men’s Association Dinner and have been the Choral Community Outreach Group of the RMA) will perform.
The event will conclude with a benediction and retreat of the colors.
The event is privately funded and supported by friends and family, businesses, and nonprofits.They welcome donations to this service. Email [email protected].
Glenville Event
There will be a separate event at the fire house in Glenville at 6:30pm. The event, a tribute to first those who were killed on Sept 11, is organized around a memorial fashioned from salvaged World Trade Center steel.