Eight years may have passed since the World Trade Center was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001, but the loss of those who perished that day is still felt strongly in North Bergen and Guttenberg. Both towns hosted ceremonies to honor those who died from the terrorist attacks that day.
On Sept. 11 at 9:15 a.m., North Bergen residents convened in front of the 9/11 memorial at the high school to remember Christopher Amoroso, Lt. Robert Cirri, and Sal Edward Tieri, all North Bergen High School graduates. Cirri also had lived in Guttenberg and was remembered in that town at a ceremony at 7 p.m.
Dominick Cirri attended both ceremonies in honor of his son.
“It’s a reminder of all we lost and what he could have continued to do,” said Dominick. “It’s just hard.”
Amoroso was a Port Authority police officer, as was Cirri.
North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco said that no one knew what to think when the attacks first happened. The first anniversary was incredibly sad, but even as time has moved on, that weight hasn’t been lifted.
“It’s a reminder of all we lost.” – Dominick Cirri
________
Local heroes
Sacco, who is also the assistant superintendent of schools in North Bergen, said he knew each of the three graduates. He said that Cirri, while a Guttenberg resident, was involved with so many activities and was an “outstanding person.”
He said that Amoroso was someone he knew very well, since he coached Amoroso’s son in recreation football. He said that it was hard to watch Amoroso featured in a World Trade Center movie, but that while the person he played him in the movie failed to resemble him, the action of volunteering his life for someone else was very much in the same vein of his personality.
“Anyone who knew Chris and knew me, they’d look and say, how’d you end up with that 6’2 235 lb., blonde-haired, blue-eyed kid?” Charlie Amoroso, his father, said.
Despite his appearance, Charlie said his son was a “teddy bear.” He said that for him helping people wasn’t a job; it was what he wanted to do with his life.
“[After] another year, it gets a little easier to talk about things, but it will never go away for anyone that had any involvement whatsoever with 9/11,” said Charlie.
For Dominick, one memory that keeps Cirri’s memory alive is the first time he asked him what he wanted to become when he grew up.
“I want to [become a police officer and] help people, papa,” Dominick quoted him as saying.
Citizens brave rain
Neither ceremony was cancelled due to the inclement weather that plagued the day. Guttenberg Mayor Gerald Drasheff said that braving bad weather seemed to be a small price in comparison to those who sacrificed their lives.
Guttenberg honored residents Cirri and Rebecca Lee Kabori. Around 100 people squeezed into the town council chambers.
Drasheff said that Guttenberg chose to host the event in the evening because eight years ago, after a whirlwind of emotions and speculation to what had happened after the towers fell, the evening was when most realized how enormous the tragedy was.
“By 7 p.m. that evening, as we looked across the river at the smoking rubble where the towers had once stood and the phone did not ring with a loved one’s voice, the extent and [permanence] of the loss became real,” said Drasheff.
Tricia Tirella may be reached at TriciaT@hudsonreporter.com.