Monmouth County marks 25th anniversary of Sept. 11 with memorial ceremony

Monmouth County officials and community members gathered at the Monmouth County 9/11 Memorial at Mount Mitchell to mark the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Commissioner Director Tom Arnone, joined by county commissioners and other elected officials, described the memorial's features — a timeline walkway, a landscaped transition meant to represent grief to hope, seven birch trees symbolizing the four planes and three buildings, and a stone engraved with the names of 147 Monmouth County residents who died on Sept. 11. "Monmouth County remembers today and always will," Arnone said during remarks that also included the unveiling of a plaque and a 25-year remembrance tree.

The ceremony included the Pledge of Allegiance, a performance of the national anthem, an invocation, a student reflection, and the reading of the 147 names by family members and local officials. Family members were invited to place red carnations at the monument while others placed white carnations to honor and remember those lost.

Congressman Chris Smith and other speakers noted both the local and national toll of the attacks and the ongoing health impacts for responders and survivors. The event closed with a benediction, the presentation of flowers, the raising of the American flag to full, and taps played as a final salute.