Ceremony Honored The

Victims Of 9/11

By Nancy K. Crevier

It was this past spring, said Art Sheehan, commander of the Korean War Veteran’s Association in Danbury, that Newtown resident Howard Lasher contacted him about conducting a ceremony on Mr Lasher’s Route 302 property to honor the flag and to honor those serving the country. Mr Lasher is founder of The Lasher Group Institutional Brokerage Firm at the AMEX in New York City and is a 42-year veteran of the American Stock Exchange floor trading.

The Lasher property is best known locally as the site where Connecticut artist David Merrill was commissioned to paint a large, rippling American flag across a clump of six maple trees at the edge of Route 302 following the September 2001 tragedy.

Because Mr Lasher was personally affected by the 9/11 event, losing ten close friends and associates from the American Stock Exchange in the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings, “We settled on a commemorative service for this fall near the anniversary of 9/11,” Mr Sheehan said. “Mr Lasher has a passion for 9/11 because of his losses.”

So it was that as the early morning sun pierced that memorial cluster of trees, townspeople, scouts, firefighters, police, and members of the Korean War Veteran’s Association gathered on the Lasher property at 8 am sharp Saturday, September 8, to memorialize those who had lost their lives six years ago.

Rabbi Shaul Praver of Adath Israel Congregation offered the benediction to open the ceremony and concluded his prayers with a reading of the Kaddish, the mourner’s prayer for the dead. The Reverend Jack Tanner of Newtown Christian Church and Norman Roos, representing St Rose of Lima Catholic Church, also offered prayers of comfort and praise.

While Governor M. Jodi Rell was unable to attend the Saturday morning service, she sent a proclamation extolling the propriety of remembering this historic day, as did a proclamation issued by the General Assembly of Connecticut. Letters of support for the morning’s ceremony and praise for those who have died in terrorist attacks and in acts of war from Senator Joseph Lieberman and Congressman Christopher Murphy and the Congress of the United States House of Representatives were read by Mr Lasher.

Bernard Rotunda, president of the Korean War Veteran’s Association, offered remarks, saying that neither those who perished in the 9/11 attacks, nor those who presently fight for freedom or have fought in wars past, should be forgotten, before introducing host Howard Lasher. One by one, Mr Lasher, visibly choked up, read the names of his ten friends, colleagues, and loved ones lost on September 11, 2001, accompanied by the ringing of a bell for each name and the placing of a red rose in an urn set at the base of the flag-painted trees: Rudy Bacchus, Patrick Dickinson, Andrew Golkin, Emeric Harvey, Michael Pascuma Jr, John Schroeder, Thomas Sullivan, Robert Sutcliffe, Michael Tamuccio, and Robert Twomey. An additional white rose was added to represent all of the fallen firefighters, police, emergency workers, and civilians who also died that day.

A moment of silence was followed by a gun salute and the playing of “Taps.” As the sun rose higher in the sky, the plaintive song of a sole bagpiper playing “Amazing Grace” filled the air, and all joined together to sing “God Bless America” before the crowd dispersed.

“I thought [the program] was extremely moving,” said Mr Lasher after the ceremony. “I was proud to have the support of so many facets of the community take part — the firefighters, the police, the Scouts, the veterans. [The memorial service] brought up the fact that we should not forget those whose presence and contributions to the Exchange will never be forgotten. They were rare individuals who are sorely missed and who possessed the highest degree of professional acumen. I was honored to open my home for this memorial service.”