ELDRED, NY — It’s been 21 years since planes flew into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.

What followed, Rev. Susan Storms from Eldred’s Congregation Church said, was efforts of “combating evil with a love for humanity that defied self and exemplified duty and courage.”

She, along with Rev. Nancy Vonderhorst of the Pond Eddy Methodist Church, called for the audience, who gathered in the lightly falling rain on September 11, to hold onto the unifying patriotism that was exhibited in those days following the tragedy.

She said that as a nation, we found “hope that would see us through many dark days... unified in our whole, stronger in our resolve, more loving in all our relationships, and more faithful to the ideals that our forefathers wanted for us.”

The theme of community was echoed by New York state senator Mike Martucci, who told the crowd that “on September 11, we saw true evil. But that pure evil sparked courage and community. And in the best way ever we have seen as Americans, we had the good sense to put politics aside and focused on helping another.”

He suggested that one way that we can honor the memory of those lost is “to act today with that same courage and that same unity that we felt 21 years ago.”

Martucci shared the personal nature of the day by speaking of the loss of his 23-year-old sister-in-law Michelle Rae Bratton, who had just begun working at the World Trade Center some four weeks prior, and who was at work on the 105th floor.

“Today, let us look to that American courage that 9/11 showed to all of us that we possess. Let us focus on the unity that 9/11 brought to this country, and show strength by sticking together. And let us honor those who we have lost by showing courage and unity that their legacy demonstrated.”

New York state assemblywoman Aileen Gunther added that countless heroes put their lives on the line, emergency responders as well as ordinary people, who were exposed to toxic fumes, ash and particles. She noted that many suffer from lingering cancer, PTSD, respiratory disease, depression and severe anxiety. She pledged to continue to advocate for providing them with any and all services that they need, and to commit to strengthening services for all first responders. “We are one in supporting our community,” she said.

Following remarks by Highland supervisor Jeff Haas, fire chiefs from Lumberland Fire Department, Yulan Fire Department, Highland Lake Fire Department, along with personnel from the Highland Ambulance Service, the Lumberland Ambulance services and the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Department, laid the wreath at the site in Heroes Park, which contains at its center two beams from the World Trade Center.

Pastor Linda Bohs offered a benediction that reminded those assembled of the horrors of war, and asked that we be good Samaritans, reaching out across boundaries of race and culture to victims of violence, seeking understanding, reconciliation and learning to trust.

The service was hosted by the Tusten-Highland-Lumberland VFW Post 6427 and Sylvan Liebla Post 1363. Commander Peter Carmeci Sr., along with Highland supervisor Jeff Haas, thanked everyone for attending the service.