By Clark Judge
(September 15, 2026) — Maybe you missed the 9/11 ceremony outside the Killingworth Volunteer Fire Company on September 11, 2026, but second-graders at the Killingworth Elementary School located opposite the firehouse didn’t. In fact, in the middle of a 1:00 p.m. recess, they not only stopped to observe it; they gathered at a chain-link fence to watch in silence.
What they witnessed was a small, informal and solemn tribute that lasted approximately ten minutes and commemorated the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Killingworth Fire Commissioner Don Offner (photo above, left), who was at Ground Zero that day, came dressed in his FDNY uniform. Local firefighters and EMTs from the Killingworth Ambulance Association were there, including Marguerite Haaga who rushed to New York City 25 years ago as part of an American Medical Response team. Andy Kuczma, the 101-year-old member of the KVFC, was there, too, as was Paul Schilling (photo above, right), a KVFC volunteer who played “Amazing Grace” on bagpipes as listeners stood with heads bowed near a flag lowered to half-staff.
But they’re not so much the story as were the children from KES.
Granted, they weren’t involved in the ceremony and are too young to know what happened a quarter-century ago. But they responded when they heard the sound of bagpipes — running or walking to the fence to see what was happening across the road. More importantly, they responded when asked to be quiet as the observance took place. But then, when it was over, they did something unsolicited that nobody there or at the firehouse expected.
They applauded.
No one is sure how many. Some said they thought it was half a dozen youths. Others said it was more like eight or nine. It doesn’t matter. What does is that they stopped what they were doing, gathered at the fence out of curiosity and gave first responders, EMTs and firemen their attention. Then, when it was over, they gave them something more.
“They were clapping,” said the KAA’s James Fretz. “I can understand kids running over to hear the noise. But the fact that they applauded was the crowning touch. It showed a sign of appreciation. I don’t know if they knew what it was about, and I don’t know if it was the bagpipes or something else that attracted them. But they appreciated it.”
They weren’t alone. The KAA’s Mike Haaga, who joined wife Marguerite at the ceremony, noticed someone – he’s not sure whom – drive past as Schilling played and immediately pull his car off Route 81. Parking at the nearby Emergency Operations Center, he opened the car door, got out and took a few steps toward the gathering before stopping to watch — much like the schoolchildren across the road. “Then,” said Haaga, “he put his hand over his heart as the music played.”
When it was over, he left. So did those who gathered at the flagpole. But inside the firehouse, where sandwiches and drinks were served at a brief reception prior to the observance, a series of photos ran non-stop across an 80-inch screen. It was a roll call of the 343 firefighters who perished on 9/11, and it played over… and over … and over … the entire day.
“We don’t want people or history to forget,” said Rick Darin, the KVFC’s Deputy Chief. “We wanted to have some kind of memorial inside the fire house, and when you see those 343 faces, it hits you.”
But he and his colleagues understand more than most because they lived through it — especially Offner, who hurried to lower Manhattan after dropping off his kids at school. Like many New Yorkers that morning, he had no idea what happened – that is, until he stopped for gas, and someone at the station told him. Then he went home, turned on his TV and knew what he had to do.
“I started packing my car,” he said. He spent most of the next two weeks at Ground Zero. “That was pretty meaningful to have him with us,” said Darin. “And the kids at school hugging the fence? I just hope they understood what we were doing and why we were doing it.”
They did. According to KES Principal Dennis Reed, one of the children approached a teacher’s aide afterward and asked what was going on, but a couple of classmates answered first.
“They said, ‘I bet it was for 9/11,’ “ said Reed.
Bingo. The kids were all right.
“This,” said Darin, “is something that stays in your mind forever. We wanted to do something locally to recognize what happened, give thanks and keep that memory alive so that young people who may not have been alive then will never forget.”
Well, then, lesson learned.
Photos by James Fretz
