Community Corner

Gloucester County Marks 9/11 with Reflection

The Brandemarti and Rodak families came together with county residents to mark the 10th anniversary of the attacks.

Nick Brandemarti Sr. looked around the Place of Reflection, from the twisted steel I-beam to a new flagpole, as a light mist fell Sunday morning, and reflected on a decade since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade center that took the life of his son, Nick Brandemarti Jr.

“I’d rather be here than Ground Zero,” he said. “It feels more personal, the way it’s secluded…You come here for the first time, you’re in awe.”

While secluded, it was far from deserted on the 10th anniversary of the attacks, as hundreds of Gloucester County residents joined Brandemarti and his family, and the Rodaks of Mantua, to pause and remember the events of that fateful morning.

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The annual ceremony, deep in Chestnut Branch Park, held to its understated traditions, with bells rung by family members and police and military officers to commemorate key moments of the morning and laying of wreaths at a trio of memorial plaques.

This year, there was the addition of the dedication of a flagpole donated by the Brandemartis and Rodaks, which Mantua Mayor Tim Chell said was a fitting tribute to the victims by the families.

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“They made a decision that they were going to honor the memory of their loved ones by moving on and being strong for all of us,” Chell said. “We draw our inspiration from them.”

It was also a time to look back on the intervening years. Sen. Stephen Sweeney recalled rushing to Red Bank Battlefield Park, where the county’s senior citizen picnic was taking place, and quickly realizing the usually steady stream of planes descending into Philadelphia International Airport over the park had suddenly stopped.

“That’s when I knew my life changed forever,” he said.

West Deptford committeeman Sean Kilpatrick, who was sitting in his English class at West Deptford High School on the morning of the attacks, wiped away a few tears during the ceremony.

Kilpatrick’s older brother played football with Brandemarti Jr., and having that local connection to the attacks made their effects feel stronger, he said.

“It’s not simply names on a TV,” Kilpatrick said. “It really brings it home.”

Assemblyman John Burzichelli reflected on the sense of unity in the wake of the attacks, and said it was a costly lesson for the country.

“These families have paid a high price…let us not squander it,” he said.

The Brandemartis, though still mourning their lost son and brother, said the next generation is a great comfort to the family, even as they cope with their loss.

“You look at my one granddaughter, she’s got Nicky’s eyes,” Nick Brandemarti Sr. said. Their youngest grandchild was named Nick W. Brandemarti, in his late uncle’s honor.

Still, that loss is carried with them, even ten years later.

“Nothing takes away the unspoken sorrow that we have every day,” Brandemarti Sr. said.


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