Sacramento remembers the fallen from the 9/11 terrorist attacks on 20th anniversary

Sacramento remembered the fallen on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on Saturday, paying respects at memorials throughout the capital region.

At Cal Expo’s Sept. 11 Memorial Plaza, people gathered to remember the tragic attacks in New York, near Washington and outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, that shaped American history two decades ago.

The plaza, a permanent fixture at Cal Expo, includes a massive I-beam from the north tower that is scorched and warped in places — a visual reminder of the destruction that took the lives of 2,977 people — later claiming countless more — and irrevocably rocked the American psyche.

The wreckage was surrounded by photographs of destruction after two planes were hijacked and flown into the twin towers and a third struck the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. Another set of terrorists were thwarted by passengers when Flight 93 crashed into a field 75 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. All four planes originally were bound for California destinations.

Other photo displays depicted acts of heroism by first responders working at ground zero.

In 20 years, much has changed. President Joseph Biden’s administration recently pulled U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, ending a decades-old war that was launched in the immediate aftermath. But many of those attending the Cal Expo memorial are still sorting through the anguish of that day.

“It’s quite emotional,” Fern Chan said, standing near plaques in the Memorial Plaza detailing the events as they transpired on 9/11. Even though she and her husband, Kevin, didn’t directly know anyone who was killed in the attacks, her voice quavered as she spoke.

“It brings everything back to that day,” she said.

After 9/11, Kevin Chan, who was working at Caltrans at the time, volunteered to work temporarily with Homeland Security officials in California, helping to assess emergency infrastructure capabilities as a result of the attacks.

He and his wife have gone previously to see ground zero, “but 20 years later you still feel like it was yesterday,” he said.

Gary Young and Val van der Ploeg were visiting Cal Expo from Contra Costa County to honor the victims of the attacks.

“We can’t forget what happened,” Young said. “It’s all surreal — it still is, to this day — but this is the reality that we have.”

Van der Ploeg was in South Africa when the World Trade Center was attacked, but was working for an American company and had an American boss.

“I can’t imagine what the people here were feeling that day because it ripped my heart out as a South African,” she said. “The seriousness of this should never be lost, because I will never get those pictures of those twin towers being hit out of my mind, ever. As long as I live.”

Tony Lederer was in the Navy on 9/11. He was in the reserves, but between 2001 and his retirement in 2006, he was “pretty much a full-time sailor.”

He was in a squadron that helped to train fighter pilots to be deployed overseas via Navy aircraft carriers, a mission which only intensified after the attacks.

“It definitely changed my life,” he said. He’s been to ground zero multiple times and has also visited the Pentagon’s 9/11 memorial. When he heard that part of the north tower was at Cal Expo, he knew he had to come out to pay respects.

Memorial events took place elsewhere, too, including in Rocklin and Folsom.

As part of Wide Open Walls in Sacramento, photojournalist Martha Cooper unveiled a 9/11 memorial photo gallery alongside a new mural by New York-based Tats Cru. That exhibit is located at A Space in Between art gallery at 1401 C St.

Lin Fei Fei and Chris Jarosz operate A Space in Between art gallery, which is hosting Cooper’s “Remembering 9/11” exhibit until Oct. 11. A wall right outside the gallery painted over by the Tats Cru depicts Sacramento Fire Department personnel — who helped at ground zero — with the twin towers in the background.

Jarosz, also the founder of Broderick Roadhouse, explained that while many of Cooper’s photographs were captured in New York, gear such as coats and helmets from Sacramento fire personnel are also included in the exhibit. The city Fire Department immediately sent out personnel to help rescue survivors from the ruins of the twin towers on 9/11.

BG183, a Bronx native and one of the Tats Cru artists working on the mural outside the gallery, said the painting was meant as a thank you to the Sacramento crews who helped out.

“At the World Trade, your guys came and supported us at a time when we definitely needed it,” he said.

This story was originally published September 11, 2021 at 4:34 PM.