Мост памяти 11 сентября: как сообщество Грейт-Нек чтит жертв терактов спустя 25 лет

Most days, there is little to suggest that this quiet bridge was once the center of a community’s grief. The 9/11 Memorial Bridge stretches over Great Neck’s Udalls Mill Pond, offering views of the historic grist mill, well-kept homes along the shoreline and, on a clear day, the distant Manhattan skyline — a reminder that this peaceful waterfront community is only a few miles from the heartbeat of the world. Today, the bridge is mostly serene with an occasional car or jogger passing through. American flags and a modest plaque mark its significance. A few messages remain on the handrails, but the overwhelming display of words, drawings and tributes that once covered the bridge is gone. Twenty-five years ago, it was a very different place. On Sept. 11, 2001, residents gathered on the bridge to watch the World Trade Center towers burn and eventually collapse across the water. In the days that followed, people returned to leave handwritten messages, prayers and drawings in a spontaneous memorial. Some viewed the writings as graffiti. Then-Saddle Rock Mayor J. Leonard Samansky saw something else.“It wasn’t graffiti defacing a bridge; it was an outpouring of support,” recalled his son, Adam Samansky. As mayor and Nassau County’s emergency management director, J. Leonard Samansky understood the significance of what was happening. Rather than have the messages immediately removed, he arranged for a Nassau County photographer to document them. He also pushed to make the bridge itself a permanent memorial. On Dec. 27, 2001, Saddle Rock Bridge, also known as Udall’s Bridge, was formally rededicated as the 9/11 Memorial Bridge. Even years later, the preservation of those images remained important to him. When he was seriously ill in 2011, he gave Adam a DVD containing videos and photographs of the memorial. It was among the last things he worked to preserve. “He would want people to remember that everybody came together,” Adam said. “Political, religious and economic barriers just broke down. He hadn’t seen that kind of unity since.” Read More: Temple Israel to hold 9/11 service at Saddle  Rock bridge That sense of unity remains central to the annual remembrance held there. Temple Israel began its service at the bridge in 2002, bringing congregants from the synagogue to the waterfront. Police closed the bridge, chairs were set up and the service took place with the Manhattan skyline in view. Senior rabbi Howard Stecker said the service has grown over the years to include elected officials, local fire departments and first responders who experienced 9/11 firsthand. A Jewish tradition also has a place in the ceremony: the blowing of the shofar. Stecker said the shofar serves as a wake-up call, carrying a message of hope and responsibility that extends beyond any one faith. For Josh Charry, a former Vigilant Fire Department chief and longtime EMS volunteer who worked as a paramedic in New York City on 9/11, returning to the bridge is complicated. “Sometimes I see it as something that I have to do, even though I don’t want to,” Charry said. “And sometimes I see it as something that you would never be able to keep me away from.” Charry responded to Ground Zero repeatedly in the days after the attacks. He remembers the devastation, the long recovery effort and the silence that would fall over the site whenever rescuers thought they had found something. Now he worries about what happens as the years pass. “How do we make sure that they don’t forget?” he asks. For Charry, remembrance is not simply about looking backward. It is about making sure the people who went to work that morning and never came home remain part of the story. “Nobody deserves to be a footnote of history,” he said. The bridge is quiet again. But each year, the community returns — carrying memories, honoring those who were lost and reminding a new generation why the view from this small bridge still matters.