South Strabane Township Police and Fire Chiefs gathered first responders from all over Washington County to observe the 22nd anniversary of the terror attacks on the United States committed by 19 al-Qaeda members in 2001. More than 2500 civilians and over 400 first responders lost their lives when hijacked airplanes struck the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York City, The Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and an empty field in Shanksville, PA where passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 took down a plane that may have been headed to another target in Washington, D.C. Speakers at the memorial included Dennis Bailey, a 31 year military veteran and retired master seargeant of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard. He spoke of the response of the 171st refueling wing and how Americans must never forget what many describe as the “deadliest act of terrorism.” Pastor Robert Grewe, Chaplain of the South Strabane Township Fire Department and the Washington County Sheriff department related how upsetting it was for him to realize that an extreme sect of religion was used to carry out the deadly attacks. Both men want Americans to remember that aside from the victims that day, deaths continue from cancer and other causes for people that were exposed to the toxic cloud at Ground Zero that day and the days after in the clean up of the site.