Bucks County Community Comes Together At Garden Of Reflection To Remember Those Lost 20 Years Ago In 9/11 Tragedy
YARDLEY, Pa. (CBS) -- The Garden of Reflection, Pennsylvania's 9/11 memorial, brought together community members and those who lost loved ones 20 years ago.
"On this day we pause and gently pull back the bandage of this scar and wound that we all bear," Woodside Presbyterian Church Pastor Doug Hoglund said.
After darkness, light -- that's the Garden of Reflections powerful message.
"Twenty years later we defeat darkness in the undying light of remembrance," President of Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association Jon Alder said.
An emotional, moving ceremony was filled with prayer and song to remember and honor the lives that were lost on that tragic day.
Torches were also lit to represent the sequence of events as they unfolded on that tragic day, a painful reminder of the terror.
One powerful speaker was the man seen in a picture, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Col. Tom Armas, bringing a woman to an ambulance as the towers collapse.
"I grabbed the people. They held on to my belt. We found our way out, popped out to West Street, and I found the woman that you see in the picture and brought her to an ambulance," Col. Armas.
He ended his speech with two words: optimism and resilience.
"I am an American," Col. Armas said. "I will always be optimistic about the future, but we must be resilient and dogged in our chase."
To show the families that they are not alone and that the memory of their loved ones will live on, a chain of light united the crowd as the fountains rose and towered up to heaven.
For more coverage remembering 9/11, click here.