WEST SPRINGFIELD – A large crowd gathered at the West Springfield Town Common on Sept. 11 to commemorate the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and more specifically, to remember West Side native Melissa Harrington-Hughes.

The morning ceremony took place at the eternal flame, a memorial created in honor of Harrington-Hughes. The 31-year-old California resident was killed in the North Tower of the World Trade Center while attending a business conference on the 101st floor. Five hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower between the 93rd and 99th floors at 8:46 a.m.

Guest speakers for the ceremony included West Springfield Fire Department Chaplain Robert Smith, Retired Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Kristeen Basset, retired Lt. Col. Bennett W. Walsh, West Springfield Mayor William Reichelt and Harrington-Hughes’ father, Robert Harrington. The Veterans of Foreign Wars Honor Guard and West Springfield police and fire departments were also in attendance.

At 8:30 a.m., Chaplain Smith opened the ceremony with a prayer, while an American flag hung from the extended ladder of a West Springfield fire truck in the background.

Basset was the second speaker in line.

During her speech, the Retired Air Force Senior Master Sgt. touched on how the 9/11 attacks made the nation stronger.

“Even though the events of Sept. 11 shocked our nation to its core, it quickly became clear that the group of radical extremists had misjudged the strength, purpose and determination of the people of the United States,” she said. “America will always stand tall and strong against violence and evil, and we will fight for the freedom to live our lives free from tyranny and fear.”

Basset’s speech was quickly followed by Walsh.

Walsh currently works as the Superintendent of the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke, and said he felt inspired by the crowd’s size at the memorial event.

“West Springfield, the fact you’re doing this is so great. I look around and I see friends from high school and friends from grammar school – people I know and new friends. It makes me feel very hopeful for the future,” he said. “Now, 17 years later, we’re at another generation of military men and women who are signing up and they want to go fight and they weren’t even alive during 9/11 – it shows how strong of a country we are.”

The mayor echoed Walsh’s sentiments about the next generation, expressing the importance of continuing these remembrance ceremonies moving forward.  

“Just as the colonel mentioned, this is the first year kids entering high school weren’t alive when 9/11 happened in 2001. While we have a great showing here, it’s important we make sure the next generation 30 years from now keeps this up – it’s going to be the people that weren’t alive when it happened,” said Reichelt. “We want to keep this really important memorial moving forward and remember the sacrifice of the 3,000-plus people that died that day during the tragic terrorist attack, and the countless others that died afterwards in Iraq and Afghanistan and the men and women and fire and police departments that charged into those buildings to save lives.”  

Harrington-Hughes’ father thanked the crowd for coming, and the Chaplain said his closing prayer.

To watch the ceremony online, head over to The Town of West Springfield’s Vimeo page at https://livestream.com/accounts/5714082/events/8366285/videos/180121689.