BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. — A night of prayer was held in Morgan County Thursday evening ahead of the 25th anniversary of September 11th, 2001.
The St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Berkeley Springs hosted its second-ever Blue Mass, a service praying for first responders.
Knights of Columbus Deputy Grand Knight Geoff Fox told WEPM that he pitched the Blue Mass idea after seeing it elsewhere.
“This is our second, we did one last year,” Fox said. “I had watched one of the stations down in D.C., they were talking about a Blue Mass. I threw it by the council, they loved it, so we did it for a few hours last year on September 11th and said, ‘let’s do it the Thursday closest to 9/11’ and this year, it falls the day before.”
Current Morgan County Sheriff Johnnie Walter was working in Washington, D.C. in 2001. He responded to the Pentagon that day after it had been compromised by American Airlines Flight 77. The plane crash claimed 184 lives, including 125 people within the building at the time.
“I worked midnights the day it happened, I got home, a few hours later I got the phone call, ‘come back’ and we went to the Pentagon for security,” Walter said.
In the time after the horrific attacks, Walter said he took part in commemorations remembering the lives lost.
“During my term in D.C., I did the 9/11 ride that they do every year with the motorcycles, I was on the escort unit for that several years,” Walter said.
Fox said the church invited Morgan County first responders and fire crews, Berkeley County and Jefferson County crews, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland State Police, Hancock County Fire Rescue and police, Washington County Sheriff’s Office, and many more law enforcement and emergency service personnel.
“(We did) a moment of silence for the first responders here, in this area, that have passed on as well as those we lost in 9/11 in New York (and) Pennsylvania,” Fox said.
Walter said he hopes that 9/11’s 25th anniversary can serve as a reminder about the tremendous heroism shown by first responders and the bravery required to put their lives on the line.
“It seems like everybody says, ‘you’ll never forget’ but it seems like they’re starting to forget,” Walter said. “After 9/11, when I was working in the city, everybody, the whole attitude changed towards law enforcement. And now, it’s going right back to where it was.”
Thousands of Americans perished during the terroristic hijackings and suicide bombings on 9/11.
WEPM’s Marsha Chwalik contributed to this story.