GANDER, N.L. -- Motorcycle engines rumbled on the tarmac of a Newfoundland and Labrador airport Sunday as Canadians and Americans gathered to reflect on the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and this small town's unexpected connection to it.
A group of motorcycles and emergency vehicles provided an escort for a piece of steel beam from the south tower of the World Trade Center that was presented at a ceremony at the Gander International Airport. Many passenger flights were diverted to the Newfoundland airport after American airspace was closed in the wake of the attacks on New York and Washington.
The one metre by one metre beam was loaded onto a trailer in New York City earlier this week to make the 2,400-kilometre journey to northern Newfoundland, escorted by current and former firefighters on motorcycles.
The convoy made its way through the town to the airport Sunday afternoon under overcast skies before the beam was presented to the town.
The beam was a thank you gift from the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, named for a New York firefighter killed while helping to rescue people from the towers.
Nearly 7,000 passengers were stranded for three days in Gander when all flights were grounded. The people of Gander provided food, lodging and other assistance, forming long-lasting relationships with the "plane people," as they became known.
"It is something very, very special to see two countries gather together in this community so powerfully for something so profoundly important," Scott Maxwell, executive director of Wounded Warriors Canada, said after the ceremony.
"There was a lot of celebration about what good can come out of something so horrific and how in the face of evil, the good of humanity can shine stronger... not only during the incident, but long term. That's what we've seen by these friendships that have been forged between Canadians and Americans who came together here, who fought together in Afghanistan and who came together on 9/11 15 years ago."
The event was one of several taking place in Gander and surrounding communities Sunday to remember the tragedy.
Thousands packed the town's community centre for an ecumenical service, including U.S. Consul General Steven Giegerich and the province's Premier Dwight Ball.
"There was just as much celebration as there was remembrance and reflection," said Maxwell, whose group organized the service with the town, the Gander and Area Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian National Day of Service Foundation.
"There was a lot of thanks. The Americans here are so thankful for what Gander did that day and for the contributions Canada made to help out so many people."
In Ottawa, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale reflected on 9/11 when he spoke at an event honouring firefighters.
"That day is etched in blood and terror, but from that brutality rose a legacy of heroes," Goodale said as he spoke at the Canadian Firefighters Memorial.
He praised the residents of Gander for making sandwiches and beds for stranded plane passengers, as well as the first responders who rushed into harm's way in Lower Manhattan.
"They showed the very best of the human spirit, the last drop of devotion, and the core of steel that upholds the open, inclusive, generous, democratic way in which we want to live our lives," Goodale said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a statement saying Canada joins with the families and friends of the victims to remember those who died, including 24 Canadians.
"We also offer our heartfelt support to those still struggling with the physical and emotional injuries they sustained on 9/11," Trudeau said in the statement.
"We recognize the extraordinary courage and bravery of the first responders on that day and the days that followed. We honour the EMTs, the firefighters, the police officers, and all those who ran toward the sounds of danger and the plumes of smoke, risking their lives so others might live," Trudeau said.
-- By Aly Thomson in Halifax and Joanna Smith in Ottawa
