PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Some three dozen veterans, local officials and community members gathered at the Iraq and Afghanistan War Memorial at Veterans Memorial Park on Saturday morning to mark the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. 

 

The monument had been unveiled on this date last year.

 

"This long overdue monument is not only to honor those from Berkshire County, that gave all but to all the veterans that served during these conflicts and to those still serving," said VFW Post 448 Commander Arnold Perras. "But it's events like this, that we will never let people forget their sacrifices."

 

The attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon left nearly 3,000 people dead, thousands wounded and launched two of the nation's longest wars. The search for the terrorist organization behind the attacks, al-Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden, lead to invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. 

 

The United States finally withdrew from Afghanistan at the end of August, a decade after killing bin Laden and after failing to install any kind of stable democracy in that Central Asian country.

 

Numerous people with connections to Berkshire County were lost in the attacks, including Peter Goodrich of Williamstown, Pittsfield native the Rev. Francis Grogan, and Richard Keane, whose father was from Pittsfield and who spent part of his life in Dalton.

 

The memorial honors five Berkshire County soldiers lost in the following wars: Sgt. 1st Class Daniel H. Petithory, 32, of Cheshire,  Spc. Michael R. DeMarsico II, 20, of North Adams and Spc. Mitchell K. Daehling, 24, of Dalton, all in Afghanistan; and Sgt. Glenn R. Allison, 24, of Pittsfield and Chief Warrant Officer Stephen M. Wells, 29, of North Egremont, and in Iraq.

 

"I realized that recent events in Afghanistan have made this subject very difficult to talk about due to a huge political divide, unfortunately, but we'll all try to avoid getting too political in what we say if that's even possible," said Perras, who then read a message from VFW National Commander Matthew M. "Fritz" Mihelcic that "while there is bitter sentiment over this withdrawal, we encourage you to hold your head high because of your vigilance, hard work and selfless sacrifice. You've dealt a tremendous blow to al-Qaeda taking out its leader Osama bin Laden, and disrupting its ability to plan and execute another major attack on American soil since Sept. 11, 2001."

 

Perras said he felt that the servicemen and women who went to Afghanistan brought hope and made many lives better for many over those 20 years. 

 

"I think this is just one example of how it might also help to erase the thoughts of having died in vain," he said. 

 

Retired Sgt. 1st Class Mark Pompi read a message from Lisa DeMarsico, mother of Michael DeMarsico. 

 

She was in the car on the way to the grocery store with then 11-month-old daughter when the news broke over the radio. Like many parents that day, she and her husband gathered their children and brought them home. 

 

"Our oldest son, Michael, just 9 years old, looked at us and said, 'Mom, Dad, when I grow up, I want to join the Army,'" she wrote. "We smiled and hugged him. He then looked at us with the innocence of being 9 years old and said, 'but if there's a war, I'm going to come home.'"

 

Michael grew up to be a "strong, community loving young man" who followed his dream to a "faraway place known as Afghanistan."

 

He was point man on his team searching for improvised explosive devices. He found 15, keeping his comrades safe, but the 16th he did not. DeMarsico died on Aug. 16, 2012, in Panjway, Afghanistan.

 

"He fulfilled his mission though, as his entire unit made it home because of his selfless sacrifice," his mother wrote. "I asked everyone as the mother of one of those brave soldiers to, as we remember Sept. 11 2001, we never forget Sept. 12, and how our country came together. Strangers were friends, neighbors were family, and we all stood as one. May we continue to do so always as together we can face and get through anything that may ever come our way."

 

VFW State Commander Doug Wood said the attacks were a test of the nation's resolve and that it did not weaken as expected.

 

"Although the years may pass the memories of 911 will stay with us forever. None of us will forget where we were in what we're doing those terrible moments in history," he said. "And because we remember, we will continue to honor the memory of the men, women and children who perished, like continuing on with the same determination and sense of spirit exhibited by so many of our fellow citizens that day."

 

Also speaking was retired Army Lt. Col. James Clark, former director of the city's veteran services and current head of the Council on Aging whose service included advising the Afghan army chief of staff. Clark said he remembered the soldiers he served with and those he helped through the Wounded Warrior program. 

 

And he questioned what had been the goals of the war, and how they could both win and lose and leave the Taliban that was forced out 20 years ago back in charge.

 

"That is a hard reality to grasp," he said. "The goal that was outlined to me for the last 10 years of my service is actually what I said earlier: We took the fight to the end so they couldn't attack us again on our shores. ... Let me be perfectly clear -- you're not ever to hang your head into deep disgrace for you accomplished your mission. The mission you were tasked to do and you did so honorably."

 

Pompi announced that the post had donated $1,000 each for two candidates to the Monday Morning Quarter Club Hall of Fame. The club has given out thousands of dollars in scholarship money to student athletes over the past 50 years and this year's campaign ends on Nov. 11.

 

The first is for Army Sgt. Glenn Allison who died in Iraq in 2003. He is the only Pittsfield casualty in the Iraq/Afghanistan wars and played football for Pittsfield High School in the late 1990s. The second is retired Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Peter Oakes, also of the sheriff's department, who has been a football official for 43 years and recently honored As a 2020-21 MIIA football official of the year.

 

"This is just the start of it," Pompi said. "I plan on raising a lot of money, all the money goes to local Pittsfield High and Taconic football players."

 

Mayor Linda Tyer said the blue skies and sunshine called back to that day 20 years ago when so many were going about their morning without knowing the catastrophe that lay ahead. 

 

"It is our duty to honor and remember them. Never forget," she said, offering her condolences to those who lost loved ones. "We saw heroism on that day. firefighters who rushed into those buildings, police officers who secured the scene. Many of them also losing their lives. ...  

 

"And then in the days that followed thousands of men and women stood up, raised their hand, and said, 'I'll do it, I'll go, I'll stand in the breach. I'll protect this nation.' Today, we honor and thank them for their service, and send our condolences for those we lost."