California Motorcycle Riders Pay Tribute To 9/11 Victims
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Aaron Alu, 37, of the Long Beach Police Department shows his son Kameron Alu, 10, one of the motorcycles that just completed the trip from South Orange County to Long Beach to commemorate the victims of Sept. 11. (C.J. Dablo)
Crews of Harley Davidsons and other motorcycles rumbled their way from Trabuco Canyon to follow a route that passed through several beach cities along Pacific Coast Highway on the way to the memorial.
At the end of the ride, many riders clad in blue bandanas, denim vests and blue jeans climbed off their bikes to join the ceremony that concluded the ride.
“This is what patriotism is all about,” Sherly Eberly said, remembering the scores of people who waved at them on their bike ride along the coast.
“We’re all Americans first,” the 50-year old rider from Fulllerton said.
Organizers said that more than 1,000 riders joined the annual trek that began at noon and finished at the Marina Vista Park in Long Beach after 3:00 p.m.
During the event, a Long Beach firefighter remembered the number of people who had stories of personal loss from Sept. 11.
“These stories can really tear your heart out,” said Gary Biggerstaff, an engineer with the Long Beach Fire Dept. and event organizer.
After the 2001 tragedy, Biggerstaff built a small replica of a fire station and constructed 343 wooden crosses. Each bore the individual names of the New York fire rescuers who died nine years ago. A framed list of the 61 policemen who died in New York sat on an easel near the mini-fire station just off the stage.
Millie Novoe, of Newport Beach said she had been coming to the memorial service on Sept. 11 since the first one was held.
“We’re never gonna forget, never forget, that date. They all need to be remembered,” the 71-year-old said from her beach chair close to the rows of white wooden crosses near the stage.
“It was very shocking and disturbing,” Novoe said. No one wants to relive those feelings, she acknowledged. But that’s why we have this war going on to keep us safe, she said. Novoe had lost one family member, a Navy medic working with the Marines who was killed in the line of duty.
“It was personal to me. The whole thing is personal,” she said.
Rich Brandt, a fire captain at the Long Beach Fire Dept. headquarters and fellow tribute ride organizer, is personally tied to some of the 9/11 victims. The former New York firefighter knew 12 of the firemen who died at the World Trade Center.
“We want to keep the memories alive,” Brandt said.
Brandt said he took the earliest available flight to Ground Zero to help with the recovery efforts. Brandt arrived at the site of the World Trade Center four days after the attack, but he didn’t arrive in time to see anyone rescued. He only saw body parts, paper everywhere, pieces of concrete, glass and steel.
“It was just surreal. People were just kind of in a daze, you know?” he said. “As the days went on, the hope went out.”
One missing New York rescuer stands out in Brandt’s mind: his former fire captain, Larry Stack who died at the age of 54.
Stack died in a rescue effort at the second tower of the World Trade Center. His body was never found.
At the Marina Vista Park, volunteers placed 383 crosses with the individual names of the fire fighters who died in New York as a result of the Sept. 11 attacks. (C.J. Dablo)
“You wanted to do well for Larry, you know?” Brandt said.
Brandt said the crowd at the tribute ride gets larger every year. On a hot Saturday afternoon, a bag piper played “Amazing Grace.” A trumpeter played taps. Speaker Chris Howard’s voice broke several times and as he recalled how he lost his father, George Gerard Howard, a New York police officer.
Under a clear sky at the Marina Vista Park, near several fire engines and scores of motorcycles, visitors still shared their stories of that day. They still came to Long Beach, thousands of miles away from New York City.
They still wanted to talk about the people they lost. They still remembered their moment of disbelief when they saw on television how the towers crumbled to the ground.
Reach contributor C.J. Dablo here.
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