"The Sound Of Silence"

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
‘Neath the halo of a streetlamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
No one dare
Disturb the sound of silence..."

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- Parts of Simon and Garfunkel song, "Sounds of Silence," 1964

 

GLEN CARBON - Edwardsville and Glen Carbon Fire Department members and police paid tribute to those who lost their lives in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks with moving words and moments of silence on Sunday at Sunset Hills Cemetery.

Glen Carbon Fire Chief Ralph Well said Sept. 11, 2001, will be a day for this generation like Dec. 7, 1941, was for a few generations back. It is day that will always be remembered and people will always recall what they were doing when tragedy struck the Twin Towers in New York City, he said.

Well said he was proud of some protections and alliances that have come since Sept. 11, 2001, with firefighters and police officers. Glen Carbon, Edwardsville, Maryville, Troy and Wood River all the area fire and police departments work closely together today in mutual support for difficult fire and emergency situations, he said.

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Edwardsville Fire Chief Rick Welle said people’s minds are flooding back to Sept. 11, 2001, this week with so many images, documentaries, television shows, pictures and videos of the Twin Towers going down.

Welle built the theme of his speech around “silence.”

“Silence sometimes is welcome,” he said. With that, he asked for a moment of silence for those in attendance before beginning his presentation.

He said for him, what he remembers the most when the Twin Towers were attacked on Sept. 11, 2001, was “the silence.”

"Today we pay tribute to those who died senselessly on that day 15 years ago today,” he said. “For me, I was with a group of firefighters in Jacksonville, IL, and the silence of those firefighters when this happened told it all,” he said. “On the way back to Collinsville, it was all silence. There was no radio signal and the skies were grounded for fear of another attack. In Collinsville where Scott Air Force Base planes come over, there were no planes flying that day.”

“I try to comprehend losing the 433 firefighters, 60 police officers, eight paramedics and close to 2,500 innocent citizens on that Sept. 11, 2001, day,” Welle said. “Having been entrusted for public safety, we must remain diligent and ensure the innocent among us are not silenced by the action of a few.”

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