{"id":397367,"date":"2026-09-11T23:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T23:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/397367\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T23:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T23:20:11","slug":"port-st-lucie-honors-25th-anniversary-of-9-11-with-remembrance-ceremony-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/397367\/","title":{"rendered":"Port St. Lucie honors 25th anniversary of 9\/11 with remembrance ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 Community members, city leaders and first responders gathered Friday morning in Port St. Lucie <\/a>to honor the victims and survivors of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, 25 years after the tragedy.<\/p>\n

\"Port<\/p>\n

Port St. Lucie marks 25 years since 9\/11 with remembrance ceremony. (WPEC)<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s annual 9\/11 Remembrance Ceremony was held at the Memorial Fountain at the MIDFLORIDA Event Center.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Port<\/p>\n

Port St. Lucie marks 25 years since 9\/11 with remembrance ceremony. (WPEC)<\/p>\n

Port St. Lucie Mayor Shannon Martin, Police Chief Leo Niemczyk, St. Lucie County Fire District Firefighter\/Paramedic Allen Civita and other local public safety leaders took part in the ceremony. Retired New York City Police Department detective Rafael Diaz served as the guest speaker, and the Port St. Lucie High School Choir performed.<\/p>\n

\"Port<\/p>\n

Port St. Lucie marks 25 years since 9\/11 with remembrance ceremony. (WPEC)<\/p>\n

For Port St. Lucie resident Michael Cozzolino, the anniversary brought back memories of watching the attacks unfold while he was in Florida for work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember I was living in Connecticut at the time, I was here in Florida, had no way back, just a rental car, and we all piled in a rental car and drove back,\u201d Cozzolino said. \u201cI\u2019ll never forget that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Port<\/p>\n

Port St. Lucie marks 25 years since 9\/11 with remembrance ceremony. (WPEC)<\/p>\n

Cozzolino said the uncertainty in the hours after the attacks was frightening.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen\u2019s the next strike? When\u2019s the next strike?\u201d he said. \u201cBut that was the fear. What\u2019s next? Especially being a defense contractor. Don\u2019t know where they\u2019re going to hit next.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said seeing the community gather at the memorial was meaningful.<\/p>\n

\"Port<\/p>\n

Port St. Lucie marks 25 years since 9\/11 with remembrance ceremony. (WPEC)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way they do this, they have the steel flowers, flags. Very patriotic here,\u201d Cozzolino said. \u201cThis town\u2019s very diverse town, and it\u2019s a great town to live in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cozzolino, a member of the Nam Knights Motorcycle Club of America, said the anniversary remains especially emotional for many first responders and veterans.<\/p>\n

\"Port<\/p>\n

Port St. Lucie marks 25 years since 9\/11 with remembrance ceremony. (WPEC)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have 84 chapters in the United States. We have 16 here, 17 here alone in Florida. About 1,400 members,\u201d Cozzolino said. \u201cA lot of them were from New York. So, a lot of first responders, and a lot of them have the cancer now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Port St. Lucie <\/a>ceremony was one of several events across the region marking the 25th anniversary of the attacks.<\/p>\n

\"Port<\/p>\n

Port St. Lucie marks 25 years since 9\/11 with remembrance ceremony. (WPEC)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 Community members, city leaders and first responders gathered Friday morning in Port…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-397367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}