KINSALE, Ireland — A narrow country road climbs through the winding hill country of south County Cork on the way to a stand of trees in a former pasture. The grove honors New York City firefighters whose lives were lost on Sept. 11, 2001.
Outside of the fire service brotherhood, not many Americans make the pilgrimage to the tribute to 343 FDNY personnel and a Catholic priest, the Rev. Michael Judge, who answered the call on that sunny and fateful Tuesday morning. That’s when terrorists flew two passenger jets into the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
There are no tour buses queued up outside the off-the-beaten-path Kinsale Garden of Remembrance, unlike at the Cliffs of Moher, the Rock of Cashel or Kylemore Abbey. Most guidebooks about Ireland don’t list it.
On a bright day in late May, five Illinosans strolled through the grove as a wisp of wind cooled us through the tree line. Greeting us was a sweeping view of a broad valley in the Townland of Ringfinnan overlooking historic Kinsale Harbor and offering a vista of “Forty Shades of Green,” as American crooner Johnny Cash wrote of in 1959 after visiting the Emerald Isle.
Each of the 343 trees planted represents a firefighter who lost their life in the wreckage of the terrorists’ attack on New York City, and another for Father Judge. It recalls the heroic and the horrific events of 9/11 when 2,977 victims died, including the firefighters. The attacks are 25 years old on Friday.
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The garden is a solemn, peaceful site, and moving to think that something honoring Americans who gave their all is on foreign soil. Yet, as one Irishman quietly told me: “They were our people, too.”
Indeed, Ireland is linked to the 40 million or so Americans who claim Irish ancestry. They came to the U.S. starting before the great migration caused by the Irish Famine and years beyond that tragedy. One of those emigres was Kathleen Cait Murphy, a nurse originally from Ringfinnan, Kinsale, who spent some four decades as a nurse at Lenox Hill Hospital on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Working at the hospital, she came to know the Rev. Judge and many of the firefighters who perished on 9/11. Affected in the aftermath of the attacks, she returned to Ireland after retirement and created the memorial on a plot of farmland her family owned. The garden opened in March of 2002.
Each of the trees is native to Ireland — pine, hawthorn, willow, oak, ash, birch, crabapple — and adorned with a firefighter’s name, along with a small American flag. Through the years, photos and mementos have been left near the trees by family members.
A stone stele with an iron replica of the FDNY badge with the number 343 in the center is on the edge of the grassy bluff. A sculpture containing steel recovered from the World Trade Center is installed near the headland, close to a bench for visitors to use and reflect on the selflessness of first responders on 9/11 who entered the twin towers without question in attempts to save others. An estimated 33,000 or more people successfully evacuated the 110-story office buildings.
A decade later, in March 2011, Murphy died from cancer. She is buried about two miles from the remembrance garden and also has her own plaque among the trees dedicated to the fallen firefighters.
There will be a 9/11 remembrance at the Irish garden marking 25 years since the attacks. It will coincide with Lake County observances.
Those include:
*Highland Park: Begins at 9 a.m. Friday at Bennett Gordon Hall, Ravinia Festival, 201 St. Johns Ave. Members of the Highland Park Fire Department will lead the last alarm bell ceremony.
*Gurnee: American Legion Post 771 will honor those who rushed into the collapsing towers beginning at 9:45 a.m. Friday at the Post Home, Milwaukee Avenue and Grand Avenue.
*Lake Forest: The Lake Forest fire and police departments will hold a 9/11 ceremony at 9 a.m. Friday in Market Square on Western Avenue.
*Libertyville: The 9/11 ceremony at downtown Cook Park begins at 10 a.m.
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*Lindenhurst: Hosted by the Lindenhurst Remembers Committee, the village 9/11 program starts at 6 p.m. Friday at the Village Square Park gazebo, North Wellwood and East Hoffman avenues. Following will be a “A Walk to Remember” from the park heading north on North Wellwood Avenue and turning east on Dover Street to the 9/11 Memorial Garden, at Irmisch Avenue and Byrd Street, ending at 7 p.m. with a candlelight memorial service.
*Wauconda: The Wauconda Fire Protection District marks the 25th anniversary with a program at 9:30 a.m. on Friday at the 9/11 Memorial, Liberty and Main streets.
There has not been another terrorist attack on the U.S. since 9/11. The main reason is increased airport security and awareness.
On Friday, we mark the date and will remember those who died doing their duty. Always.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor, and editor. [email protected]. X @sellenews