BOSTON (WHDH) – In Boston Thursday, a somber ceremony marked 24 years since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Mayor Michelle Wu was one of many local officials reading the names of the victims from Massachusetts at the State House.
Two Everett DPW workers were honored with the Madeline Amy Sweeney Award for civilian bravery.
“I’m honored,” Said Jason Papa, one of the recipients. “To get an award like this on a day like this, it’s a special thing.”
Jesse Winocour and Jason Papa raced to the rescue last summer when a house went up in flames in Everett. The pair were working nearby on Hancock Street when they smelled smoke and ran over to help.
“I didn’t do it to get this or to be a hero,” Winocour said. “I would want someone else to do it for me.”
“I’ve got six kids myself, so, it doesn’t matter [what] building it was,” Papa said. “I’m going in no matter what. The little girl that was up on the third floor, my daughter is the same age. Could’ve been anyone.”
The award recognizes that spirit and heroism every year in honor of Acton native Madeline Amy Sweeney who was a flight attendant on American Airlines flight 11 that took off from Logan Airport on September 11, 2001.
When the plane was hijacked, Sweeney called a supervisor to relay information before the plane crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
“My mother was a woman who, in her final moments, chose courage over fear and grace over panic,” Anna Sweeney Rossman, Madeline’s daughter.
Anna presented the award and shared personal stories and memories, ensuring her mother’s legacy will live on.
“As my daughter grows older, she will know who her grandmother was,” Anna said. “Not just how she died, but how she lived, with bravery, with compassion, with unwavering resolve.”
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