Community Corner

For 10 Years Since 9/11 Group Has Shown Patriotism on Frederick Road Bridge in Catonsville

A small group of residents waves flags on the 11th of every month.

After 9/11, Catonsville resident Harry Korrell wrote a letter to the Navy volunteering his services.

"I figured a lot of guys would need someone to watch their desk while they were gone," said the Navy veteran, who was in the service for 34 years.

The Navy wrote back and said politely that it didn't need him, but by that time Korrell had found another way to show his patriotism.

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Immediately after the attacks, Korrell sent an e-mail to his friends with the Patapsco Valley Republican Club in an attempt to gather volunteers to stand with him on the Frederick Road bridge over the Baltimore Beltway and wave American flags. In the past, Korrell held signs campaigning for politicians in that area, so he knew the spot was a visible place in Catonsville that could draw attention from a lot of people.

The tradition started the day after Sept. 11, 2001, with less than a dozen people. Korrell hung a sign that read "Remember 9/11" on the chain-link fence that overlooks the Beltway. Others who arrived waved flags. They stood there for several days in a row before deciding to scale back.

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Ten years later, the dedicated group has held its remembrance gatherings 123 times on the 11th of every month since Sept. 11, 2001. Next month will mark 10 years since it first started the tradition.

Korrell said he never expected it go on this long when the group first started arriving at 8:45 a.m., the time the first tower in New York was struck.

But as the acts of terrorism continued and more troops were sent overseas--including Korrell's son, who is a pilot in the U.S. Navy-- Korrell felt it was important to remind the public the issue hadn't gone away.

"We wanted to make people aware that we're a country at war and not at the mall," he said. "This was the real thing."

The response from motorists driving on the bridge and on Interstate 695 has varied, and Korrell said he can't say for sure if more people responded early on than they do now.

Thursday morning on August 11 on the bridge, one could hear a car or a truck honk roughly every five minutes. One man driving over the bridge rolled down his window, honked, waved and said, "Thank you."

Korrell recalled how for several years, there was a man who regularly drove by and gave them the middle finger. But he also remembers a police officer who stopped by with donuts and coffee one morning.

Leila Fitch, a Catonsville resident who lives close enough to walk to the bridge on the 11th of every month, recalled one winter morning when it was cold and raining.

"It was really something," she said. "We were freezing."

But according to Fitch, that day more people honked and waved than ever before.

"I think they were surprised that we were out there," she said.

Since 9/11, Eleanor DeMario has always brought at least one of her six great-grandchildren along for the experience. On Thursday, she had  Cameron Stanholtz and Aaden Bennett in a stroller.

When she first volunteered, she didn't realize it would be for 10 years, but DeMario said it's important for her to be there, especially because this was the year Osama bin Laden was . On that day in May, Korrell made a new sign that said, "We Got Him," and hung it next to the original sign.

But starting next month, will be replaced, with construction closing pedestrian traffic on one side of the bridge.

Maryland State Highway officials said the group would still have access to the bridge on Sept. 11. Korrell thinks members may end the tradition thereafter.

It's been 10 years and all of the volunteers are over 70, he noted. One volunteer, Woodlawn resident Ken Kondner, wasn't there Thursday morning because of his health.

For what may be the last time, all Korrell hopes for is good weather.


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