SouthShoreNow.ca

Ship's bell marks time of tragedy

Lisa Brown
Lighthouse staff

 HALIFAX - A candle burned September 2 for each of the 229 people killed on Flight 111.

 It was a poignant moment inside the ramparts of Citadel Hill as first a search and rescue volunteer made his way to the front and placed a candle on the edge of the platform. Then came other recovery workers and volunteers, a woman from the Salvation Army, police officers and finally relatives of those who died.

 Having first held back, they then surged forward in a tide of flickering flames, until a line of light zigzagged through the night. A girl of about eight accompanied her mother. An older couple supported each other. A lone woman carefully shielded a flame with her hand, her face a mask of pain.

 A short time later, officers from the fleet diving unit from CFB Halifax and the USS Grapple rang a bell taken from HMCS Granby, one of the first navy ships to race to the crash site hoping to find survivors a year earlier.

 The stark clang marked the approximate time of impact of Flight 111, 10:31 p.m. Then there was silence for a minute, broken only by the sound of weeping as families held each other.

 The stillness was broken when a choir on the ramparts began singing All Through the Night.

 It was an evening for remembering as people of all denominations commemorated the victims of the crash in word, song and prayer. Seated at the centre were the family members. Around them stood hundreds of people involved in the aftermath of the disaster or moved in some way by the tragedy, almost seeming to enfold them.

 From the lone voice that began the service singing a hymn from the ramparts, to the almost upbeat finale of fiddles, pipes and drums, there was a sense of oneness, of people sharing a collective grief.

 Capt. John O'Donnell, chaplain of the 36 Canadian Brigade, called it a service of light and life.

 "This evening, gathered together in solidarity, care and concern for one another, we are the families, the friends and the colleagues of those whose lives were lost so tragically on the night of September 2, 1998," he said. "We are the recovery workers, we are the investigators, we are the care givers and the volunteers. We are the people of Nova Scotia whose hearts, thoughts and prayers have been with you, the families, throughout this past year.

 "And tonight," he continued, "we bear witness to the truth that even in the midst of profound suffering, light and life can be found in the support and care that we have for one another."

 Miles Gerety, who lost his older brother in the crash, is now president of the International Association of the Families of Swissair Flight 111. He spoke of how families travelled to Nova Scotia "in a pit of sorrow" and found support last September.

 "We knew that we would return here to a people with hearts that are unequalled, with strength that helped carry us through our roughest times. On behalf of all the families of Swissair Flight 111, I want to thank you, for your efforts, for your decency and for your compassion," he said.

 "Flight 111 was no ordinary flight and the place it had to crash was no ordinary place."