The sound of silence.

For about 15 minutes town and public safety officials and a handful of residents in attendance stood in front of the Freeman St. Fire Station Sunday morning, silent, reflecting on the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks—a day when nearly 3,000 died when two hijacked commercial airliners crashed into the World Trade Center, another crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, and United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Then, breaking the silence, bells rang at the fire station at 9:59 a.m., commemorating the moment when the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York collapsed.

Jim Curtin of the Stoughton Fire Department read a poem and Acting Fire Chief Mark Dolloff, Selectman Cynthia Walsh, and Town Manager Francis T. Crimmins, Jr. addressed the crowd.

When asked if anyone in the crowd had anything they would like to say, six-year-old Bella Iacobucci sang a patriotic song she learned last school year in kindergarten. Linda Nobil, a third grade teacher at the Dawe School, presented Dolloff and Police Chief Paul Shastany with cards her students made to thank those departments for their work.

Later Sunday evening, the Stoughton Clergy Association held an interfaith Service of Remembrance at the First Congregational Church in Stoughton.

The service featured religious leaders from five churches in town-- Reverend Jean Niven Lenk of the First Congregational Church of Stoughton; Reverend Father Joseph McDermott of the Immaculate Conception Church; Reverend Jeffrey Symynkywicz of the First Parish Universalist Church; Reverend Alden Flanders of the Trinity Episcopal Parish; and Reverend Gary Nettleton of the First United Methodist Church.

A Community Choir was also organized. Those in attendance were given the opportunity to light a candle in remembrance of those who died on September 11.

As people entered the church, they were given a program as well as a book listing all 2,977 victims on 9/11. The list was almost 22 pages long, spanned four columns on each page, and had a small typeset.

Take a look at pictures from both events in the media gallery above, as well as a picture-slideshow from both ceremonies. The music is from the Stoughton Community Choir’s patriotic medley “America: The Spirit Lives On!”