Fire Capt. Eugene McCarthy, Michael Peza and Thomas Powell Sr., behind the flagpole, raise a flag with the names of 343 New York City Fire Department members at the 9/11 memorial ceremony outside the Vienna Fire Department on Thursday evening.

VIENNA — John Lewis recalled where he was 24 years ago, the day terrorist attacks against the United States changed the country forever as hijackers directed planes into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon while one crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pa.

“I had just gotten out of a surgery the day before for my shoulder repair, and I was laying on the couch because it was the only comfortable spot I had,” said Lewis, chief of the Youngstown Air Reserve Station’s fire department. “My wife calls me, and she’s like, ‘Something’s going on in New York,’ and I’m like, ‘There’s always something going on in New York.’ As I put on the TV, the second aircraft hit the second tower.”

Lewis, the guest speaker of Thursday evening’s 9/11 memorial ceremony at the Vienna Fire Department, said the sight filled him not with disbelief but anger.

Approximately 100 people, a crowd that included older residents, firefighters and emergency medical technicians, gathered for the ceremony.

Lewis said 2,977 lives were lost, erased by what he deemed a single “horrific act of horror” that went beyond buildings and reached humanity itself — filling a void that could never be filled.

“Of those 3,000 lives lost, the overwhelming majority were inside the World Trade Center,” Lewis said.

“Three hundred forty-three firefighters and 72 law officers — law enforcement officers — our bravest, our finest, raced towards the inferno while others fled. They scaled the towers; they made the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives to save others.”

Lewis said 9/11 remains the deadliest incident for first responders in the country’s history, adding that more than 6,000 were injured — carrying physical and emotional scars that will never fade.

He recalled the 184 individuals who had died at the Pentagon and the 44 individuals aboard Flight 193.

“The last words heard, they denied the terrorists their intended targets; some of the targets were believed to the White House, other places in New York, the stock exchange,” Lewis said. “It is theorized that passengers attacked the cockpit with a fire extinguisher — how ironic, people attacking someone with a fire extinguisher.”

Lewis said the 18 individuals pulled out of the rubble represented the “indomitable strength” of the human spirit. It took 100 days to put out the fires at ground zero, he added, something he deemed to be a testament to the “tireless dedication” of first responders who had refused to give up.

Lewis said people don’t realize the lasting effects of the tragedy, noting that the New York Police Department confirmed 247 officers died due to illnesses from the buildings, and the New York City Fire Department confirmed 299 dead firefighters.

“We must never forget that these numbers continue to rise, a tragic legacy of that day, a solid epidemic claiming the lives of our heroes,” Lewis said.

Reading the Firefighter’s Prayer before the ringing of the bell by Assistant Fire Chief Mike Hagood was Tom Powell Jr., who explained the bell’s significance.

“Day in and day out, firefighters all over the world place themselves in harm’s way to protect the lives and property of their fellow man,” Powell said. “At the conclusion of the (fire) alarm, it was the bell that would signify the call is complete and the units would be returning to quarters.”

“The tolling of the bell is now a means of sending a fallen firefighter to home, to their final resting place. They are returning to quarters for the last time. Their tour has been completed,” he added.