Seven area residents were awarded the Camden County War on Terror Medal at the 9/11 Veteran and First Responder Medal Ceremony on Sept. 11 at Cooper River Park.
The county recipients are Terry L. Conley of Berlin; Lawrence G. Herbert Jr. of Clementon; Haddonfield resident Edward J. Mattimoe; Robert and MaryAnn Bascou of Cherry Hill; and Blackwood resident William “Bill” DiCola; and Voorhees resident Mark Bodrog, who offered remarks at the ceremony.
The event was held near the county’s Victims of Terrorism Memorial at the park.
The Victims of Terrorism Memorial has a prominent place at Cooper River Park. It was the setting for the medal event.
For Conley – who also received the TSGT Camden County Medal for his serivce in the Air Force as an aircraft engine mechanic – the ceremony was especially meaningful.
“For me, it was an honor to be presented these medals today,” he said. “I’m not just accepting them on my behalf, I’m accepting them for some of my friends that are no longer with us. And so it kind of brings back their memories and the memories of all those who unfortunately were unable to make it home.”
The Bascous echoed that sentiment and noted that they attended the ceremony to represent the volunteers who responded on 9/11. At the time, they were serving with the Maple Shade Rescue Service. Robert and MaryAnn also received the Camden County EMT War on Terror Service Medal for their volunteer EMT service.
“When we closed the door behind us (after answering a call on 9/11), we both acknowledged that there’s a possibility we might not be coming home because of the fact that it’s an act of war,” Robert recalled. “Communication was completely gone, rumors were rampant, and when we got to Giants Stadium … there was a possibility of explosives coming our way if there was a long blast to the stadium.
“That right there, that wasn’t a normal call that we get for a rescue in normal life.”
Robert got into volunteering because his father was a firefighter and inspired his wife to do the same.
“You hear a lot about the military and the first responders as in police and fire, and they’re paid,” he noted. “We were volunteers. We had regular jobs and went on our own as a volunteer with the rescue unit.”
Mattimoe, who was a United Airlines pilot on 9/11 and had been a Navy commander, noted how that day changed everything for his industry.
“I was supposed to fly for United that day and my flight got canceled,” he remembered. “All the flights got canceled that day. I didn’t fly again for another three or four days, when they finally started letting planes fly, and they were taking people home that were stranded …”
DiCola is retired FBI special agent who started his job at the agency a year before 9/11 and was assigned to a counter-terrorism squad.
“I was one of the responders at the World Trade Center at 9/11,” he remarked. “It was a tragedy. At first it looked like destruction, but I watched people come together and unify and build something better than it was before.”
Bodrog – who the county commissioners surprised with a medal – served in the infantry and was a captain in the Marines.
“It was the first time I really saw the nation come together in the minutes, hours, days, weeks and months after that,” he recounted. “I did really see America come together and unite behind a common cause and a common goal.”
Herbert – who was not at the ceremony – acknowledged that it was an honor to get a medal and be recognized for his service in the Navy after so much time; he served in the 1970s and ’80s.
“It’s a beautiful tribute to remember those that were taken from us too soon, all these terrorist acts,” Conley said at the ceremony. “Honoring those, whether they be military, first responders or anybody that was involved with these events, I think it’s just a nice, nice honor to have that.”
