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Taps played at Cranberry station

John Pristas, Cranberry Township Volunteer Fire Company assistant chief, plays taps in honor of 9/11 victims during a ceremony Saturday at the fire station on Route 19.Julia Maruca/Butler Eagle

CRANBERRY TWP — The sound of taps punctuated the memorial ceremony held by the Cranberry Township Volunteer Fire Company Saturday morning to honor the victims and first responders of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Assistant Chief John Pristas played taps at intervals corresponding to the impact and collapse of the World Trade Center towers, along with the attacks in Shanksville, Pa. and the Pentagon.

“I originally started doing it just as my own way of acknowledging and remembering the occasion,” said Pristas, who began this ceremony in 2004. “It's my way of letting people know that we cannot forget about this tragedy.”

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