First responders remembered amid 9/11 anniversary

JEFFERSON – Saybrook Township Fire Chief David Whitaker told the crowd gathered at the Shield a Badge with a Prayer ceremony that he is often asked how first responders are able to do their jobs.
Whitaker took a moment during the remembrance of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to explain why it is a firefighter runs into a burning building, or a police officer will stand tall in the face of danger.
“We are here to help you in your worst time,” Whitaker said during the Shield a Badge with a Prayer ceremony at the Ashtabula County Courthouse on Friday, Sept. 11. “We are trained to do what we do and just do it. We continue that training each and every day to provide the best possible outcome for the situation. We are not invincible. We are not superheroes. We pledge to provide the best care as if you were family. It’s a physical courage. Bravery in the face of physical pain, hardship, even death or threat of death.”
The duty to serve and that bravery Whitaker spoke of were tested with the events of 9/11, as Judge Harold Specht recounted through a timeline that started when American Airlines Flight 11 took off from Boston Logan Airport at 7:59 a.m. and ended with the collapse of the north tower of the World Trade Center at 10:28 a.m. and included the hijacking of Flight 93 and its crash into a field in Shanksville, Pa.
“Flight 93 is the one that, on that morning, after it was hijacked, flew right over these skies on its way to hit Washington,” Specht said. “Here’s another really good part of this that shows what Americans are capable of. On that plane, 40 passengers who did not know each other, 40 passengers who had no formal training in law enforcement, firefighting, anything like that. When they found out that they had been hijacked, they hatched a plan in mere minutes to storm that cockpit and stop that plane from attacking our capital.”
The passengers of Flight 93 were the one group of victims that morning that had knowledge of the morning’s events.
“If you can wrap your head around that, they knew that rushing that cockpit and going in and hitting or doing whatever they needed to do to those terrorists, they were going to die. They did it anyway. And they went in there, and that plane went down saving many lives, saving part of our government. That is what Americans are about. How we come back and how we prevent these things from happening.”
Specht noted that 2,977 people died, including more than 300 firefighters who lost their lives in the call of duty. More than 100,000 people have died from 9/11-related illness since.
Whitaker reminded the audience that Americans were under attack that sunny Tuesday morning.
“Where were you,” Whitaker said. “Work? Vacationing? We all stopped – disbelief, anger, tears for those that we didn’t even know. These were Americans. They preyed upon all of us that day.”
In the aftermath of those attacks, the American spirit took over.
“As the dust settled, we began the work,” Whitaker said. “First responders from across this nation and from foreign territories pledged their support and sent help. Tirelessly, they worked the pile. Every square inch was searched and sifted through in hopes of bringing closure to nearly 3,000 families. These everyday heroes who put on the uniform and come to work without thought, no matter the nature of the call, no matter the location, no matter the nationality.”
Whitaker remembered the firefighters who were lost on Sept. 11, 2001.
“As we gather here, we bring light to the fateful day, honoring those 441 brothers and sisters who gave the ultimate sacrifice 25 years ago,” Whitaker said. “To the ones we lost before, and to the ones we have lost since.”
Specht closed in noting that Sept. 11, 2001, was a terrible day for Americans, but, as Americans do, we overcame it.
“All week long, and I’m sure everybody here has watched the programs, (they kept saying) ‘Never forget, never forget, never forget,’” Specht said. “We all know how we felt that day and I felt that again today watching those planes crashing into the buildings, watching the poor people in the streets covered in soot, and it was a sick punch in the gut. It really was. But, as Americans do, we overcame the tragedy.”
“We built new towers,” Specht continued. “We took more precautions. We’re more prepared. These guys are more prepared. Firefighters everywhere are more prepared. I’m sure there’s been new classes to prepare us for these things. The government’s better prepared. I heard one government official, who was in the Bush administration saying we were prepared for an attack, but we weren’t prepared for an attack from within. We were attacked from within that day. And ever since then, it’s changed. It changed us all. We brought people to justice, and there’s still people going on trial today that were responsible for that.”