9/11 never far away from Jackson Fire Rescue

JACKSON -- Officially, the Fire Department of New York City's response time to the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, was two minutes.

A battalion chief happened to see the first jet fly into the towers and was quickly on the scene, calling for help before he got to what would become Ground Zero.

Capt Sam Herndon and Capt. Ryan Davie of Jackson Fire Rescue vividly recall that Tuesday morning.

Herndon, "fresh out of high school," was working at a construction site when someone alerted the workers to the attacks.

A radio was their only available communication for a few hours. Herndon said he remembers long lines at gas stations but didn't grasp the weight of the attacks until later in the day when he could see images from New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.

Davie was working at a sales call center at the time.

"At that call center, when people were there, the phones were constantly ringing. I specifically remember there was no phone ringing whatsoever. For an hour and a half, two hours, there were no phone calls," he said. "There was a lot of uneasiness for the rest of the day. Nobody knew what was going to happen."

343 fallen

During the course of events that day, 343 FDNY firefighters would die trying to save others. The courage they displayed running into the chaos thousands were fleeing reached even to Southeast Missouri.

"It had a huge impact on the fire service -- watching the folks from New York and the fire departments from the surrounding areas come in to help those guys during the attacks. It made a huge impact on the fire service nationwide," according to Capt. Sam Herndon of Jackson Fire Rescue. "It was the largest rescue effort in U.S. history."

Capt. Ryan Davie agreed about the notion of service above self.

"I think us as firemen, a lot of us take it for granted, but it's our duty. It's our job," he said. "Most of us know the circumstances that we are going into and the results that could ultimately be dealt with."

Honoring their memory

Nonetheless, as years passed, the Jackson firefighters wanted to honor those who died trying to save others. They started an annual stair-stepping event that involved firefighters taking turns "climbing" steps as their NYC brethren had. Then, annual marches became a rallying event. Later, they presented information on the attacks and the response to school students.

"Kids in school today weren't even born yet when this happened, and we felt like we needed something to make sure we never do forget why they day is important in our history," Herndon noted.

Eventually, though, Herndon and Davie developed a more expansive idea -- a memorial.

"So, it's not just one day out of the year we are going to remember and have ceremonies," Davie explained. "It's at the center of town -- something everybody can see 24 hours a day.

Herndon said the privately funded memorial serves as an ongoing reminder.

"When we started this whole idea of this memorial, we got a lot of positive feedback and help. In this community, it has worked out well. We have not forgotten," he said. "This was something in our nation's history, and we don't want to forget. It will remind you there was a time when we were under attack, and we did come together. It makes some of the trivial things seem like they are less important."

The memorial contains two "towers" bearing the names of the fallen firefighters and benches that describe a timeline of the day's events. The memorial sits on a five-sided base in honor of the attack on the Pentagon.

Herndon said the emotions from Sept. 11, 2001, haven't faded.

"I can feel them like it happened this morning," he said. "Those are the emotions I hope my children never have to experience ... but I want them to know those impacts that it had that day, so it's something they know about from our history. ... Those days were some of the greatest in our country's history as far as the whole country coming together and having one feeling, one belief. It wasn't anything about a party or what state you live in. It was, 'We are all Americans, and we are all here for each other.'"