09/11/2026
The September 11th anniversary never gets easier for me or my family. Today, marking 25 years since that terrible day, is actually hitting harder for me โ and not in a good way.
Writing these posts remembering that day every year also gets emotional, but I think this year, this will be the most difficult post to compose. I don't think I've ever told the story of September 11, 2001, from the point of view of me at 11 years old, as I am finally about to do.
This is going to be my raw, unedited memory from that day. No ChatGPT help with writing it โ just raw and emotional.
I vividly remember what I was doing that day at just 11 years old. I can close my eyes today and picture everything I experienced that day in 2001.
I always had a fascination with news media and broadcasting as a child, as well as the fire service and Emergency Medical Services.
On September 11, 2001, I went to school that Tuesday morning under a clear blue sky, not realizing how the day would unfold.
I came home from school โ I can't remember if we left school early or not, but we probably did โ and sat in front of the TV watching WABC-TV Eyewitness News.
I was watching the events unfolding in real time, seeing both live and replayed news coverage. The North Tower burning. A plane hitting the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Watching both the North and South Towers burning, with people hanging from windows or jumping while trying to escape.
Seeing both towers ultimately collapse, with people running from two separate, huge, enveloping dark clouds of dust, debris, and chemicals.
As an 11-year-old boy, I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing. But to this day, I don't know what my brain was thinking while watching the news. Maybe I just thought it was another major "Breaking News" event.
And at this point, I don't think my mom was really saying anything to me about what was actually happening.
I then remember my mom bringing my brother and me outside and sitting us down on the front deck. My parents were separated at the time, but I remember my dad pulling into the driveway and walking up to the house.
I didn't know at that time why he had come over.
The four of us sat down, and my mom told us that our Aunt Renee [Renee Tetreault Newell], my dad's sister, was on American Airlines Flight 11 when it crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
I remember this next moment like it was yesterday.
I began to cry nonstop โ probably uncontrollably, maybe for hours โ once we were told the horrible news.
I can't really remember anything after that. I just remember that I believe we all cried for hours.
When I turned 14, I joined the Port Jefferson Fire Department as a junior firefighter and became a full member, a probationary firefighter, with the department at age 18.
I responded to the firehouse every time the pager went off, whether it was during the day, in the middle of the night, or on weekends.
During my time as a firefighter, I also joined Port Jefferson EMS and rode on the ambulance regularly every Wednesday night from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., serving my community.
I have always wondered if my personal experience and connection to September 11, 2001, was one of the reasons I volunteered for the fire department and local EMS agency.
For at least the last 18 years, on the anniversary of September 11th, I do the same thing.
I watch the ceremony at the World Trade Center Memorial in NYC as each name of every victim is read. I watch documentary after documentary about 9/11, whether I've seen it before or have never seen it, and I rewatch news coverage from that day as the events unfolded.
Some people may say I'm crazy for this yearly ritual, but I honestly think it's my way of coping with this tragedy and allowing my emotions and tears to flow year after year.
For everything I went through on September 11, 2001, I can't imagine what my family in New England went through.
I know this anniversary hits especially hard for them every year.
Not a day goes by that I don't think about my dad, my grandmother, who passed away in 2002, Aunt Michele, my cousins, but especially my cousin Matt and my Uncle Paul.
Renee was Matt's mom, and he was only 8 years old when September 11, 2001, happened.
Matt is honestly the strongest person I know and has become the amazing man he is today.
On this 25th anniversary, Matt, I want you to know that not a day goes by that I don't think about you and your dad, and I am proud to call you my cousin.
You endured something no 8-year-old should ever have had to go through.
And you continue to push forward in ways I never thought possible.
September 11, 2001, changed me, my family, and thousands of others, and we will never be the same.
I could have lost a lot more on September 11, 2001, but that's a story for a different day.
Since September 11, 2001, I have never visited Ground Zero.
I have yet to visit the 9/11 Memorial and stand at the reflecting pools where the North and South Towers once stood. To this day, I still regret not being able to do this.
My goal for 2027 is to visit the site of the World Trade Center, where the Freedom Tower stands now.
I want to walk into the 9/11 Memorial Museum to remember and reflect. I want to visit both reflecting pools and trace my Aunt Renee's name at the North Tower reflecting pool.
To my Aunt Renee, there isn't a day that goes by that you don't cross my mind.
You are missed by so many people every single day, but you are also remembered by so many every single day.
I love you, and I wish you were still here with all of us. But I know you are the guardian angel watching over all of us, including your son Matt.
On this 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, one of the deadliest days in United States history, I ask one thing:
REMEMBER AND NEVER FORGET.
Remember and never forget the 2,977 innocent people lost that day.
We seem to be getting away from REMEMBERING AND NEVER FORGETTING what happened that day.
I will also ask those Gen Z and Gen Alpha children who were born on or after September 11, 2001, to learn about that day and what our nation went through, and how our nation came back stronger.
Learn about the victims and their families.
Learn about the 343 FDNY firefighters and 23 NYPD officers who died that day, running toward the burning towers to save others as people were running away to safety.
Learn about the more than 453 FDNY firefighters we have lost to 9/11-related illnesses since September 11, 2001.
But most importantly, always remember and never forget the 2,977 total victims who lost their lives because of 19 hijackers who took them from us.
