Remembering 9/11 - Twenty Years Later

No one old enough to remember September 11, 2001, will forget it. Depending on where we were our recollections may differ, but for each one of us our memories remain fixed on images impossible to ignore. I want to share a few of mine.

Like this year, September 11, 2001 was a beautiful blue-sky day. It was primary day in New York and I was campaigning for my third term as Mayor of Binghamton. Sadly it was to become one of the darkest days in American history.

It was the day that terrorists using airplanes as their weapons launched a coordinated attack on the United States raining destruction on New York, Washington D.C. and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Shortly after 9:00 a.m. staff rushed into my office urging me to turn on the television which I did just as the second plane hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center. From that moment on we sat in disbelief watching as the towers burned then collapsed one after the other. Those terrifying images slowly evolved into ones of apprehension and hope as firefighters, police officers and emergency personnel covered from head to toe in ash and soot desperately searched for survivors.

At the end of the day the Deputy Mayor, Police Chief, Fire Chief Public Works Commissioner and I met to discuss what was once unthinkable. What did the attacks mean for Binghamton and other cities across the nation? Were we now potential targets? How do we identify threats? How do we protect our city and its residents? Profound questions, troubling questions with no easy answers.

That evening in a conference call with state officials on casualties we learned with great relief that preliminary reports estimating that tens of thousands may have been killed were not accurate. The horror of what might have been is truly incomprehensible. Tragically 2,606 innocent men and women lost their lives at the Trade Center among them 344 firefighters and 71 law enforcement personnel.

Recently reading the observation of one evacuee who passed firefighters and other first responders of the 31st floor of the second tower poignantly says it all, "The look in their eyes said they knew they were going up and never coming back". It's that bravery and commitment to duty that continues to inspire all of us.

A couple of days later I received a call from a classmate that among the firefighters who perished was a fellow alumnus from our alma mater St. Bonaventure University. Father Mychal Judge OFM, a Franciscan friar and chaplain for the New York's Fire Department was crushed by falling debris while administering last rites to a critically injured firefighter. He became the first certified death from that terrible day. Father Judge's death magnified the heartbreak that transcended the city and nation. Over the years I've learned a great deal about Father Judge. I wish I had the opportunity to meet him.

Later in the Fall Mayor Rudy Giuliani hosted the New York State Conference of Mayors for workshops on a topic none of us envisioned when we first ran for office - how to confront the threat of terrorism in our communities. While in New York the mayors were escorted to Ground Zero, which was still closed to the public. We stood numb and transfixed at what we saw. My emotions turned to sorrow as I stood silently next to my friend Westbury Mayor Ernie Strada as he grieved his son Tommy who died in the attack.

As the ensuing days unfolded, we saluted our firefighters and other regional emergency personnel who were anxious to assist in the recovery efforts and traveled to Ground Zero.

Binghamton was one of the first communities to reach out, request and receive a piece of the World Trade Center. The beam is permanently displayed in a memorial that was constructed in front of Binghamton City Hall. It's history made visible. It is our community saying we will never forget. We are grateful to the firefighters, trade unions and local businesses who made the memorial a reality.

In July, 2003 the City of Binghamton hosted a regional Mayoral Seminar for Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism Incident Preparedness sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security. As we sat to discuss these topics we realized how radically the 9/11 attacks had changed everyday life in America. Now phrases like threat assessment, domestic preparedness and incident response and recovery were part of our daily vocabulary. I still have the handbook from that seminar.

On the twentieth anniversary of 9/11 we gathered in Binghamton joining communities throughout the nation to remember and reflect. My concluding thoughts as I spoke on the first anniversary of 9/11 are as appropriate now as they were then. "Although the pain endures we remember the anguish of those who died, we celebrate the lives of those who survived, and we honor the firefighters, police officers and emergency personnel who sacrificed their lives while valiantly coming to the aid of their neighbors."