Clinton O’Connor from the Cheyenne Fire Department took part in the 9/11 Remembrance Memorial Stair Climb at War Memorial Stadium. The event was hosted by the Laramie International Association of Fire Fighters Local 946. For part of the walk, O’Connor was dressed in full fire fighter gear, including air tank and mask, in order to experience what it must have been like for the fire fighters who put their own lives on the line to rescue people trapped inside the Twin Towers on Sept. 11.
The school year had just started and families were getting settled into a regular routine again. Then the news came that changed the nation forever.
A plane had crashed into Tower One of the World Trade Center in New York City. At first, people thought it was a tragic accident, but as more and more people tuned in, the world learned that America had been the target of a terrorist attack.
Fear, horror and anger soon gave way to unity and fellowship. As the country came together and began to heal, people vowed they would never forget Sept. 11, 2001. In the 11 years since that day, people have never forgotten.
“I was walking into seventh grade geography class when I heard,” said Clinton O’Connor, a firefighter with the Cheyenne Fire Department. They did not hold formal classes that day, he said. Teachers turned on televisions and watched with the students as the news unfolded.
Like many young boys, he had wanted to be a firefighter since he was little, he said. The events of Sept. 11 sort of fueled that fire, O’Connor said.
“I was testing for the Laramie Fire Department,” said Jared Wood, president of the Laramie International Association of Fire Fighters Local 946. The timing for the testing was interesting, Wood said, as the fire department tests in September of odd years. Wood said he remembered thinking, “Did I make the right career choice?”
O’Connor and Wood were just two of many who braved the stairs at War Memorial Stadium for the 9/11 Remembrance Memorial Stair Climb, which was hosted by the Laramie IAFF.
The event was an “Untimed walk aimed at using physical activity to remember the events and people of Sept. 11,” according to the events listing. Those who were up to the challenge climbed up and down the stairs of the stadium 16 times to represent the 110 flights of stairs in the World Trade Center towers.
O’Connor donned full fire fighter gear including an air mask and tank for part of his walk as a way to experience what it must have been like for fire fighters of the New York Fire Department.
Firefighters are not the only ones with memories of that day.
Many students at the University of Wyoming were too young to realize the impact of the tragedy at the time it happened, but they remember the reactions of those around them. Krista Bronnenberg was in second grade.
“I remember that my teachers were crying, but I didn’t understand what was going on,” she said. Like other students, she recalls sitting in her classroom watching the news on the television.
For older students, the memories were more personal. Lorrie McNamee was at home getting ready to go to a meeting. “I remember watching the plane hit the second tower,” she said. The moment was surreal. She said she also remembers the tone in news anchor Diane Sawyer’s voice immediately afterward as she simply said “Oh my God.”
McNamee went to her meeting, but there was a noticeable change in the atmosphere as people stopped what they were doing and focused on the news and events taking place in New York and Washington, D.C.
“The whole tone of the day had changed,” McNamee said.
I remember that I was taking my son to school and, as I walked in the door, I saw the teachers and staff crying. I still had not heard or seen the news, so I thought something had happened to one of the students or a teacher.
“A plane just crashed into the World Trade Center,” the front office secretary said.
As soon as I got back home, I turned the television to one of the news channels and just sat there and watched. The surreal feeling McNamee described was precisely what I experienced. It was almost like I was watching a movie only the hero was not coming to save the day.
I was afraid that if I walked away I would miss the part of the story where they revealed that what we were seeing was an elaborate hoax and it was not really happening. The revelation did not come that day or the day after that. As I waited, I found myself recalling memories of the time I spent in New York City and what I thought as I witnessed the towering height of the World Trade Center.
Even though the skyline of New York City has been altered forever, the collective memories of those who witnessed the events of Sept. 11 will be a permanent part of the modern history of America. Most people have been able to forgive, but they can never forget.
