Heroes' remembrance

The communities of Green River and Rock Springs, led by the firefighting forces in each city, are working to ensure Sweetwater County never forgets the horrors of 9/11 or stops honoring those who lost their lives and those who survived.

This year, both cities held memorial walks and ceremonies on Sunday, the 21st anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City. Green River's event was the first annual memorial walk for the city, while Rock Springs hosted a walk and a memorial ceremony with special speaker Lizzie Medici, retired New York firefighter and 9/11 survivor.

A new tradition

In Green River, over two dozen people gathered at Fire Station Two on Shoshone Avenue Sunday morning at 6:46 a.m., commemorating the time of the initial call to the World Trade Centers. Following behind an American flag, civilians walked alongside Green River firefighters in full gear for 1.35 miles in a loop that led up to Uinta Drive and back to the fire station. The walk was completed with the ringing of the bell at the fire station and comments from Assistant Fire Chief Larry Erdmann and Green River Mayor Pete Rust.

GRFD Captain J.P. Apostolope was one of the main forces behind putting together the memorial walk in Green River. He had help from other GRFD members, including Erdmann and Captain Austin Rider.

"I kind of threw the idea out there and those guys all helped, so it was a team effort," Apostolope explained.

The last time Green River held a 9/11 memorial event was on the 10-year anniversary in 2011, according to Apostolope. With this year marking the 21st anniversary, Apostolope commented it's "hard to believe it's been that long."

The anniversary of 9/11 is especially important and impactful for Apostolope, who began serving as a Green River firefighter in 1990 and is one of only a handful of firefighters currently serving at GRFD who was serving back in 2001 when the attack happened.

"It's a big thing in the fire service," Apostolope explained. "I never want to forget it."

While the crowd that came out for the memorial walk was relatively small this year, Apostolope still thought it was a good turnout. He's looking forward to even more people coming in the future, since it's something he hopes will become a yearly tradition that will continue to grow and improve.

Since the 9/11 anniversary will be on a Monday next year, the GRFD members who worked on planning the memorial are considering having the walk at 6:46 p.m. so people can participate after work.

Holding a yearly memorial event is important, according to Apostolope, "so that we are able to remember and never forget, but also so it may not repeat itself."

It's also an important way to remember and honor those who died, especially the firefighters and first responders who risked or sacrificed their lives.

"Look how many lives they saved by giving their lives," Apostolope said. He pointed out the firefighters who responded on 9/11 didn't doubt or hesitate, and called them "heroic."

A hero remembers

Lizzie Medici is one of the heroes from 9/11, although she doesn't necessarily consider herself one.

"I'm proud to know the heroes of that historic day," Medici said. "The real heroes of 9/11 are the men and women who didn't make it back."

While Medici did make it back, she almost lost her life responding to the World Trade Center as a New York firefighter on September 11, and she knew many of the men and women who paid the ultimate price.

Medici is a former New York Fire Department (FDNY) firefighter who moved to Rock Springs a little over a year ago.

She shared about her experiences on September 11 when she spoke during the 9/11 Memorial and Flag Ceremony hosted by the City of Rock Springs Fire Department. The ceremony took place at 10:30 a.m. Sunday after the Walk the Rock memorial climb on Grant Street.

"The proudest achievement of my life was earning my position as a member of FDNY," Medici said, explaining she is a second generation firefighter who followed in the footsteps of her father, who has always been and will always been her personal hero.

Both Medici and her father responded to Ground Zero on 9/11. Her father was one of the 343 FDNY firefighters killed that day, along 14 other members of his crew - the only firehouse in New York to lose an entire shift.

"Most Americans today are reminded of those numbers, but to those of us who survived, and to the family and friends of those who did not, we see the faces, and we feel the pain of these numbers," Medici said.

Medici recalled responding to the World Trade Centers the morning of September 11, thinking it was a beautiful day, wondering what kind of call they were responding to. One of the firefighters in her crew, Louis Tessio, was told by a firefighter friend who had already responded to the scene that "some idiot had flown a plane into one of the twin towers." Medici and her crew thought this mistake was odd, but when they got to the scene and watched another jet crash into the second tower, they knew it wasn't a mistake.

Medici and Tessio went into the North Tower, but their radios weren't working well and the stairway they were trying to get through was filling with debris. Hearing the order to evacuate the shaking tower, Medici and Tessio got out, forced to leave their captain and other crew members behind. The South Tower had already collapsed, and Medici realized the North Tower was coming down. The smoke and debris from the South Tower made it hard to see, and the sound of the North Tower collapsing was like bombs going off.

"It sounded as if hell itself had been unleashed," Medici said.

Medici and Tessio took shelter in an alley. She felt a blast as chunks of debris flew through the air and hot smoke surrounded them. Then, for a moment, there was silence and darkness. Medici couldn't tell if they were buried under rubble or not. As Medici and Tessio tried to make their way back toward the buildings, people around them screamed and clawed for a way out.

A New York Police Department officer used his gun to shoot out a window, and Medici and the people around her fell into the lobby of a building on West Broadway. An NYPD officer, which may or may not have been the same one who shot the window, took charge and helped everyone evacuate out another window in the lobby.

Medici and Tessio grabbed water bottles from a nearby Starbucks, washed out their noses and mouths, and handed out water as they made their way back to Ground Zero. They found their fire engine, but it was out of commission, so they joined a fire crew from Hell's Kitchen.

Medici, who was good at getting in and out of small spaces because of her stature, started helping the fire crew by pulling the firehose over and between pieces of debris.

Suddenly the ground under Medici disappeared and she fell into a sinkhole. Debris and rubble caved in above her, trapping her 13 feet underground.

"While entombed in the rubble for three hours and nine minutes I drifted in and out of consciousness because of the serious injuries I'd sustained during the fall," Medici explained. "I couldn't think clearly. It was really hot. And it was extremely difficult to take in oxygen because my breathing apparatus had been partially separated from my face, and I subsequently breathed in a lot of dust. It was terrifying and challenging, but I just focused on the fact that at least I was breathing. I found myself hoping - a deep, tangible hope. In a situation like this, you draw on training and add the faith that you know the fire department is out there. I knew they were aware of my location and nothing was going to stop my brothers from coming to get me, whatever it took. I don't recall much of the extrication except for the cold wet nose of a rescue dog and a lick on my right cheek, and someone saying 'she's alive! She's alive!'" 

While her sustained injuries prevented her from returning to her firefighting career, Medici is grateful to have made it out alive. She, and all the other firefighters and first responders who survived that day, will always carry the grief of the day and the guilt of making it out when their brothers and sisters didn't.

"Know that I have not disclosed everything I saw that day," Medici said. "Those killed deserve their dignity. The wounded deserve their privacy. And all of their loved ones deserve as much peace as possible."

While the events of 9/11 will be a scar that always stays with survivors, Medici knows they need to move forward, which they can't do if they dwell on the vivid details and the inhumanity of the attack.

"Perseverance is impossible if we don't permit ourselves to hope," she said.

Medici and the other survivors find hope in their bond of brotherhood as firefighters, and in remembering those they lost and finding chances to laugh at the memories more than they cry.

Medici is also thankful for her new home in Rock Springs, where she has found open hearts, open arms, and hope.