09/11/2026
25 YEARS LATER — WE WILL NEVER FORGET 🇺🇸
September 11, 2001 will never be just another date for my family.
I remember coming home from school that day after spending what felt like the entire day watching the attacks unfold on television.
When I got home, my father told me he was leaving.
He was going to New York to help with the recovery efforts.
There was no schedule. No return date. No idea how long he would be gone.
He just knew people needed help, and he was going.
My father joined 55 other heavy rescue firefighters from the Chicago area — 56 men in total. They volunteered their time, left their families behind, loaded up their equipment and began the drive from Chicago to New York in a convoy.
What happened along that drive is something I think says so much about America during that time.
As they traveled from state to state, they were met with police escorts helping move the convoy toward New York.
When they stopped for fuel, gas station owners wouldn’t take their money. They donated the fuel.
People knew where these men were headed.
They knew why they were going.
And everyone wanted to do something — anything — to help.
That’s something that has always stuck with me.
For a period of time after September 11th, this country felt incredibly united.
It didn’t matter where you were from.
It didn’t matter what you did for a living.
It didn’t matter who you voted for or what you believed.
Americans needed help, and Americans showed up.
My father and those men eventually arrived in New York and went to work.
They spent 9 days on the streets assisting with the recovery effort, followed by another two days housed in a nearby school before finally coming home.
The man standing in the final photo is my father.
The stories he brought home from those days are things most people could never imagine. Things that were difficult even to hear about, let alone witness firsthand.
But when help was needed, these guys went.
They weren’t looking for recognition.
They weren’t asking what they would get in return.
They didn’t know when they would be coming home.
They just knew people needed them.
These photos were taken during those days, and 25 years later, looking at them still hits incredibly close to home for our family and for all of us at Wash Works Supply.
September 11th will always represent unimaginable tragedy and loss.
But I also hope we never forget what happened in the days that followed.
Firefighters, police officers, first responders, construction workers, tradesmen, volunteers and everyday Americans came from every corner of this country to help complete strangers.
Police departments escorted convoys.
Business owners donated whatever they could.
People opened their doors.
Communities came together.
For a moment, we weren’t divided into groups. We were Americans.
And 25 years later, I think our country could still learn something from that.
Today we remember everyone whose life was taken on September 11, 2001. We remember the first responders who made the ultimate sacrifice. We remember those who worked the recovery effort and carried those memories home with them.
And personally, I’ll always be proud that when my father saw people who needed help, he went.
No schedule.
No return date.
No hesitation.
Just a willingness to serve.
25 years later, we remember.
We will never forget. 🇺🇸
9.11.01
#911
