Taking the Steps to Remember 9/11

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Americans across the nation sat and stared in horror at their televisions as Islamic terrorists flew four passenger airliners into the south and north towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. At that time, San Angelo Firefighter Larry Russell was covering a car wreck on Knickerbocker Road. His shift was coming to an end, so two Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) were tasked with driving Russell back to his station in their reserve ambulance. During the ride, Russell heard one of the EMTs say, “Hey, someone just flew a plane into the World Trade Center.”

When he got back to the station, Russell made his way into the kitchen where his fellow firefighters stood staring at the television. When Russell looked at the screen, he witnessed United Airlines Flight 175 flying into the World Trade’s Center’s south tower. At first, he thought it was a replay, but he soon learned that wasn’t the case. Therefore, he went home, packed his duffel bag, and checked in with his commanding officer at the U.S. National Guard and prepared for duty. Russell learned he was on standby. Eventually, he went on and served two tours in Iraq.

“I remember everything about that morning,” Russell said. “I was stunned. I was numb. I didn’t know what to think. That was our generation’s Pearl Harbor.”

On this same tragic day, Kristin Young, who was in her sixth year with the U.S. Army and deployed to operations in Bosnia, had also just gotten in from night duty when her supervisor knocked on her door and said, “I need to take 100 percent accountability! There’s something that happened.”

Young didn’t know what to think. In fact, she though she was in the middle of a training event, but after her supervisor told her to turn on the television, she watched in horror as the World Trade Center’s north tower collapsed after American Airlines Flight 11 flew into it.

“Initially, because I was deployed and, within a month, was coming back, I was thinking, ‘What’s going to happen to us now?’” Young recalled. “I was also trying to get ahold of my mother who worked for the Army’s Human Resources Command out in D.C. at the time. On that day of the week, she would have typically had a meeting at the Pentagon, so I was trying to get in touch with her to see where she was at.” 

Luckily, Young’s mom was not at the Pentagon. She had gone camping and didn’t even know what had happened.

Unfortunately, many people didn’t experience the same outcome as Young. They lost mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, spouses, daughters and sons—the people who cannot be replaced.

Honoring the Fallen

Today in 2015, 14 years after that fateful tragedy, both Russell and Young, along with two other San Angelo Firefighters, a San Angelo Police Officer and more than 75 people, many of whom are members of Team RWB (Red, White, and Blue), a veteran’s organization that promotes community involvement through physical activity, found their own personal and physical ways to honor the men and women who gave their lives trying to save the thousands of people who died on that unforgettable day in America.

This past Saturday, Sept. 5, Russell, along with fellow firefighters Josh Kemp, Donald White and San Angelo Police Officer, Abel Nandin, climbed 110 flights of stairs in 50-pound bunker gear and 30- to 40-pound air packs weighing them down in downtown Dallas’ Renaissance Tower during the 5^th Annual Dallas 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb. This Climb honors the men and women in uniform who lost their lives doing their job of trying to save lives.

Four days later, in San Angelo, Team RWB, hosted its third annual 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb at the San Angelo Stadium. These 9/11 Memorial Climbs have been taking place across the nation for several years now, and Russell said he felt honored to make the cut for this year’s event because getting chosen is no easy task.

“There are so many people every year who want to do this,” Russell said. “They open up the registration at 8 a.m., and you literally have to be sitting there waiting at a computer to get your registration in because so many people are trying to do it. I got lucky enough.”

Russell explained that event organizers base the number of participants by how many firemen, police officers and EMTs died on 9/11. For instance, since 343 firemen died that day, there were 343 slots available and about 20 to 30 alternate slots in case something happened to the chosen participants.

Additionally, the responders were chosen represent the lives of the individuals lost. When Russell and his fellow San Angelo colleagues got to the event, they were provided with a tag that had a deceased fireman or policeman’s name on it.

“You climb up the stairs, and when you get to the 110th floor, there’s a place up there where you actually put the tag in and ring the bell,” Russell added. The San Angelo Fireman honored Thomas Schoales from New York Fire Department Engine 4.

Honoring Schoales hit a personal chord with Russell. He said, “They were fireman, and we’re all a big family.”

Not only does Russell consider his fellow firemen his family, but he also comes from a family of firemen for well over 100 years, so his participation also honored the victims on behalf of the men in his family who have served.

Because of the importance of this memorial and the physical endurance necessary to complete the climb, Russell and the other men joined together to prepare themselves about a month and a half in advance. The original event required the men to climb 110 flights of stairs in full gear as stated previously, and the men had every intention of succeeding.

“The Tower is 55 stories tall, and you climb it, get to the top, get in the line for the elevators and take it down; then you climb it a second time,” Russell stated. “There’s little areas spaced out about every 10 floors where they got little stations set up so people can get bottled water or get toweled down. You’re really humping a lot of weight up there.”

Russell said he, White, and Kemp used the StairMaster at the fire station to train, and all four men would meet at the Fire Training Center a couple of times a week.

“We started doing that for an hour and an hour and a half every time, so that got us ready,” he added.

The men also trained in the mornings to avoid the hotter temperatures. Luckily, the climb started at about 8:30 a.m., so the weather wasn’t too bad in Dallas.

Russell said, “We started climbing just before 9 o’clock, and I was done right at 11. It took me about an hour and half or two hours. When you get to the top, you have to wait 20 or 30 minutes to go down on the elevator. It wasn’t so bad because we trained. I’m so thankful we trained because there were a few firemen there I know who didn’t make it. These guys just showed up thinking, ‘If that guy can do it, I can too.’”

Preparing for the climb definitely helped, and Russell said he plans on doing more climbs in the future, whether he repeats the Dallas 9/11 Memorial, or he joins Team RWB for next year’s local memorial climb, which he didn’t hear about until the day of the event, and he was at work. Either way, he said taking the steps to honor the fallen holds great significance.

“The World Trade Center was 110 stories, and when the firemen were going up, they only made it to the 80th floor; but we climb every year and make it to the top for them,” Russell declared.

Going All the Way

Although Russell could not make the Team RWB 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb Wednesday evening, more than 75 military members, veterans and even some Rugby players from Angelo State University joined Young (who helped organize the event), and braved the heat and humidity to honor the fallen.

On the group’s Facebook page, organizers wrote, “2,977 Americans lost their lives in the attacks that occurred on September 2001. We will climb 2,977 stairs to pay respect and tribute to each of those who lost their lives. For those who have participated in the past events, it is an emotional experience.”

At 6 p.m., Young prompted the leads to begin, and watched on as Tyler Gile with the Marine Corps grabbed a U.S. Flag pole in hand, hoisted it across his shoulder, balanced it with his forearm, and started running down the southeast side of the stairs from the mid-section, or about the 20^th row. Without faltering once, or slowing down, Gile proudly led the procession of climbers with the flag blowing in the wind as he went down and up, down and up, all the way to the end of the southwest side of the Stadium and back again to the southeast starting point.

After completing the first of three laps, Gile, who has been with the corps for 7.5 years and at Goodfellow for two of those years, stopped to catch a breath and get a drink of water from the station set up for climbers at the starting point area. The Seattle, Washington native took a moment to discuss how this was his second year making the climb in San Angelo.

“I decided I had to continue the tradition,” he said about running and carrying the flag pole. He also added that despite the heat and being a little tired after the first lap, he felt good.

“I’m really glad this many people showed up. It’s a good group of people who come out to these events," he said. “It might not be 9/11 right now, but this is one way of remembering it. I think it instills that kind of remembrance people want to have during the day.”

Another military member with a flag pole, Brandon Peer with the U.S. Army at Goodfellow, said he decided to make the climb because it was something he should go out and support.

“I think it’s great, especially with [ASU] coming out and supporting it,” he said about ASU’s Rugby team who participated in the event. “San Angelo is ridiculously military-friendly, and it seems people especially support all these events. It’s amazing.”

Whitney Monts, also with the Army for nine years, said she heard about the climb from her co-worker, and she too was proud to be a part of the Memorial.

“It feels great to be out here and remember the ones who couldn’t be here today; it’s a great feeling,” she said.

Supporting Memorials for the Fallen

After spending a moment to explain their enthusiasm, Gile, Peer and Monts began their second lap up and down the stadium stairs while Young ensured all the participants remained hydrated. She too indicated she was happy with the turnout of climbers. There were people of all ages, women, men, children, and even one mother climbed up and down the steps with an infant dangling from a carrier on her back.

“It’s awesome!” Young pronounced. “This is the second year we’ve had this many people. The first year we were a brand new organization, and this was our first event that we did. We had about 40 to 50 out, and the last two years, this is the standard turnout, about 75 to 100 people.”

Young noted that for the past three years that Team RWB has hosted the climb, she has coordinated with San Angelo Independent School District to use the stadium because there are no fees and no need for security guards to control admissions. Therefore, the district has been welcoming in allowing the group to use the stadium after football practices for the 9/11 Memorial Climb.

Although San Angelo is not a huge city, Young said with the military units in San Angelo, people in the U.S. Military, retired, or who have ties to it are encouraged to attend the event for both the camaraderie and the homage.

She said, “We have supporters from there; we’ve got volunteers and veterans from the community. Their not really doing anything with the Military anymore, but they come out here and feel a part of that again. And I think this event, in particular, because of the physical activity, and what we’re paying tribute to, it really gives us some insight into what those individuals went through in the tower that day.”

Young added that this is the fifth time she has participated in a Memorial event of this type, but has truly enjoyed the last three in San Angelo since the group was founded. Not to mention, the message the physical climb sends to families of 9/11 victims.

“I think it shows that we haven’t forgotten,” Young said. “There’s a lot of lip service paid to 9/11 and how it motivated the country, but having the people come out and be involved in events like this, it really shows individuals that we haven’t forgotten. As a nation, it’s great we remember, but when you get down in the reach, you wonder, does that person really remember? Does that person really pay homage to what the cost was to those families? Something like this really shows that we do.”

Now that more people are learning about the climb through word of mouth, Young said she hopes for the next 9/11 Memorial, there will be a greater turnout.

“As a group, we may want to expand the event, but the limitation right now is the stadium; but even with this number of people, there’s still room for more,” Young stated.

Right after last Saturday’s climb, Dallas began planning for its 6^th annual event, but Team RWB is not sure how things will pan out. For the past two years, the event has been held on a Wednesday. This year the reason is simple: West Texas football takes precedence. Either way though, Young said organizers will continue to make the event in the evening so people are off work and able to attend.

“So why not come out here and enjoy that camaraderie and do it for a cause?” she asked. “It’s not costing anyone more than a little sweat and tears.”

For more information about the Annual Dallas 9/11 Memorial Stair climb, click here. For the local Team RWB 9/11 Memorial Climb, visit the organization’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/events/857713137638139/.