I had just left my house, in uniform, to travel to Ft. Did (now Joint Base MDL) for a Counter-drug Task Force meeting when I heard of the first attack on the North Tower of the World Trade Center, a building I have been in hundreds of times, including the restaurant, Windows On The World.

I remember looking over my shoulder and seeing the smoke rising from the top of the tower. I thought at the time that it might have been a fire in the restaurant but CBS News Radio 88 said it was probably a small plane that hit the tower.

I was on Interstate 95 heading south when the second plane hit and,I realized that the United States was under attack. I raced down to Ft. Did where I was immediately turned around and ordered back to help at Ground Zero.

I got on Interstate 95 which was in the process of being closed down but as I was in uniform I was allowed to travel to to Liberty State Park in New Jersey right across from the World Financial Center.

At that time dozens of First Responders we setting up at LSP for the casualties we expected to get from across the Hudson River but they never came. At about midnight on the 11th the word came out that there probably would be no casualties coming across the river and all at once the First Responder rescue vehicles left Liberty State Park in a slow parade of futility.

Two days later I was allowed to enter the containment zone at Ground Zero where I assisted with rescue/recovery efforts for the next three days.

Originally we were given a paper mask like the ones we wore at the beginning of Covid. Eventually we were given respirators with pink filters. I remember the ash being about three inches high and the air being filled with a haze of smoke and ash as well.

At one point I was taking a break next to Fairfax County Search and Rescue Dog Bretagne and her handler, Denise Corliss. We were all exhausted but being able to hang out and pet Bretagne for 10 minutes gave me renewed purpose.

I remember the rescue dogs burning their paws as they searched the rubble which was still smoking from the fires that were still burning below. Those fires would burn for months. The dogs would receive tiny little dog booties that were provided by Muttluks. Also provided from people around the country (and possibly the world) were hundreds of shovels, picks, and other tools to help dig out survivors. They were piled up just outside the cordoned off containment area

Every hour or so everybody would stop as they brought out remains from the pile. If the remains was a firefighter or police or first responder, the remains would be covered in an American Flag and those of us in uniform would salute as the remains was brought out on a Stokes Basket litter. I remember one time the body bag was half full and I thought that the remains was possibly a child but more than likely a partial remains.

At one point I was standing in the rubble and realized that I was standing on a completely pulverized and crushed car. I could tell from the smell that a body/remains was more than likely buried under the car which was probably parked on West Street at the time the tower fell. The person may have tried to seek some kind of shelter by getting under the car before the tower fell on top of the car. I will never forget the smell that pervaded the area, that was described as a "sickly sweet" stench of decaying human remains and organic matter trapped deep beneath the rubble.

At the end of my shift we would all leave the containment area around Ground Zero. I remember the hundreds of people who would surround the cordoned off area and continually applaud the First Responders as we all left the area. They also carried bottles of water, juice, or soda along with small snacks that they would hand out to us. They probably will never know how much that small effort of being there to applaud and shout out encouraging words like "Thank you," and "We're praying for you," meant to us at the time. We were always saying to each other "I cant wrap my mind around this," before hugging a stranger.

At the time the Army was still wearing black leather boots and I remember every night trying to get the gray/white ash off my boots before I traveled home across the Hudson River to my apartment in Jersey City. I never could. I never could get that smell out of my mind either. To this day, if I pass a dumpster or garbage can that has decaying meat, it triggers my senses and brings back memories of those days.

[Those are my memories. I also have several pictures I took during those days including at Liberty State Park and Ground Zero if you are interested.]