“May we not ever forget”

An 11-foot steel beam from the South tower of the World Trade Center sits in the center of a new Sept.11 memorial at the Red Cross office in Tallahassee, Florida.

While the weight of the large, heavy beam is considerable, the weight of what it represents is far heavier, noted Florida State Fire Marshall Jimmy Patronis, who sent remarks to be read at a ribbon-cutting and memorial ceremony at the site this morning.

The steel beam is installed at an angle so it acts like a sun dial, casting its shadow on plaques placed in a circle that mark the events of the day, including the exact moment each of the hijacked airplanes met its tragic end.

Close to 3,000 people died in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In the days, weeks and months that followed, 57,000 Red Cross volunteers deployed to help respond to the multi-location disaster, including 32 Red Crossers from the Tallahassee area.

That spirit of giving back and helping people when they face the worst “is what makes the Red Cross who we are,” said Sharon Council Carraway, executive director of the Capital Area chapter of the Red Cross of Northern Florida during the ceremony. “May we never forget.”

Red Crossers who have deployed to Northern Florida to help with Hurricane Idalia response joined first responders and local officials at this morning’s ceremony. The Florida State University marching band played the National Anthem to begin the ceremony and a bagpiper played “Amazing Grace” as a capsule with some of the fire-retardant foam that enveloped the beam, embedded with dust from the World Trade Center disaster site – including particles that include human remains – was lowered into a vault at the memorial.

Throughout the day, each of the close to 3,000 Sept. 11 victims’ names were read aloud and a bell was rung in memoriam.

“The Red Cross mission is stronger than planes that go into buildings,” said Judy Nicholson, a longtime Red Crosser who was part of the Red Cross response in New York City in 2001, after the ceremony. “It’s stronger than those of us who have served and are gone now. It’s something that I want to be a part of until I’m gone.”

“Whatever was needed”

Every year on Sept. 11, Randy Barkley wears his Ground Zero ballcap and takes time to sit down, reflect and remember the many lives lost on that fateful day 23 years ago.

In 2001, Barkley was the manager of a Red Cross warehouse that was just a few blocks from the World Trade Center in New York City. He was one of the first Red Crossers to reach Ground Zero and begin to help.

In the weeks and months that followed, supplies poured into Barkley’s warehouse from all over the world, he recalls. He helped ensure that search, rescue and recovery workers had whatever was needed.

Each disaster the Red Cross responds to has different needs and challenges, said Barkley, however, they all have a common thread: Fulfilling the Red Cross mission of relieving pain and suffering. The Sept. 11 response was no different, he said.

“So much love and kindness”

Judy Nicholson deployed with the Red Cross both to Washington D.C. and the New York City area in the months after Sept. 11, 2001, including helping establish a family assistance center in New Jersey to support the families of those who were missing or deceased.

Nicholson and her team escorted families to the Ground Zero site every day so they “could see what they needed to see” to find closure, she recalls. Even 23 years later, she chokes up when she describes hearing the signal that meant they needed to leave the area because human remains had been found.

“There was just so much love and kindness, tenderness and respect for everyone” among the Ground Zero response, said Nicholson, who is chief of the Red Cross Disaster Mental Health team. “I did not run across anyone who wasn’t there for the exact right reasons. We were not there for ourselves. We were all there to put our arms around the wounded and the suffering and help ourselves [humanity] become better and stronger.”

“We knew what we had to do”

Red Cross volunteer Doug Paugh was a police officer in Mine Hill, New Jersey on Sept. 11, 2001. The day after the attack, he and several of his fellow officers got permission to make the drive to New York City to help.

“As soon as we saw the attack, we knew what we had to do,” said Paugh, who is currently deployed with the Red Cross to Tallahassee, Florida to help with Hurricane Idalia response. It was eerie to find the Holland Tunnel empty and quiet, he said, and when they emerged into the city, they knew they had “just walked into hell.”

The scene was “breathtaking,” he recalls. There was dust everywhere and the pile of rubble from the World Trade Center spanned multiple blocks. Workers were removing beams from the building, cutting them into smaller pieces and loading them onto trucks to be removed around the clock.

Paugh spent 30 years as a police officer and joined the Red Cross in retirement to continue helping people. At his home chapter in New Jersey, he manages teams that respond to local emergencies such as home fires.

“I’m a boots on the ground guy. Volunteering with the Red Cross allows me to continue [helping others]. It keeps me going,” Paugh said. “Every Sept. 11, I take time to remember and it brings me back to that day. It gets to you.”

By Bethany Bray Patterson