09/11/2026
SEPTEMBER 11 — FROM ONE WHO WAS THERE
25 Years Later
There are some days in your life that become memories.
And then there are days that become a part of you.
September 11, 2001, is one of those days for me.
I was one of the first responders who answered the call that day. Twenty-five years later, there are things I can still remember as if they happened yesterday. There are other things I don't talk about very often.
Those of us who responded came from different departments, agencies, ambulance corps and communities. Most of us didn't know one another. It didn't matter.
Someone needed help.
So we went.
We didn't know what the next hour would bring. We didn't know how long we would be there or what we would see. We certainly didn't understand how that one day would continue affecting so many of us decades later.
We just knew that people needed us.
What I remember most today isn't only the destruction.
I remember the people.
I remember first responders doing what they were trained to do under circumstances none of us could ever have truly trained for.
I remember people helping complete strangers.
I remember firefighters, police officers, EMS personnel, Port Authority officers, medical personnel, dispatchers, volunteers and countless others working side by side.
Nobody cared what patch was on your shoulder.
Nobody asked where you came from.
There was work to do.
So we did it.
Some of the people who answered that call never went home.
Others survived September 11 only to become sick years later because of what they were exposed to while serving at Ground Zero and the surrounding areas.
And some of us are still here 25 years later.
We carry our own memories of that day.
But when I think about September 11, I also think about the families.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed that day. Behind every one of those numbers was somebody who was loved.
Someone lost a husband or wife.
Someone lost a mother or father.
Children lost parents.
Parents lost children.
Families lost brothers, sisters, grandparents and relatives.
Friends lost people they expected to grow old with.
Twenty-five years may have passed for the rest of the world, but I know there are families for whom September 11 never became history.
It remained personal.
That is why remembering matters.
As a member of the Bayside Volunteer Ambulance Corps, I am also proud that members of BVAC answered the call that day.
We were a small volunteer ambulance corps from Bayside, Queens.
But on September 11, that didn't matter.
We were needed, and we responded.
I am proud to have served alongside the members of BVAC who went out that day. I am proud of every first responder, volunteer and ordinary citizen who stepped forward when our city needed help.
September 11 changed all of us in different ways.
It also showed us something that I wish people today could have witnessed without having to experience the tragedy that caused it.
We came together.
People weren't asking whether someone was a Republican or Democrat.
Nobody cared about someone's religion, race, neighborhood or background.
People were Americans helping Americans.
New Yorkers helping New Yorkers.
And strangers helping strangers.
For a while, we remembered that we had far more in common than we had separating us.
Twenty-five years later, I wish we could remember more of that.
So on this anniversary, I don't want to remember September 11 only for what happened to the buildings.
I want to remember the people.
I remember those who went to work that morning and never returned home.
I remember the first responders who gave their lives trying to save others.
I remember those who survived that day but lost their lives in the years afterward from 9/11-related illnesses.
I remember my fellow first responders who are still here and continue to carry the effects of that day.
I remember the families who have lived with an empty place at their table for 25 years.
And I remember the members of the Bayside Volunteer Ambulance Corps who answered the call alongside me.
To everyone who was there:
I remember you.
To those we lost:
I will never forget you.
To the families:
Your loved ones are still remembered.
And to every first responder who answered the call that day and every day since:
Thank you for your service.
Twenty-five years later, I am grateful to still be here to remember them.
And as long as those of us who were there continue telling their stories, the people we lost will never simply become names in a history book.
They will be remembered for who they were, what they did, and the people who loved them.
WE WILL NEVER FORGET.
September 11, 2001
From one first responder who was there, to all those who served, all those we lost, and all the families who continue to carry their memory.
Chris Capo
