There are countless stories about those who were heroic on Sept. 11, 2001. None of them set out to be heroes, but so many of them were. And, most tragically, many didn’t make it home that Tuesday night 23 years ago.
One of those heroes was FDNY Firefighter Stephen G. Siller. On that fateful day, Siller completed a shift when he got word a plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. And though he was slated to play a round of golf with one of his brothers — he was the youngest of seven children — when he heard about the incident, he went back to his Squad 1, Brooklyn, grabbed his turnout gear and then hopped into his car to get over to Manhattan.
The thing is, Siller got caught in the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, where traffic came to a standstill. The New York City Police Department already had word not to allow anyone into Manhattan. So, Siller’s next move was to grab his gear and walk the rest of the way — into Lower Manhattan.
He eventually got to the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers.
And he was one of the 343 firefighters who were killed that day.
But his legacy would continue, through the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which was created by his family in his memory. They organization has raised more than half a billion in the years since and helps to build homes for the families of fallen first responders, among many other charitable causes.
Additionally, the T2T Foundation created a mobile museum, filled with mementos from that terrible day. Four four days last week, students from Lyndhurst, Harrison, East Newark, North Arlington and Kearny were permitted to tour the traveling remembrance of Sept. 11, 2001.
We were also permitted to tour it and did so along with students from Kearny High School, Superintendent of Schools Flora Encarnacao, Assistant Superintendent Aliki Bieltz, Mayor Carol Jean Doyle and Councilwoman Marytrine DeCastro.
Upon entering the trailer, which crosses the country for viewing, there’s an immediate sense of the history there. Massive images of the former Twin Towers of the World Trade Center are visible. A large-screen television plays the CBS coverage of the attacks as they happened that beautiful Tuesday morning.
And it was here the first docent spoke to those assembled.
He is a retired New York City firefighter.
He told stories about his harrowing day — fortunate to be one of the first responders to make it home that day. He spoke of the victims. He spoke of his colleagues, living and deceased. And the students from Kearny High School listened in awe.
Stationed inside where the kids stood was a gigantic piece of marble flooring that one was the platform deep below the Towers at the World Trade Center PATH station. As the teens filed past it, some touched it. Just beyond the marble were two mangled pieces of two FDNY trucks that were destroyed after both Towers collapsed not long after being struck by two airplanes — American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, both originating from Boston.
Another of the docents, himself retired FDNY, showed the youngsters some of the equipment salvaged that day, including a turnout coat, pieces of piping, parts of a mangled ladder, original models of the Twin Towers, images of what became Ground Zero, a firefighter’s uniform shirt with two pens that were in his pocket in 2001, an oxygen tank and corresponding facemask, an FDNY patch with “343” on it and two stunning pieces of WTC steel, pieced together to look like the former towers, with “WTC 9/11 — Never Forget” welded onto each beam.
There’s also a massive image of the Rev. Mychal Judge, the FDNY’s chaplain, who was victim No. 00001, the first reported casualty that day.
Another of the docents asked why the kids were so quiet that day. One quickly fired back a response.
“This is a somber place. The history. So many died that day. We have to be quiet out of respect.”
She perfectly summed up the whole experience of being so close to so many of the items that on that day, were part of the FDNY and that were forever changed after just two quick hours of carnage.
Doyle, meanwhile, took time to reflect on that awful day 23 years ago.
“At our 9/11 remembrance, we all said the exact same thing. We all remember where we were, what we were doing and afraid of what was happening,” Doyle said. “Then we realized we were under attack. I am so glad you are here now. So many don’t remember because they weren’t born yet. So this is a wonderful opportunity to see that some good came from this awful day.”
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.