First responders share Ground Zero memories

The 25th anniversary of 9/11 brings up lots of memories for those who witnessed the events of that day, whether it was in person or on television.

On Sept. 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the U.S. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, the third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pa. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the attacks.

For three local first responders, the anniversary is a reminder of the importance of showing up to support their colleagues and country in a time of need.

■ Phil Goode, 54, is the fire chief at Richmond Heights Fire Department, a position he’s held for six years. In 2001, he was a captain with the Eureka Fire Protection District and had been with the department as a volunteer since 1989. He later became a battalion chief.

On Sept. 11, 2001, Goode was at rescue training at a rollercoaster at Six Flags St. Louis.

After the World Trade Center towers collapsed, Goode said his crew was called back to the station. It was there that he learned that a FEMA urban search and rescue task force, Missouri Task Force 1, had been deployed to New York City to help with rescue and cleanup.

It was the first time the federal government had deployed the task force.

Goode, along with six other members from Eureka Fire Protection District, were part of the 82-person team.

He said he was given a short amount of time to pack and say goodbye to his wife and newborn daughter before he left for the task force headquarters at the Boone County Fire Protection District in Columbia.

Goode said the team received a briefing, their gear and medical check-ins before being taken by bus to Whiteman Air Force Base.

“We had two C130s that loaded up our gear and personnel, and we flew into New Jersey. That’s where we stayed overnight. The next morning us and three other teams from across the country all convoyed in from New Jersey to Ground Zero,” he said.

Goode said the task force spent around two weeks in New York, working 12-hour shifts of search and rescue operations around the towers, other high-rise buildings and underground parking garages.

“We knew that the building collapses meant there was already a large number of deaths, and our job was to go up and give closure to families, and do search and rescue efforts to try and find anybody who was alive,” he said. “We found some victims, but we didn’t find any live victims.

“Our specialty is to dig and tunnel down into confined spaces where there’s just a pile of debris.”

Goode said the morale among the team was “somber.”

“Obviously there’s a lot of death and destruction. You’re talking about two 110-story buildings, and I didn’t see a desk, I didn’t see a computer, a chair, it just seemed like everything was pulverized when (the towers) came down,” he said. “FEMA had a great infrastructure as far as bringing in people. They brought in celebrities to try to keep morale up in the base when you went back and slept and ate and got debriefed. They had things for us there to try to keep our minds off things, but quite frankly, we just wanted to sleep.”

After the task force flew back to Whiteman Air Force Base, Goode remembers a feeling of overwhelming patriotism.

“From Whiteman Air Force Base coming back to Columbia, every overpass had people on it and American flags. It was just very patriotic,” he said. “It humbled us, but it was a job that we had to do.”

Goode said the only regret he has from his time in New York City was not keeping a journal.

Twenty-five years later, he wants people to remember the sacrifices made that day.

“During 9/11, we were all together. Everybody was up there helping from all walks of life all across the world. International teams came to help there (Ground Zero) or at the Pentagon. At that moment, we were all just human beings helping each other survive from this.”

■ Bill Matzker, 73, of Imperial was captain of the Maryland Heights Fire Protection District in September 2001. He had assumed the position in 2000 and later retired in 2018.

On 9/11, six members of Maryland Heights Fire, including Matzker, were deployed as part of Missouri Task Force 1.

“We had a police escort all the way to Boone County,” he said.

Matzker said the group was taken to Whiteman Air Force Base and flew to New Jersey and then was bused into Manhattan.

“We saw the smoke way before we got there,” he said. “We had no idea what was going on. We didn’t see any news. We didn’t know if we were under attack any other places.”

Matzker said his team broke up concrete from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“We were given areas to search, and we used sound detectors and pneumatic equipment to break the concrete up, and then we’d crawl down in there to see if we could see anybody,” he said.

Matzker remembers uncomfortable conversations with loved ones of missing victims.

“They had these huge chain-link fences all around the perimeter, and we’d have to go through gates to get out, and that’s the part I didn’t like because family members and friends had pictures of their loved ones. They’re running up to us and trying to get us to look at the pictures,” he said. “I couldn’t even look at them. I can tell you where every crack in the street was, but I didn’t have the heart to talk to anybody.”

Matzker also remembers celebrities such as Chevy Chase and William Baldwin coming to boost morale among first responders.

He also said the base of operations was at the Jarvitz Center in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan.

“We lived on rations and MREs for three or four days until they got the food bus in the kitchen where they could actually cook food,” Matzker said. “The first two or three days we were sleeping on the concrete floor.”

Matzker, who began his career as a volunteer firefighter with Rock Community Fire Protection District as an 18-year-old, said he felt bothered leaving Ground Zero.

“We’re used to having some kind of outcome, whether it’s good or bad, we’ve done something. And it felt like we didn’t accomplish anything because we didn’t have any survivors on our part,” he said. “One thing that got us emotional was all the people lined up on (Interstate) 70 on the bridges and flags everywhere. That got us emotional because we didn’t expect anything like that.”

Matzker said he can’t believe it’s been 25 years since 9/11.

“When you get older you start to have little things wrong with you. ‘My back hurts’ and ‘my knees are stiff,’” he said. “Right away, I go back to the 343 firefighters who died on the scene there, and I think, ‘You know what? My worst day is better than theirs, so I gotta hold myself back sometimes and try to live the best we can and honor those guys.’”

■ Joshua Wineinger, who is a detective with the Arnold Police Department and has been with the department for eight years, was working as a police officer at a north St. Louis County police department on Sept. 11, 2001.

“Like so many police officers across the country, I felt an overwhelming need to do something,” said Wineinger, who turns 46 this month.

After graduating from the police academy in December 2001, Wineinger decided to travel to New York City to help with the recovery effort at the World Trade Center.

“I wasn’t sent there by my department, and I wasn’t part of an organized deployment. I went because I was a young police officer who felt that my place, in some way, was with the people who were responding,” he said.

Wineinger said he arrived in New York on Dec. 26, 2001, but access to Ground Zero was restricted.

“There were already large numbers of first responders and trained personnel working the site, and I was not allowed into the operational area to participate in the rescue or cleanup,” he said.

Wineinger said he spent time around the perimeter and befriended several New York officers, some of whom he remains friends with to this day.

“I listened to what they were experiencing, offered my support and tried to let them know that police officers from across the country were standing with them,” he said. “More than anything, I witnessed the devastation and the incredible response of the people who were there.”

Almost a quarter-century removed from the experience, Wineinger said what stayed with him the most during that week in New York is that even though he couldn’t physically help, it still mattered that he was there and showed his support.

-- Carrson McDaniel

Festus man tells of life in New York; Imperial woman lucky to not be there

By Kevin Carbery

The safety of family members and friends was a haunting worry for many Americans on 9/11.

It was a worry shared by a Festus man who was living in New York as well as an Imperial woman who was scheduled to be in the Big Apple when terrorist attacks occurred.

On Sept. 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the U.S. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, the third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pa. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the attacks.

‘Everyone was in shock’

Sal Nigro, now 52, was living in the New York City area.

“That day and everything that happened – I’ll never forget,” said Nigro, who moved to Festus in 2019. “I was born in the Bronx. I was living in New Jersey, just outside of the city. I lived in Paramus, N.J., about 20 minutes out of the city. I was clerking at a courthouse in Hackensack (New Jersey) when the attacks happened.”

When the first plane struck the World Trade Center, it was not known if it was due to pilot error, he recalled.

“We had a civil trial scheduled, and there was a TV in the jury room,” he said. “The trial was supposed to start at 9 a.m. The jury let us know the first plane had hit. I told the judge, and he came to the jury room. The trial got delayed. Then, the second plane hit.”

That removed any doubt that it was a terrorist attack, Nigro said.

He said the rest of his day was centered around trying to account for family members known to be working near the World Trade Center when the planes hit it.

“My mother was also a clerk in the courthouse,” he said. “I have two older brothers in construction who were working in the city. After the attacks, we were just trying to get ahold of them. But you couldn’t get through on the phone.”

It wasn’t until later in the day that Nigro and his mother found out about them.

“We got evacuated from the courthouse,” he said. “My brothers were working in lower Manhattan. We learned that they came out all right. A cousin was working in a building adjacent to the Trade Center. He was able to get out, as well.”

Not everyone did, obviously.

“A friend’s little brother was killed in the Trade Center attacks,” Nigro said.

He said he recalls the feeling of the New York City area changing almost instantly.

“It was a shock,” Nigro said. “Everyone was in shock. It had been vibrant. After this, it wasn’t the same New York City.”

He said he was mentally shaken by the horrible events.

“Just going into tall buildings of any kind was hard,” he said. “I had friends come visit around Christmas that year, and they wanted to go to the Empire State Building. I did go, but it was an uneasy feeling.”

Immediately after the nation’s no-fly rule was rescinded, Nigro took a plane ride against the wishes of his family members.

“About 10 days (after the attacks), the airports opened,” he said. “The first day, I flew to Florida. It was a planned trip. I needed to get out of the city.”

‘Angels looking out for us’

Vicki Merrell, who was living in Herculaneum in 2001, has one of those “What if?” stories that make people feel as if fortune has smiled on them.

She and one of her sons, Sean, had been traveling to New York weekly in 2001 so that Sean could take part in a drug trial program.

“I definitely believe there were angels looking out for us,” said Merrell, now 57, of Imperial. “We could have been there.”

Sean has Mucopolysaccharidosis type I, which is a rare inherited genetic disorder more commonly called MPS1, and he was in a drug test trial program at New York University. From the beginning of the drug trial in January 2001, Vicki and Sean flew weekly to the Big Apple each Monday and flew home each Tuesday.

But the week before the attacks, Sean’s doctor changed his treatment schedule for the week of Sept. 10. They flew to New York on Sunday and flew home Monday.

The 9/11 attacks happened on Tuesday morning.

“He’d been going every week since January 2001 (on the Monday-Tuesday schedule),” Vicki recalled. “That week, we flew out Sunday, Sept. 9, and he was treated Monday, Sept. 10. We took off about 8:30 and got back home about 10:30 p.m. Monday. Our flight was supposed to leave earlier but had a weather delay.”

Friends and family did not know that the treatment schedule had changed, she said.

“Everybody thought we were still on the old schedule, that we were still there Tuesday morning,” Vicki said. “We were watching ‘Barney’ at home and my phone started ringing. People were worried we were still in New York.”

Had Sean’s appointment that week not been altered, they would have been near where the attacks occurred, she said.

“We would stay at a hotel at 33rd and 1st (streets), right across the street from the New York University School of Medicine in Manhattan,” she said. “The World Trade Center was in the heart of Manhattan, in the business district. Anyone who was on the island of Manhattan was affected that day.”

Vicki said she noticed a difference in New York after the attacks.

“When we were going to New York prior to the attacks, it was busy,” she said. “People were energetic. After the attacks, the mood changed. For weeks, there was smoke everywhere.

“There was so much loss. People lost loved ones. It changed the heart of New York City.”

Fire industry evolved after 9/11 attacks

By Tony Krausz

Jefferson County and Eureka fire protection districts and departments have improved how firefighters communicate and work with each other and other area first responder agencies in the 25 years since terrorists attacked the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001.

The need for first-responding agencies to effectively communicate with each other and respond to acts of terrorism became a priority after 9/11, when 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the U.S.

Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, the third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pa. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the attacks.

Cedar Hill Fire Protection District Chief David Jones said one of the first steps taken after the attack was first responder agencies converting to systems that could connect, communicate and share information.

“This led to improvements in our radio systems, allowing us to communicate more effectively with neighboring fire departments and emergency services,” he said.

Rock Community Fire Protection District Chief Kevin Wingbermuehle said firefighters had prepared for possible terrorist attacks prior to 9/11, but the attacks changed how the fire industry approaches and works with other agencies during emergencies.

“Greater attention was placed on scene security, communications, accountability and coordination with law enforcement, emergency medical services, emergency management and other responding agencies,” he said. “The attacks demonstrated how quickly an incident can expand beyond the capabilities of a single department or jurisdiction. As a result, greater emphasis was placed on unified command and the ability of multiple agencies to work together effectively during a major emergency.”

Eureka Fire Protection District Chief Scott Barthelmass said the 9/11 attacks were an awakening to firefighters and emphasized the need for firefighters to be ever vigilant.

“Immediately following the attacks, personnel received more training in search and rescue, building collapse, hazmat and weapons of mass destruction,” he said. “We began to focus more on working with law enforcement, being more security cautious and prepared to serve our communities here and across the country.”

Jones said staffing and firefighters’ availability to respond to disasters have increased in the last 25 years.

“We have more firefighters available to respond to emergencies 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” he said. “This enhanced staffing improves our ability to respond quickly and safely to incidents while providing better service to our community.”

Training

Saline Valley Fire Protection District Fire Chief Bob Dunn said 9/11 changed the fire service significantly.

“Training expanded beyond traditional fire, emergency medical services, hazmat and rescue to include terrorism awareness, unified command, large-scale incidents, technical rescue, communications and regional coordination,” he said. “The basic job is still the same, but there is much more emphasis now on command, accountability, communications, situational awareness, Mayday procedures and Rapid Intervention Teams. The fire service became much more structured in how we manage large incidents and keep track of personnel operating on scene.”

Antonia Fire Protection District Assistant Chief Bobby Chrisco said departments nationwide adopted more formalized incident management practices and increased emphasis on accountability systems that track personnel operating on emergency scenes. He also said communication between all first responder agencies has improved.

“Implementing these changes was not always easy,” he said. “It required new policies, extensive training, regional cooperation and substantial financial investment. However, the fire service recognized that these improvements would enhance firefighter safety and improve our ability to protect the public during major emergencies.”

Jones said firefighters started participating in more training exercises more frequently since 9/11.

“We have done specialized training on large area search and now place greater emphasis on air consumption drills to help firefighters better understand how long their self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) air supply will last under various conditions,” he said.

De Soto Rural Fire Protection District Chief Tom Fitzgerald, who also oversees the De Soto Fire Department, said there was a new focus and information about protecting the health and safety of firefighters after 9/11.

“There is more knowledge of occupational cancers affecting emergency responders, and to that point, more diligent use of protective equipment and decontamination of equipment and personnel,” he said.

Dunn said nearly all equipment firefighters use has improved over the last 25 years.

“We saw major improvements in radios, protective equipment, technical rescue tools, search cameras, mobile computers, mapping, accountability systems and incident-management technology,” he said. “Things like drones and real-time incident tracking are becoming routine tools that were uncommon years ago.”

Chrisco said nearly all fire protection agencies have benefited from modern communications equipment, upgraded personal protection equipment, incident management tools and specialized rescue capabilities that were either unavailable or uncommon before 9/11.

“These improvements help firefighters make better decisions, operate more safely and provide a higher level of service to the community,” he said.

Funding

Jones said the federal government established the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program after 9/11. He said money was available to purchase equipment, apparatus, turnout gear and other critical resources that many agencies would not have been able to afford.

“The program has had a significant impact on improving firefighter safety, emergency response capabilities and overall preparedness for a wide range of incidents,” he said.

Wingbermuehle said Rock Fire received about $1 million from federal grant programs for training, safety equipment and personnel in the last 25 years.

“Those grants have allowed us to make important investments while reducing the financial burden on our local taxpayers,” he said.

Fitzgerald said De Soto Rural and the De Soto Fire Departments received grants to aid in hiring more firefighters and purchasing equipment.

“The city fire department did receive a staffing grant that helped get a second firefighter per shift established, and the rural district received grants for equipment and a truck,” he said.

Jones said along with the AFG, Cedar Hill Fire received money from organizations such as the Leary Firefighters Foundation, Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation, Jefferson Foundation and Missouri Employers Mutual.

He said his agency has purchased items such as turnout gear, thermal imaging cameras, rescue tools, radios, a standby generator, air purification systems, sonar equipment and other essential equipment.

“These funding opportunities have greatly enhanced our operational capabilities while reducing the financial burden on our local community,” he said.

Barthelmass said additional funding sources allowed St. Louis region agencies to purchase command posts, hazardous materials equipment and mass sheltering equipment. He said Eureka Fire purchased many of those units, but budget constraints and the lack of outside funding to pay for the upkeep or replacement of outdated equipment forced the district to allocate some of that equipment to other agencies.

Fitzgerald also said there has been a reduction in available grant money.

“There have not been any successful grants for us in the last 10 or so years as the available funds have shrunk,” he said.

Remembering

Fitzgerald said the De Soto Fire Department has a monument made from steel from the World Trade Center at its station, 114 N. Second St, and city and rural district firefighters annually start the morning of Sept. 11 with a stair climb to the recorded audio of the tower incident at the stairs on West Mineral Street between Main and Second streets.

He said the climb ends at the De Soto Fire Department’s monument.

“The names of the fallen are carried on an old fire hose, and the on and off duty staff all attend and sometimes the general public,” Fitzgerald said.

Barthelmass said Eureka will hold a special event in its downtown area this year on Sept. 11, and Eureka firefighters will wear a special T-shirt in honor of those who died after the terrorist attacks.

Jones said Cedar Hill firefighters who pay a donation every day throughout September may wear a T-shirt that recognizes either New York firefighters, 9/11 memorial organizations or other fire departments impacted by the attacks. He said the money will be donated to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.

“This initiative provides an opportunity to honor the memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifice, recognize the bravery and service of first responders and support an organization that continues to assist first responders, veterans and their families,” he said.

Chrisco said Antonia firefighters, along with other area firefighters, participate in remembrance ceremonies, memorial services, stair climbs, public education events and moments of silence on Sept. 11.

“Many of today’s firefighters were not yet born or were very young when the attacks occurred. It is our responsibility to pass on those lessons and preserve the legacy of those who responded,” he said.

Dunn said the best way to honor those who were lost is to remember them, learn from what happened and continue preparing the next generation of firefighters.

“Twenty-five years later, 9/11 still influences how the fire service trains, communicates and manages major incidents,” he said. “Technology and procedures have changed, but the mission has not. When people call for help, we go.

“That is what firefighters did on Sept. 11, 2001, and that is a responsibility we still carry today.”

Educators recall how students, staffs learned of 9/11

By Sarah Lerch, Kate Bequette and Carrson McDaniel

Jim Chellew vividly remembers the moments in the Fox C-6 School District central office when he heard of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“I was sitting in my office, and one of the secretaries came in and said, ‘Mr. Chellew, you need to come in and see this,” the former Fox C-6 superintendent recalled.

On Sept. 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the U.S. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, the third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pa. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the attacks.

Initially, those assembled around a television in the nearby boardroom thought the first plane that struck a World Trade Center tower in New York was an accident, said Chellew, now 77. But once the second plane struck the other tower, he figured this may not be an accident.

Once news began to spread, parents started calling the office to see if they could pick up their kids from school early, said Chellew, of Imperial.

“We told them if they wanted to come and pick up their child, they could. And then the question was: Should we send them all home? And I said, I don’t want to send kids home where there’s nobody there,” he said. “We’ll just keep them with us until we work through this.”

Educators share how they learned of attacks

Like Chellew, those working in schools at the time of the 9/11 attacks remember the exact moment the news spread throughout the workplace, and they recall the impact that news had on the students and peers around them.

■ Pam Helferstay was three weeks into her first year of teaching when the 9/11 attacks occurred.

“I had just escorted my class of freshmen to the library for library orientation,” said Helferstay, now 49, of Eureka. “As my students got settled, the librarian, Linda Dougherty, told me she would take care of the students, and that I should go watch the TV in her office.

“I thought it was odd to tell me to go watch TV,” she said.

“As I entered her office, there were three or four other staff members watching the TV. I looked up just in time to see the second plane hit the tower. Everyone was silent. I was confused.

“I asked, ‘What movie is this?’ No one responded. They just looked at me, stunned. I knew then what this was and immediately felt the heaviness in my chest. From there, it was quite the whirlwind,” she added.

Helferstay, who is in her ninth year as assistant principal at Northwest R-1’s Valley Middle School and previously taught mathematics at Northwest High School for 17 years, said Sept. 11, 2001, was a day filled with uneasiness, questions, tears and uncertainty.

All teaching and learning stopped, and students became scared. When students started asking if the school was safe, Helferstay and other faculty members gave what reassurance they could with what little information they had themselves.

“The social studies teacher on my team, Bob Wilhelm, was instrumental in helping them (students) feel safe,” she said. “As a symbol of protection and safety, he had students place little plastic army men in our classrooms over the next week. It was a small act that communicated that we stood together and protected each other. It seemed to lift student spirits.”

■ Former teacher Judy Smith, who taught second grade in the Fox C-6 School District in 2001, was one of the teachers in the Sherwood Elementary building who broke the news to other staff members.

“My husband called, and he said, “Oh my gosh, a plane has crashed into one of the towers in New York City,” and he was upset,” said Smith, now 67, of Fenton. “I immediately ran to my other second grade friends’ doors, and I told them what had happened, and then I ran to third grade and told them.”

By the time she got back to her classroom, Smith said, teachers were turning on their televisions in their rooms to watch what was unfolding.

She recalled the principal then instructed teachers to turn off the televisions because it was upsetting some students.

“I just know it just put a cloud, just such a heaviness over everybody, over all the teachers,” Smith said. “At lunch time, everybody was trying to get to the teachers’ lounge to turn the TV back on and find out what was going on.”

Smith said the children in her class were too young to fully understand what was going on, but she knew that some of the older kids were shaken up by the attacks.

■ In higher grades, the news became the focus of the classrooms.

Eureka High School Principal Corey Sink was teaching a marketing or business management class at St. Charles High School when he received a message about the attacks.

“We had cable television in the class,” Sink said. “We turned the TV on and saw 'The Today Show' was covering that something had hit one of the Twin Towers.”

Sink, now 52, of Eureka recalled the moment he and his students saw the second commercial aircraft hit the second tower, confirming the disaster was no accident.

“It was surreal,” he said. “I remember it so vividly. You didn’t know what was going on or how this could be possible. St. Charles High School is in the flight path of Lambert Airport. They had canceled all flights, which was very eerie; not to see any planes flying across the flight path. And of course, all practices and after-school activities were canceled.”

Sink said he later had the opportunity to take DECA students, which is the co-curricular organization with the marketing club, to New York City for class assignments. After the 9/11 attacks, Sink made it a mission to include a visit to the memorial and museum on every class trip.

“I was there (at the memorial) when it was nothing but a hole in the ground and dump trucks were working on the site,” he said. “Over time, I’ve seen the memorial being built and, this spring break, I took my family to NYC and saw the site again. It is incredibly moving.

“Even if you weren’t alive when the attacks happened, I encourage people to visit the memorial and museum,” he said. “The sight of it makes people remember the gravity of what happened and reminds people to take care of each other.”

■ In the moments after the attacks, educators made concerted efforts to check on how staff and students were handling the aftermath.

At Crystal City High School, those duties fell to Tammy Ridgeway, who was serving her first year as principal, and Stephanie Waites, who was the high school counselor.

“We had some students that were watching it live,” Ridgeway said. “So we started walking the building before even the second plane had hit the second tower. One of the reasons we had taken off immediately walking the building and getting the pulse was we had a teacher whose daughter taught in the Twin Towers.”

“And so then, the second tower was hit, and at that point, we knew it was a terrorist attack,” she said. “In the process before we went and talked to every single classroom, we learned that we had a teacher whose mother was possibly a stewardess on one of the flights going out of Boston that day. And at that point in time, the airplane had not crashed in Pennsylvania.”

In both instances, staff family members ended up being unharmed.

“I still remember that it was a waiting game,” Waites said. “Not only him waiting to hear from his daughter. I felt like our whole building was waiting for information.”

■ Waiting for information about staff members’ families near the attack sites was not an uncommon experience.

Mendy Bradshaw, who was an English teacher on 9/11, recalled one of the teachers working in the Dunklin R-5 School District at the time had a son who was working at a building near the World Trade Center.

“I just remember the panic for her because she couldn’t reach him,” said Bradshaw, who now is a library specialist at Herculaneum High School.

Throughout the day, she said most teachers would turn on the televisions in their classrooms to keep tabs on the news. She said she would try to talk to students about what was happening.

“I think we were all just kind of shocked and watching it play out,” she said.

Educators share how events of 9/11 taught to later generations

By Sarah Lerch, Kate Bequette and Carrson McDaniel

Twenty-five years after 9/11, the approaches educators use to teach and remember the events surrounding the terrorist attacks are shaped in part by their personal experiences.

On Sept. 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the U.S. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, the third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pa. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the attacks.

For Colette Higgins, Rockwood R-6’s director of educational access, 9/11 has a deeply personal connection.

Higgins, now 48, of St. Louis previously taught sixth grade at P.S. 83, a kindergarten through eighth grade school in the Bronx, New York.

“The sky was crazy blue and clear that day, which was unusual for that time of year in New York,” she said. “I was in a classroom on the fifth floor of a six-story building, which was a good 20 miles from where the Twin Towers were. But on that day, you could see very clearly all the way to southern Manhattan and the whole skyline.”

Higgins said the news of the attacks came fast. As she walked across the hall to the dean’s office, she listened to the radio describing the event.

The safety of students was heavy on her mind.

“I went back to my classroom, and we had decided to move the kids,” she said. “We did not want them in the classrooms way up high because the sky was filled with smoke. We took them downstairs. But as we were in the hallway, calmly clearing them out, we looked out the windows that were facing south, and we saw the tower collapse.”

Twenty-five years after the attacks, the impact hits differently between older generations and younger ones, she said.

“It’s amazing over the last 25 years, how much it’s just a story in our American history,” Higgins said. “It doesn’t resonate in the same way to most Americans and to younger kids the way it does for those of us who were there experiencing it.”

Higgins pointed to her daughter’s desire to visit the 9/11 museum several years ago as an example of that difference.

“I had never been, even when I was still living in New York,” Higgins said. “I didn’t feel like that was something I wanted to do.

“But it was 20 years later, and I felt like I could finally do it. The museum does a terrific job of providing testimony of what happened,” she said.

Those efforts to preserve the stories and experiences are shared by many area educators.

Pam Helferstay, who is in her ninth year as assistant principal at Northwest R-1’s Valley Middle School and previously taught mathematics at Northwest High School for 17 years, said it’s important to share that history with students today who weren’t alive when the attack happened.

“Each year on the anniversary, we start our day with the principal, Dr. Spencer Storey, reading a statement of remembrance, followed by a moment of silence,” she said. “Teachers do informational activities and discussions with students throughout the day.

“While it is interesting to see and hear how students react to these lessons, they will never understand the true impact it had on the U.S. and its citizens that day. I wish, if students learn nothing else of that day, they learn how, as a nation, we came together. Race, age, gender, religion and economic status didn’t matter. We stood together, and no one was going to hurt us again. We were united. We were one,” she said.

How educators approach 9/11 has changed through the years, said Annie Schoessel, 46, of Wildwood.

Schoessel, who is in her 25th year of teaching social studies at Eureka High School, said she was a Mizzou student at the time of the attacks.

“When I first started teaching, the topic was more of a discussion,” she said. “Students could talk about what they remembered, where they were and how they talked to their families at home after it happened.

“Now, (teaching the subject) it’s not better or worse. It’s that these kids are learning it just like they’ve learned anything else. We can provide the details, but they rarely have any personal stories to add.”

Schoessel said she teaches the lesson of 9/11 closer to the end of the year, mainly working with students to tie what they know today to how things have been impacted by the events of 9/11.

“One of the topics of our units in our history classes toward the end is global terrorism, immigration and national security. Has it changed? If it changed, why has it changed? How has something as simple as walking through an airport changed?

“They (students) are directly impacted by this event even if they were not alive during it,” she said.

Similarly, Herculaneum High School teacher, Todd Medley, said the relatability with students has diminished greatly. When he started teaching about 15 years ago, he was co-teaching with another educator at the Hillsboro School District.

“I believe that it’s evolved; the further that you get away from the actual event, there’s more different theories the younger generation are presented with,” he said. “That’s a big thing to me… almost reeducating them on more of facts about the event than proposed theories.”

Crystal City Superintendent Taylor Massa said the entire school discusses the attacks based upon their grade.

“Our Crystal City students learn about Sept. 11 as part of age-appropriate social studies and U.S. history lessons,” she said. “Teachers help students understand what happened and why it remains an important moment in our nation’s history. Students also learn about and honor the bravery and sacrifice shown by first responders.”

High school counselor Stephanie Waites said Crystal City schools hold a moment of silence in remembrance of the attacks each year on the anniversary of the attacks.

Sharon Luster and Mary Stephenson, who have been teaching seventh grade social studies at Hillsboro Junior High for six years, use lessons about 9/11 as opportunities to encourage family discussions on the subject.

“It’s something that we lived through as adults, and so it’s important to us that kids understand the importance of what happened on that day and the heroes who never made it home never get forgotten,” Stephenson said.

Luster said class discussion on the topic typically begins on Sept. 10.

“We encourage (students) to go home to talk to their parents and their grandparents,” she said.

On Sept. 11, Stephenson said the class talks about the event of the day and what it looked like for herself and Luster.

“I was working at a small private school right by the airport and so a lot of my students, their parents worked at the airport,” she said. “It was very eerie in our school for three days because it was so quiet. We were used to the big shadow of the planes taking off and the sounds.”

Luster said faculty are also invited to come in and share their stories of where they were on the day.

Luster said students almost can’t believe it when the information about 9/11 is presented to them.

“We’ve had tears, we’ve had tons of more questions we’ve had to carry on to the next day, Sept. 12. They’re very responsive to it,” she said.

Luster said students are often curious about the motive and the aftermath of the attacks.

“They ask a lot of whys. They want to know what we were doing where we were at, more specifically ‘What did you do the next day?’ ‘Did you have school the next day?’ ‘What did you do?’’ she said. “From really upset kids to kids that are really super into it and want to know why did this happen?”

9/11 motivates local man to pursue dream

By Teresa Inserra

For as long as he can remember, Rick Draper wanted to be a police officer.

“I can’t think of anything else I wanted to do,” said Draper, a De Soto patrolman who will turn 46 years old on Sept. 11. “I lived in St. Louis city. I grew up in St. Louis city. I didn’t know anything other than St. Louis city, and so my goal was to be a St. Louis city cop.”

Draper can pinpoint what made him decide to be a police officer. In elementary school, a family member came to his home drunk and irate.

“My mom didn’t want him in, and I was terrified,” he said. “I can remember the fear. I didn’t know what was going on. I was probably in no danger, and it was probably less dramatic than I think it was, but that’s how I remember it. My mom called the police, and the (St. Louis) police showed up, and there were like five or six of them, and they grabbed him, and then we were safe.”

Draper said he wanted to make other people feel safe.

A medical issue kept Draper, a graduate of Cleveland High School ROTC, from joining the military, and St. Louis’ police academy turned his application down three times.

He wasn’t sure what to do next.

But on Draper’s 21st birthday, he was listening to a local morning radio program when they announced the World Trade Center had been struck by the first and then a second airplane. He, like many Americans, was in disbelief.

In the weeks after the terrorist attacks, he remembers a national unity unlike anything he’s experienced before or since and people being called to do something for the good of others.

Draper said the attacks motivated him to research how he could pursue that dream of becoming a police officer. He discovered nearby Jefferson College had a law enforcement academy.

“I gave them a call and that following year in 2002, I entered the police academy out there,” he said, adding he started working for De Soto Police in 2004. “I think 9/11 and the idea of 9/11 motivated an entire generation and a generation after that to get into public service.

“Not that I would want to run toward a falling building, but we all would have done that. There are so many people in this profession that would do that. I mean I have little kids at home; I’m married, but when you get here and you put that uniform on, something happens.”

He said when people ask police officers why they wanted to be a police officer, the cliché response is “to help people.”

“In a sense, there is some truth in that,” he said. “But the reality is the feeling that you get when you know that what you did made someone feel safe and secure. You don’t always get that. People aren’t always appreciative of it and not everything in our job is about saving people’s lives. We pull people over for speeding. We do things that people interpret as bad things. But at the end of the day, most of the people that do this job, it’s not the money. Obviously, we’ve got to pay our bills and stuff, but there’s a sense of purpose. While my mission never impacted New York or I’ve never encountered a terrorist, the mission (of law enforcement) is what was appealing to me. At the end of the day, when you call us, we are going to come.”

9/11 changed law enforcement

Jefferson County Sheriff Dave Marshak said the terrorist attacks changed a lot about law enforcement and how officers are trained.

“From an operational standpoint, 9/11 changed how law enforcement viewed preparedness,” he said. “Even local agencies had to begin thinking more seriously about terrorism, critical infrastructure, large-scale incidents, interagency coordination and threats that previously may have seemed unlikely in our communities.”

Marshak said there were legitimate concerns about the potential use of hazardous materials, chemical agents or other unconventional weapons in an attack.

He said he was assigned to Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Special Operations at the time of the terrorist attacks.

“(After 9/11) the Special Operations Division was tasked with identifying vulnerable and critical sites throughout Jefferson County,” Marshak said. “That included locations ranging from the courthouse and government facilities to water treatment facilities and other critical infrastructure.

“There are also some unique sites within the county that have strategic or military significance, as well as facilities that are important to critical infrastructure. For obvious security reasons, I would not identify those locations publicly.”

He said from a SWAT perspective, the department began training for everything from chemical threats to operating in hazardous-material environments.

“That capability continues today,” Marshak said. “Our SWAT team maintains specialized equipment, including self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) that allows team members to operate in certain hazardous environments when necessary.”

He said one of the biggest lessons learned from 9/11 was the importance of first responders being able to communicate with one another during a large-scale emergency.

“Jefferson County 911 subsequently made significant investments in communications systems that allow first responders from different agencies to communicate during major incidents,” Marshak said. “We also saw improvements in technology such as GPS capabilities in emergency vehicles, allowing commanders to see the location of available resources and deploy personnel and equipment more efficiently during a large-scale event.”

Immediately following the attacks, Marshak remembers the national unity and the extremely positive public sentiment toward law enforcement and first responders.

Arnold Police Chief Brian Carroll said the attacks on 9/11 made it clear that local police officers are almost always the first responders to critical incidents.

“We learned that we needed various skills to respond to a variety of incidents and to be able to operate and communicate effectively with multiple agencies outside of our police department,” he said, adding an Arnold detective is attached to the Department of Homeland Security. “Several types of training became standard for our officers after 9/11. National Incident Management System and Incident Command System training now are mandatory for staff. This allows different agencies to work together under a single command structure during an emergency. We frequently participate in various training exercises with several agencies in the region.”

Carroll said a big change was the shift of policing from a crime response approach to a more proactive and preventative model.

He said the city is fortunate to have a 9/11 memorial in Arnold at the Recreation Center. Each Sept. 11, a memorial ceremony is held.

“It is a joint effort involving city staff, elected officials, police, fire and EMS,” Carroll said. “It is an emotional day, and not only for first responders. It is emotional for everyone in our community. For those of us who were already wearing a badge in 2001, it is impossible to watch that footage and not put yourself in the place of those first responders. They were doing the same job we do on what started out as an ordinary shift.

“They did not hesitate. That is the part that stays with you. Standing at the memorial each year with our fire and EMS partners, with families and kids who were not even born yet, is a reminder of why we took this oath in the first place. Our job is to make sure it is never forgotten and to make sure the young officers coming up behind us understand exactly what that tradition asks of them.”

The Leader invited followers on social media to share memories of the 9/11 attacks. Readers recounted where they were on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, and what they remember of the following moments.

Bonnie Becker Smith, Oakville:

“Our daughter was a senior at TCCA (Twin City Christian Academy) in Festus, and we were in Boston, looking at the Boston Music Conservatory for our daughter Rebecca to possibly attend after graduation. We were picked up at our hotel that morning in route to the subway for our appointment at the conservatory. As we got into the cab, the radio was on, and all we could hear was that there was a plane crash in New York. When we got to the subway, we were greeted with the news that we were lucky because we were on the last trip into Boston due to a believed terrorist attract in New York and all transportation was being halted. As we exited the subway, we heard more chatter about a plane being flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, and the panic and chaos that had erupted. Then came the news of the plane in Pennsylvania being overtaken and another headed toward the Pentagon. The streets in Boston were very eerie at that moment.

“After walking several blocks to the conservatory, we had arrived at the school. The administrative building was very quiet. As we reached the registrar’s office, we were taken to an office where several people were crowded around a TV. As we stood there, we witnessed the second plane hit the second tower. It was like time stood still! After an abbreviated tour, we left the school to regroup and recover from what we had just seen unfold.

“That day, we ate lunch at the famous Bull & Finch known as Cheer’s. We learned that the terrorists had eaten lunch at Cheer’s the day before. Talk about humbling! Then we learned that they stayed in the Copley Hotel. We were walking the same streets as they did.

“As we headed back to our hotel several miles away via cab, we planned how we would get home. All flights were cancelled, and cars were at a premium. We were able to reserve the last car at Logan Airport, and once we were given the all-clear to access the freeways, we planned our route back to St. Louis and began the 20-hour drive from Boston.

“One of the things that brought this tragedy to reality was not only that we walked where they walked, but we stood at our hotel window and watched company after company of emergency vehicles travel down the highway to New York.

“Our family will never forget that trip.”

Cheryle Schwartz, House Springs:

“I was working at Southwestern Bell Telephone in downtown at One Bell Center. I worked on the 29th floor when a coworker came over and told us what happened. We all went downstairs to the lobby which was full from other employees watching the news. We went on lock down for the rest of that day. And the week after, we all had to show our company ID to enter the building. The employees in the building said it was because of SBC being in the communications sector that we could even be a target if they decided to cut off communications. I just wanted to go home to be with my three kids. I will never forget.”

Nick Stratmann:

"Taking a weekly spelling pre-test in Mr. Boyd’s fourth grade class at Sherwood Elementary. I vividly recall another fourth grade teacher whispering to our teacher when the first hit happened, and then almost bursting into the classroom after the second hit. I recall my mom holding my 35-day-old baby brother and crying as she watched the news that night. Our Cub Scout troop meeting was that night, and we held a moment of silence and talked about it with friends and their parents."