City of Toledo marks 20th anniversary of 9/11
The ceremony was, no doubt, an emotional one.
TOLEDO, Ohio — This morning, the city of Toledo marked the 20th anniversary of 9/11 with a remembrance ceremony at the Toledo Firefighters Memorial at 8:30 a.m.
The city marked the individual events of 9/11, from the time the north and south towers were struck, to the exact time the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. was targeted.
Toledo Fire & Rescue Chief Brian Byrd recalls the unity on the day of 9/11 20 years ago.
“It [9/11] shows that we can be united. We just have to figure out how to be that way again. And it’s unfortunate that it takes tragedies like 9/11 for us to realize that we are all one people, and one country with common goals and common lives,” said Byrd.
Toledo City Councilmember Nick Komives says he was a sophomore at a high school in Genoa when the terrorist attacks of 9/11 occured. While in a study hall, tragedy struck.
“We had had German exchange students that had just come to our high school, one of them was living with me. So we all gathered together in the cafeteria to sort of sort out what was happening. But it was an interesting experience with the folks from Germany to go through that with them,” Komives said.
Former Toledo mayor Carty Finkbeiner says that following the attacks of 9/11, he put together a group to assess areas in the city in which terrorists could potentially target. He says the city’s water supply, the Toledo Museum of Art and the University of Toledo were all among the list of potential targets.
Finkbeiner adds that a nation like the U.S. is one that’s prone to threats, foreign and domestic.
“Your guard must always be up, particularly if you are a nation that other nations are envious of, jealous of,” he said.
As we mark the 20th anniversary of the attacks, many today say just take time to think of, like Mr. Rogers said best, the helpers: the first responders and all the people who helped to ensure the safety of many New Yorkers that day.
