Army firefighters commemorate Sept. 11 sacrifices with 110-story climb

Photo By Avery Schneider | U.S. Army Spc. Nicholas Diercks, a firefighter assigned to 23rd Ordnance Company, 18th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 16th Sustainment Brigade uses a stair climber machine while wearing firefighting equipment at the Tower Barracks Physical Fitness Center in Grafenwoehr, Germany, Sep. 11, 2022. Diercks and Soldiers from his company – an Army firefighting unit – each climbed 110 stories in memory of sacrifices made by firefighters responding to the September 11 terror attacks at the World Trade Center in New York City 21 years prior. (U.S. National Guard photo by Maj. Avery Schneider)  

GRAFENWOEHR, BY, GERMANY

09.11.2022

Story by Maj. Avery Schneider 

7th Army Training Command

U.S. Army Soldiers stationed in Germany spent this year’s anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks commemorating the ultimate sacrifice by firefighters who responded to the World Trade Center in New York City.

Wearing protective suits, oxygen masks, helmets, and air tanks, the Soldiers ascended 110 stories on stair climber machines at the Tower Barracks Physical Fitness Center in Grafenwoehr as tribute to the 110 stories of the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers.

“It's a great opportunity for these Soldiers to reflect on the meaning of this day and this [Patriot Day] holiday that we now commemorate,” said Capt. Robert Harlow, commander of the 23rd Ordnance Company, an Army firefighting unit at Tower Barracks. “Remembering 21 years of not just the terror attacks, themselves, but the sacrifices we, as a military community, have made in the war on terror.”

Among the 2,977 victims killed in the Sept. 11 attacks, 343 New York City Fire Department firefighters perished during the response at the World Trade Center.

Spc. Joshua Lindley, a firefighter assigned to the 23rd, said it means a lot to him to experience a portion of what they did.

“It's just a lot, and it hits right to the heart to know that they went through all that stuff. It makes me proud to do what I'm doing,” Lindley said.

Lindley was one of six Soldiers who completed the commemorative climb. But they weren’t all firefighters.

Sgt. Emmanuel Rodriguez, a utilities equipment repairer assigned to the 18th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion’s 51st Composite Truck Company, frequently exercises with his friends from the 23rd.

“I’m no firefighter, but I do this because I love to represent this. I’m proud to represent this,” Rodriguez said.

While completing 110 stories on a stair climbing machine is certainly strenuous, it was simpler than Rodriguez expected.

“So I made it harder,” he said.

“I made it harder because I want to simulate what the firefighters went through. Even if it wasn’t that realistic, I want to make it the hardest I can to feel more proud, and get closer to the feeling of those firefighters that were there back in 9/11.”

The Soldiers were all different ages during the attacks in 2001. Rodriguez was 2 years old. Harlow was 6. 1st Sgt. Thomas Waelty, an ammunition specialist and senior enlisted member of the 23rd, was 20.

At the time, Waelty was a private first class, serving as a mechanic in the same place he is stationed now.

“I remember exactly where I was,” said Waelty. “I was in [Grafenwoehr]. We had [left] to go to Poland for a training event and we were about halfway, and then we stopped at a German kasern. The Germans came running out and they said, ‘Hey, America's under attack.’”

Now, working with Soldiers who regularly fight fires side-by-side with German counterparts, Waelty can see the importance of the Sept. 11 anniversary on a regular basis.

“It means a lot to continue to do this and continue to never forget what's happening and what had happened.”

• Date Taken: 09.11.2022
• Date Posted: 09.16.2022 04:56
• Story ID: 429369
• Location: GRAFENWOEHR, BY, DE