9/11: Where Were You?

San Marino Fire Department Division Chief Rick Mayhew holds a photo collage of a New York City 9/11 memorial march he and other firefighters took part in one year after the World Trade Center attacks.

Mayhew, who worked for the at the time, marched in place of the physically and emotionally exhausted New York firefighters who worked in the wake of 9/11 (right photo: Mayhew at the march).

“I guess you could say it felt like we were there in support of our family,” said Mayhew. “It wasn’t an obligation; it was a desire to help them get through this time.”

The morning of 9/11, Mayhew was getting dressed for the funeral of his father, who had passed away a few days before, when a friend called and told him a plane crashed into the World Trade Center.

“When I turned the TV on it was just prior to the second plane going through the Twin Towers,” said Mayhew. “My dad was a World War II marine, and my first instinct was to call my dad and get his input on this and then I realized: ‘I can’t; it’s his funeral I’m going to.’”

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