I still recall every minute of that fateful day 25 years ago. I was serving in the Pentagon on the Department of the Army staff when American Airlines Flight 77 hit the building on Sept. 11, 2001. I lost two co-workers and knew Lt. Col. Brian Birdwell (Ret.), who was severely burned that day and wrote the book “Refined by Fire” about his experience.
I recall members of Congress singing “God Bless America” on the steps of the Capitol. It felt like the world was with us. We were truly the United States of America. But now, our country is divided in many ways.
I hope the country never experiences another day like 9/11. But I also hope we find our way to be united, again.
Anthony V. Fasolo, Leesburg
The writer is a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army.
I arrived in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, just after the second tower fell. As national coordinator of disaster volunteers for the American Red Cross, I helped organize medical care from the incident command center and a triage operation at Stuyvesant High School. I worked around Ground Zero for the first 48 hours and remained for about three weeks. I gave my protective masks to others and inhaled the dust and debris myself.
I enrolled in World Trade Center medical monitoring in 2002 and underwent examinations approximately every other year. But in 2022, I was told a new administrator did not have records of my previous examinations. After 20 years of monitoring, I suddenly had to prove I belonged in the program.
I encountered similar bureaucracy with the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. I was eventually certified for two 9/11-related medical conditions, yet my compensation claim went years without resolution or meaningful updates. After two years, I contacted my U.S. senator. Only then did I receive a substantive response.
Congress should hold oversight hearings on both programs. It should require the World Trade Center Health Program to account for medical records lost or made inaccessible during contractor transitions and establish safeguards so this cannot happen again. And the Victim Compensation Fund should be required to publicly report claim processing times and establish reasonable standards for providing status updates.
9/11 responders should not have to become experts in government bureaucracy to receive what Congress and the American people promised them.
Twenty-five years after 9/11, Congress should ensure that responders’ medical histories are protected, compensation claims are handled transparently and those who responded when America needed them do not have to fight their own government for help.
Kelly Buller Close, Sewickley, Pennsylvania
The writer is an emergency physician.
Twenty-five years ago, strangers in New York looked at me and saw only someone who looked like Osama bin Laden. Today, strangers stop me on the street to compliment my long, unshorn spiral beard and turban. After 9/11, this city mourned together, but it also turned its suspicion toward Sikhs, Muslims and other people who look like me.
I was living in Connecticut and working in White Plains, New York, on Sept. 11, 2001. I watched the World Trade Center towers collapse on a television in my company’s cafeteria. As people processed their grief, some looked at me differently. I worked from home for two weeks. When I returned to the streets, strangers shouted “Osama,” “Taliban” or “terrorist.” Some told me to go home.
Later in life, I began traveling and speaking about bias, identity and belonging. I learned that stereotypes can be challenged by introducing people to human beings who contradict their preconceived biases. I joined the New York City Fire Department’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. There, I found myself inside an institution forever transformed by 9/11. FDNY lost 343 members who responded to the attacks.
I have helped tell the stories of real-life heroes and create a workplace where people from different backgrounds can see themselves reflected. I have experienced something I never expected right after 9/11: belonging.
Vishavjit Singh, New York
The writer is a manager in the FDNY office of the fire commissioner.
At 87, I find wonder in the woods
Bruce M. Beehler’s Sept. 4 op-ed, “I solo hiked 138 miles at 74. The payoff was profound,” about his journey on the Northville-Placid Trail really resonated with me. Last Monday was my 87th birthday, and when my son asked me what I wanted to do, I replied that I wanted to go for a walk in the woods and absorb nature for a while.
We were not as adventurous as Beehler, but I am quite a bit older and don’t live close to wilderness. The payoff, though, was just as profound for me. My son and I saw no one as we wandered along the paths of the Wheaton Regional Park here in Montgomery County, and the silence was deep and green. I could almost hear the wings of the big black butterflies as they fluttered through the trees.
Thank you to Beehler for reminding us how important it is to just get out to the wild places and be among the silence of trees for a while.
Verney Naylor, Kensington
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