Beckley, WV (WOAY) This morning at Word Park in Beckley, first responders and community members gathered to commemorate the nearly 3 thousand killed in the September 11th attacks, including nearly 450 emergency personnel.
Marianne Shane Jervis led first responders at Ground Zero 25 years ago today. Even now, Jervis says she and hundreds of other first responders remember the chaos every day.
“Anything that resembles 9/11, whether it’s a police car, a police officer in uniform, a firefighter, construction trucks, that orange fencing that encircled the one-mile radius, takes you right back there, and you feel the tears, and you have the emotions and the smell… I have asked everyone here to please, for your own states, become first responders; be safe, use common sense. And just know that God is with us, and he’s everywhere, and everything’s in his hands, and he’ll handle it. But it’s a more violent world, and we have to appreciate all of our first responders. They risk their lives, and they’re selfless, and we need to appreciate them and say, ‘thank you,’ to them every time we get the chance.”
