On Friday, Americans will mark 25 years since the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 and a local sheriff says it’s something he’ll never forget.
Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn wasn’t in New York when it happened, he wasn’t even a sheriff then, and he wasn’t a firefighter. But he knew he needed to get there in the aftermath.
“Absolutely hard for me to believe so much has happened in 25 (years), but in some ways it feels like it was just last year, and in some ways it feels like it’s ancient history,” said Wasylyshyn.
Life has taken many turns for Wasylyshyn since September 11th, 2001.
He was elected Wood County Sheriff in 2004 and has been in the seat ever since.
But on September 11, 2001, he was still a sergeant with the Perrysburg Police Department.
On television news coverage, he saw what happened and went right to his police chief.
“I said, Chief, I know this just happened today. I can’t imagine what it would possibly be, but if there’s anything we can do to help New York, count me in. I will do whatever. Just tell me what it is,” said Wasylyshyn.
Wasylyshyn was approved to drive to New York along with fellow Perrysburg officer Jim Williams. Two Maumee Police officers also went to New York.
About 10 days after the attacks, Wasylyshyn and Williams were on patrol in New York, helping with security around the perimeter of the United Nations and at the Israeli embassy.
The small town Ohio police officer, Wasylyshyn, also directed traffic in the Big Apple.
“We had people coming up thanking us for being there, thanking us for our service, giving us hugs, and you can imagine people in New York giving hugs. I mean, that’s not something New Yorkers are known for,” said Wasylyshyn.
He was also sent to patrol Times Square while NYPD officers attended funerals for fallen officers.
It was only he and officer Williams and four officers from Dallas.
“And they’re like, we’ll call you if we have any calls for any service. And if you guys need us, here’s the number to call. And we went the entire day. There was zero crime,” said Wasylyshyn.
Wasylyshyn was in New York City for about eight days. He says the biggest moment came at the insistence of the Greenwich Village desk sergeant.
“He goes, you have to go to Ground Zero because you need to go back to your community and tell them what you saw,” said Wasylyshyn.
He says it was like nothing he’s ever experienced.
“So I could see it, I could smell it, you could taste it. But my brain couldn’t comprehend it… How do you, what do you compare this to? You can’t compare it to a house fire or a building fire. There was nothing that I compared to, so I just took it all in,” said Wasylyshyn.
Wasylyshyn also remembers how united the country was and that Americans proved terrorists couldn’t bring down our economy.
He wants younger generations to understand and care about 9/11.
“Hopefully it makes us bigger and stronger and better when we learn from our history. And yes, it’s important to teach what happened and what’s capable of happening in our in our country. We’re not exempt from that,” said Wasylyshyn.
Wasylyshyn is still being asked to share his experiences with the public.
On Friday, he will speak to students at Penta Career Center, 25 years to the day the terrorists struck.