A lieutenant with Palm Beach County Fire Rescue says the 9\/11 terrorist attacks transformed a childhood memory of firefighters into a lifelong commitment to public service.<\/p>\n
Miguel Johnson, who is from Queens, New York, said he was a 19-year-old student in Orlando when an instructor stepped out of his EMT class and returned with stunning news.<\/p>\n
Johnson recalled the instructor saying, \u201cWe\u2019re under attack.\u201d<\/p>\n
He and his classmates were dismissed, and he walked to a common area where monitors on the walls showed live coverage. People were gathered around the screens, crying and \u201cawestruck.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI then knew what he meant by \u2018we\u2019re under attack,\u2019\u201d Johnson said. \u201cBeing from New York\u2026 I really felt a personal duty. I really was inspired by the sacrifices I was made, and I just felt like I needed to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the time, Johnson said he was deciding between going into medicine and joining the military like many in his family. He had returned to Florida from California to attend EMT school \u201cjust to learn basic life support.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watching the attacks and the response on television changed that path.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt 19, you changed the trajectory of your life,\u201d WFLX reporter Kayla McDermott said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d Johnson replied. <\/p>\n
He said his sister, who joined the Air Force, told him that \u201cserving abroad or serving at home is the same thing.\u201d <\/p>\n
Johnson decided to stay and serve in his own community rather than enter the military.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was my experience and what really changed my passion into this career,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Johnson said the 25th anniversary of the attacks is approaching, and he hopes to visit the New York memorials for the first time.<\/p>\n
Early Memory of Firefighters<\/p>\n
Johnson said 9\/11 was not the first time firefighters had left a mark on him.<\/p>\n
As a 4-year-old living in Queens, he said he remembered being evacuated during a house fire.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember them evacuating us through the stairwells,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Firefighters in full gear passed him going up the stairs as he went down. The noise, commotion and flashing lights stayed with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that age, it\u2019s impressionable, but you don\u2019t really know what\u2019s going on,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know anything about the career. I was just like every other young kid. Oh my gosh, I want to get to be a cop or a firefighter.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said it wasn\u2019t until he was a young adult, back in school and watching 9\/11 unfold, that he fully understood \u201cthe importance of what the job does and what it entailed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later, during his paramedic training at the same school, Johnson said another instructor \u2014 a retired Air Force member who also worked for a local department \u2014 helped him understand that the profession is \u201creally a life of service.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe inspired me. He coached and mentored me,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThat is what he has solidified it at that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018One Big Family\u2019 and a Nation United<\/p>\n
Johnson described the days after the attacks as a time of rare unity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I saw, which was quite impressionable, was the selflessness,\u201d he said. \u201cThe way the country came together, the way of hundreds of firefighters that came together, and even the aftermath, the thousands of people who responded.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the response \u201cbrought this country to the level of unification and togetherness\u201d that is \u201creally hard to explain for those who weren\u2019t there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be a part of that, knowing that you are that we\u2019re the fabric of this country, I felt like it was an honor to do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Looking back nearly 25 years after choosing fire rescue, Johnson said he believes he made the right choice.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me\u2026 it\u2019s an honor. It\u2019s not about me. It\u2019s about the thousands of men and women, hundreds of thousands around this world, that do what we do every day,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s an honor and a privilege to have the opportunity and even the courage to answer that call.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said a key lesson from that time is that \u201cwe\u2019re all one big family.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, this is our country. We\u2019re all family, and when times get tough, whether it\u2019s tornadoes or hurricanes or any other disaster, we all come together and we help each other,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe commonality of us all is that we\u2019re all human. We all hurt. We all have sadness. We all have lost things,\u201d he said, adding that the attacks \u201cbrought us all down to the same common denominator to realize that we\u2019re all vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Honoring the Fallen \u2014 and Their Families<\/p>\n
Johnson, sitting at the 9\/11 memorial in Wellington that includes steel from the World Trade Center, said seeing the names and artifacts \u201creally kind of sends chills down your spine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKnowing behind every name is a story. Behind every name, a son, a daughter, a brother, a husband, a wife. That\u2019s not coming home,\u201d he said. \u201cIt just shows that it\u2019s so much bigger than us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson said he has also visited the firefighter memorial in Colorado honoring line-of-duty deaths, including the 343 firefighters killed on 9\/11.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain, we\u2019re one big family. It\u2019s an extension of your family,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen we all suit up together, how we\u2019re all just one big thread.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson is a member of his department\u2019s honor guard, which he described as \u201cthe color guard basically that marches with the flag and shows reverence for fallen firefighter funerals, events, things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said taking part in memorial events, including 9\/11 ceremonies, is \u201can honor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo give honor to the fallen as well as their families\u2026 for their sacrifice,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
He added that it is often families who carry the unseen burdens of the job \u2014 missed birthdays, long shifts and the work that continues at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cRemember, it\u2019s not necessarily us that goes and serves; it\u2019s the family members that we leave behind,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Johnson said he plans to be on honor guard duty again at an upcoming Friday remembrance event.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to remember, lest we forget,\u201d he said. \u201cWe remember the good, but we also remember the tough times. But it\u2019s how we have been, how we\u2019ve persevered out of this, and how we\u2019ve grown.\u201d<\/p>\n
Message to a New Generation<\/p>\n
Knowing many children in school today were not alive when 9\/11 happened, he hopes they understand that stepping up to serve does not require a national disaster.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t take a tragedy for you to step up and to do whatever it is in your community, whether it\u2019s volunteering, whether it\u2019s helping someone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He urged people to \u201cremember your why.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something that is an internal, innate spark that occurs when you\u2019re doing the right thing. You know it. You feel it. It\u2019s nothing that anyone has to explain,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cStay true to that. Stay continuing to do the right thing, whether anyone\u2019s looking or not.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you do that, it feels good to you. It\u2019s rewarding, and it inspires others,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the spark. That\u2019s the hope that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n
This story has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A lieutenant with Palm Beach County Fire Rescue says the 9\/11 terrorist attacks transformed a childhood memory of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-344976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}