Photo by Maricela Gonzales / Photo courtesy of Tim Ciesco
The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks are ingrained in the memories of many across the world. In the United States, some adults can say where they were and what they were doing.
The tragedy claimed almost 3,000 lives and remains the single largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on American soil.
These are the stories of a first responder who witnessed the events firsthand, a young man who was enlisted in the Navy and a high school student who eventually became a police officer.
Joe Esposito is a New York City Fire Department Rescue Company 5 firefighter. Esposito was the keynote speaker at the Dallas 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb on Sept. 5.
Joe Esposito, New York City Fire Department Rescue Company 5 firefighter, said the memories of 9/11 are embedded in his mind. Esposito lost 11 members of his company, his brother Mike Esposito and his cousin Frank Esposito, in the events of Sept. 11.
Joe Esposito started the day of 9/11 off duty. But when he started hearing word of the attacks, he knew something was wrong. He, along with members of his unit, began arriving at the firehouse.
“By the time we got over there on ferry, because we had to take the water, the second tower collapsed,” he said.
Esposito said he remembers the five men from his unit he was with, and that they immediately tried to find anyone that they could help.
He said being a first responder starts as a job, but then it becomes a calling.
“People were running out of the buildings and we were running in,” Esposito said. “We knew it wasn’t good. We still went.”
He said if it weren’t for his fellow first responders, he might not have made it through 9/11. Esposito has now seen 41 years of service.
Esposito gave a speech before the 15th edition of the Dallas 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb on Sept. 5.
He witnessed firefighters as they went up the Comerica Bank Tower, wearing lanyards around their necks with photos of firefighters whose lives were taken on the day the twin towers fell.
“Everyone is passionate about it, you can see it in their eyes, and who they run for,” Esposito said. “They know stories about who they’re running for, because we’re not just a number.”
“There’s a name attached to who they’re running for, and the stories behind them.”
Correy Retzloff, UTA clinical assistant professor of management, was a petty officer second class for the U.S. Navy and still remembers the quietness of the morning before the attack.
On his way to work, the then 21-year-old heard the news of a plane striking the north tower.
Everyone thought it was a mistake, Retzloff said.
As he walked into the duty office, he watched on a television as the second plane hit the south tower.
“The atmosphere changed in the sense that this was real,” he said. “I called my boss. I told my boss what had happened, and his immediate response was, ‘Go home. Pack a bag.’”
All military bases locked down. A line of cars stretched five miles from the base’s entrance. Every vehicle entering the gate was checked for bombs; everything was under heightened security, Retzloff said.
“At that time, the thought was, ‘Was this an isolated event?’” he said. “No one knew.”
The effects of the tragedy were wide-reaching, Retzloff said.
“After 9/11, the world did change. America changed,” he said.
Retzloff remembers wanting an American flag; he saw many hang them up, but he could not find one in stores.
“I remember this one person was selling a flag on eBay for, like, $500,” Retzloff said.
That moment still stands out to him, he said.
An unwavering sense of patriotism seemed to fill America. Retzloff said that following the attacks, “it was not a question; everyone came together.”
“It was kind of one of those defining moments in American history of saying, ‘Hey, no matter how different we think we are, we are still very much united,’” he said.
Courtesy of Tim Ciesco
Arlington Police Department Lt. Alex Rosado was a sophomore at Rockwall High School in Rockwall, Texas, in 2001. His dad had recently retired from the Air Force, and his mom was still on active duty in the same branch.
Rosado was in his high school locker room, getting dressed after wrestling practice, when he first heard about the attack. A coach had entered and told him, as well as some of his team, that a plane had hit the World Trade Center.
“When I heard that, I thought it was some sort of a Cessna, you know, small, single-engine aircraft that got lost in the clouds or something and struck the building,” he said. “I really didn’t think too much of it.”
Rosado said it wasn’t until around the next class when a teacher had the news on and the second plane hit that the gravity of what was happening began to settle in.
His family had just moved to Texas at that point, and he found himself wondering what was going to happen: if his dad would get recalled, if his mom would be deployed, if they would move again.
Years later, after graduating from UTA, Rosado was not sure what he wanted to do. The events of 9/11 did not move him into law enforcement, but through joining the police, Rosado gained a new insight into the attacks. He began to understand what it meant to run into the face of danger.
“Once I became a police officer, really understood what it meant to go up the stairs when everybody else was coming down the stairs,” he said.
In 2015, Rosado volunteered as security for the Dallas 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb and has never looked back. In 2018, he was operations director for the event, before going back to doing security for the event in the following years.
Rosado said being at the event and seeing first responders climb through a skyscraper is something he’ll never forget.
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