By Katee Underwood, Staff Writer
Twenty-five years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the physical reminders of that day can be found hundreds of miles from where the attacks occurred, including within about an hour of Comanche County.
To the east, in Anthony, sits the Kansas 9/11 Memorial. To the west, in Dodge City, Liberty Garden serves as another memorial to those who died in the attacks. Both memorials contain tangible pieces of the places where the attacks occurred, connecting southwest Kansas to New York City, the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania field where United Flight 93 crashed.
But for local emergency personnel, the legacy of Sept. 11 goes beyond memorials. The attacks changed how emergency responders think about preparing for events that once seemed unimaginable.
Small-Town Memorial
Anthony’s memorial is officially designated as the Kansas 9/11 Memorial. The memorial incorporates three steel beams recovered from the remains of the World Trade Center, a 250-pound block of limestone from the Pentagon and soil and ashes from the area of the Flight 93 crash site in Pennsylvania. The memorial grew out of Anthony residents’ desire to respond to the attacks despite being hundreds of miles from the three crash sites. The community developed a relationship with the family of Joseph P. Spor Jr., a New York City firefighter who died in the attacks, and with his fellow firefighters at FDNY Engine 88, Ladder 38 and Rescue 3. The World Trade Center steel eventually made its way from New York to Anthony with the help of True Value, whose truck delivered three pieces of steel to the small Kansas community in October 2002. The memorial later incorporated the Pentagon limestone and material from the Flight 93 crash site, completing its representation of all three locations attacked that day. The Kansas Legislature eventually designated the Anthony structure as the official Kansas 9/11 Memorial.
Dodge City’s Reminder
About an hour west of Comanche County, Dodge City’s Liberty Garden in Wright Park offers another physical connection to Sept. 11. Dedicated Sept. 11, 2002, the memorial includes a 1,200-pound, 4-foot section of structural steel recovered from Ground Zero, positioned between replicas of the World Trade Center towers. It also contains a piece of Indiana limestone from the Pentagon and a piece of Pennsylvania sandstone from near the Flight 93 crash site. The Pentagon piece is housed in a glass case shaped like the Pentagon, while reflective pools represent the North and South towers. Liberty Garden also remains a gathering place for the community’s annual Sept. 11 Day of Remembrance, when residents and local first responders gather to remember those who died. For residents of Comanche County, the two memorials provide an opportunity to encounter actual remnants of a day that shaped an entire generation. For the people whose job is to respond when something goes wrong, however, the impact of Sept. 11 is also part of their professional lives.
‘September 11, 2001, Changed EMS Forever’
Comanche County EMS Director Terri Brosius was at home by herself getting ready for work when she first heard about the attacks on the news. She eventually went to work at the Coldwater Laundry and told her father what had happened. She turned on the television in his office and watched the events unfold.
Twenty-five years later, Brosius said the significance of that day remains evident in emergency medical services.
“September 11, 2001, changed EMS forever,” Brosius said. “The attacks reinforced the need for EMS personnel to prepare not only for everyday emergencies, but also for large-scale disasters, mass-casualty incidents and acts of terrorism.
“It reminded us that we must be prepared not only for the everyday emergencies we answer, but also for the unimaginable,” Brosius said. Training for mass-casualty incidents, acts of terrorism and large-scale disasters has become an even greater part of EMS work since the attacks.
Preparing for the Unimaginable
Comanche County Sheriff Jacob Bruckner said an incident on the scale of the Sept. 11 attacks would require an immediate response to any continuing threats while emergency personnel simultaneously worked to treat victims and secure the scene. A response of that magnitude would quickly require assistance beyond the county’s local resources. “We obviously aren’t equipped to handle an incident of that scale on our own,” Bruckner said. Local, state and federal resources would need to be deployed to assist with an incident of that size, he said. The response reflects one of the realities of emergency preparedness in a rural county: Local responders are often the first on scene, but a catastrophic event can quickly exceed what any single agency can handle.
Trooper’s View
Kansas Highway Patrol Master Trooper Ed Grover offered another perspective – that of an officer who was already working in law enforcement before the attacks.
At the time, Grover was a trooper. He was not on duty the morning of Sept. 11. He was on his way to an appointment when his wife, Leah, called to tell him about the first plane crash.
“I thought, how horrible,” Grover said.
When she called again about the second crash, he said he immediately understood that the country was facing something much more serious.
“It was a terrorist attack,” he said.
It was a while later before Grover was able to watch the events unfolding on television. When he came on duty, his assignment took him to the Garden City airport, where an aircraft had been diverted from Denver. Grover said the aircraft remained at the airport until the nation’s airspace was reopened.
He believes the assignment was largely precautionary because law enforcement did not yet know the extent of the attack.
For Grover, the fundamental responsibilities did not change dramatically after Sept. 11, but the attacks reinforced the importance of officer safety and paying attention to potential criminal indicators.
