Heroes ‘went in to help others get out.’ Remembering the lives lost on 9/11.

In communities across the nation, Americans took time Monday to honor the heroic actions and thousands of lives lost during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Locally, commemorations included those held in Modesto, Turlock and Salida.

In a ceremony in front of Modesto Fire Department Station 1, Interim Chief Alan Ernst said he fears that memories of that horrific day 16 years ago may be fading in the minds of many Americans, but they remain etched in the hearts, minds and souls of those who spend their lives in the service of others.

There are few times in the careers of firefighters that they get an ominous feeling in their guts that things are going to be bad and they may not make it home, he said. No doubt, Ernst said, the brave men and women who responded to the attacks that day had that feeling as they got off their rigs and out of their patrol cars and raced into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. That they forged ahead, many to certain death, truly is the meaning of service and sacrifice, he said.

Ernst urged the audience not just to remember but to pledge in meaningful ways to serve their community, their country, because through service comes resiliency in times of need.

Modesto Police Chief Galen Carroll noted that the dark days after the attacks unified our nation. He recalled that period being “the most together I’d seen our nation since I’ve been alive.” But, like Ernst, he observed that time makes memories fade, and “today it seems we’re more divided as a country than I can remember.” He said he hopes Sept. 11 continues to remind us that we’re all Americans, as as long we we stay united, “we will remain the great country we are.”

Carroll also said of Sept. 11, “I realize a lot of times we make this about police and fire, because I think that’s the largest loss of police and fire in one day ever. But we lost 3,000 brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, husbands and wives that day, and it’s not just police and fire but it’s as a country we lost all those individuals.”

In New York City, on United Airlines Flight 93 in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., a total of 2,977 people were killed in the Sept. 11 attacks.

In Turlock, Police Chief Nino Amirfar noted that to this day, people continue to die from health conditions – cancers, lung diseases and more – related to the 9-11 attacks. A 2016 Newsweek article reported, “Doctors with the World Trade Center Health Program, which the federal government created in the aftermath of the attacks, have linked nearly 70 types of cancer to Ground Zero.”

The chief stressed the importance of never forgetting the sacrifices made that day, from first responders to the Flight 93 passengers who gave their lives thwarting the hijackers’ plans. Remembering “this commitment to freedom, this commitment to our way of live ... helps us come together as a community.”

At the Turlock gathering, Fire Chief Robert A. Talloni said the service was dedicated to those brave souls who “went in to help others get out.” In New York that day, 343 firefighters and paramedics died. “Not one of them started their day inside those towers,” he said. “They went to the towers to help strangers.”

This story was originally published September 11, 2017 at 2:19 PM with the headline "Heroes ‘went in to help others get out.’ Remembering the lives lost on 9/11.."