Photo by Eric Taunton
mbers of the Hoover police and fire departments' honor guards lead in the pledge of allegiance to the U.S. flag during the city of Hoover's 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony in the food court of the Riverchase Galleria in Hoover, Alabama, on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. From left are Jonathan Hardison, Elijah Ferguson, Steven Easterling, Frank Brocato, Clay Bentley, Ray Sexton and Nick Derzi
People gathered in the Riverchase Galleria food court Saturday to remember the victims of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
The city of Hoover and its police and fire departments hosted a Patriot Day Remembrance Ceremony and the city’s first Climb to Remember — an event that allowed participants to climb the equivalent of 110 floors in The Offices at 3000 Riverchase parking deck to honor firefighters who lost their lives trying to save civilians in the World Trade Center.
The ceremony featured several speakers who told stories of where they were that day, including Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato and Roy Sexton, a former Secret Service agent who now is director of corporate security at Alabama Power.
“Everybody wants to know where you were and what you were doing at that time, and I had just gotten off from the fire station that morning, and by that time, one of the planes had already hit the first tower,” Brocato said. “It just looked like a tragic accident at that time. So I went on to my part-time job, and I was working there with a friend of mine that was a Birmingham firefighter. Of course, the TV was on, and we saw that fire, and I said ‘Jerry, that’s the kind of fire firefighters die in,’” Brocato said.
The mayor said he remembers businesses in high-rise buildings closing, being glued to a TV screen with several firefighters watching the towers burn, the fear that was felt by both the city and the entire country, and the willingness of firefighters in Hoover and Birmingham wanting to help.
“I was always proud and grateful that I had been blessed to become a firefighter, but I was never more proud that day after watching so many men and women show the world what the job was all about and that that next alarm could be your last alarm,” Brocato said.
Hoover fire Chief Clay Bentley said he thinks about the 9/11 attacks a lot because it reminds him of the dangers first responders face on a daily basis. He recalled the story of Joseph Pfeifer, a former New York fire chief and the first one on the scene at the World Trade Center. Pfeifer sent his brother into one of the towers, and he never made it out.
“I think about that every day that we go to work, that it could potentially happen to one of our folks,” Bentley said. “As we climb the stairwell, let’s remember what those people went through.”
Sexton talked about his experience leading former President George W. Bush’s security detail on the day of the attacks.
He said that day started out as a calm, beautiful morning. He and his team took the former president for a run and then to an elementary school to visit students and teachers.
Sexton said that he was standing next to the president’s press secretary, Ari Fleischer, in another classroom and overheard Fleischer’s assistant give him an update on what was taking place in New York.
“One of Mr. Fleischer’s assistants came in and said ‘A second one has just hit, and it looks like a terrorist attack,’” Sexton said. “Of course, I hadn’t been watching the news. I’d been involved with the visit, so I grabbed Mr. Fleischer, and I said ‘excuse me, what did he say?’ He said ‘it appears two planes have hit the World Trade Center, It’s no accident, and it looks like a terrorist attack.’”
He recalled the sense of urgency that he felt while protecting the president. He said he remembers working with the military to get Bush an aircraft because planes across the nation were grounded as a precaution.
“As someone who is no longer in law enforcement, looking in from the other side, I want to say to all of you in law enforcement, the Fire Department and first responders, thank you,” Sexton said. “Particularly with what’s been going on in recent history, I want to say thank you, God bless you for what you do, and always, always be safe.”
