Twenty-four years ago, September 11th was a beautiful fall day in New York City and in Northern New York. But the crisp air was shattered that morning as the first plane flew into the World Trade Center’s North Tower, beginning an attack that would change the world and local communities alike.
SUNY Plattsburgh holds an annual commemoration on 9/11 to remember alumni who died when the Twin Towers collapsed, and a state trooper who died from brain cancer resulting from his deployment to Ground Zero.
“Today we remember each of the nearly 3,000 lives lost. For us at SUNY Plattsburgh we also hold close the memory of our alumni who were lost on September the 11th.” SUNY Plattsburgh president Alexander Enyedi continued, “Robert Sutcliffe, class of ’84 and broker for Harvey, Young and Yurman, who was having a breakfast meeting at Windows on the World on the 107th floor of the North Tower. William Erwin, class of 1992, and broker with Cantor Fitzgerald which had offices on floors 101 to 105 in the North Tower. And Brian Falb, also class of 1992 and trooper with the New York State Police, who died from cancer in 2017 stemming from his assignment assisting with the search and recovery efforts at Ground Zero.”
Dr. Alexander Enyedi, president of SUNY Plattsburgh, led the remembrance ceremony held beside a memorial plaque.
At the back of the crowd, a small group of students watched. Kyle Coulombe was born after 9/11 but knows people who were directly affected.
“Especially around the time of 9/11 they’re very on edge. They gat sad and they don’t like to talk as much,” Coulombe said. “One of them was one of my high school teachers that I still keep in touch with. He doesn’t love talking about it but he does say how much it has affected him and he definitely struggles with it a little bit. You can tell just from the way he speaks.”
Similar commemorations are being held across the state and nation. At SUNY Plattsburgh, 9/11 first responders were honored. Current Plattsburgh Fire Chief Scott Lawliss was deployed to Ground Zero within days of the towers’ collapse.
“People ask me what was it like? Surreal. Dust. Noise. Destruction. Buildings laying on their side. While staged with a group of firefighters we witnessed a group of ten FDNY members walk down the sidewalk exhausted, covered in dust, sweat. They sat down on the sidewalk and leaned up against the fence. After a few moments their captain came over. That created a conversation which led to us putting all ten people in the back of our ambulance and bringing them to the Bronx. During those transports I saw an outpouring of support. Food was delivered. Clothes were given to you. If you stopped on an intersection, you had people throwing things into the cab of your ambulance,” Lawliss recalled. “This experience changed me. I got to see the good in people during bad times.”
SUNY Plattsburgh Police Chief Patrick Rascoe choked up as he recalled that day.
“I saw my fellow officers, firefighters and everyday citizens running towards danger and into those buildings even as they began to collapse. Over the days that followed we saw courage, kindness and a nation that came together. Something so horrible that changed our lives forever also caused us to love one another.”
