‘It still makes me cry’: Missouri Task Force 1 members reflect on their time at the World Trade Center

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Boone County Fire Protection District hosted a ceremony for members of the Missouri Task Force 1 who were deployed to the World Trade Center during 9/11 25 years ago.

University of Missouri Provost Matthew Martens and Columbia Mayor Barbara Buffaloe gave speeches at the ceremony.

Members of the Columbia Police Department and Columbia Fire Department were in attendance.

Boone County Fire Protection District Headquarters held a lunch-in, and space was given for Task Force 1 members to reflect on their time in New York.

Task Force leader Ernie Rhodes, one of the few remaining members from the response to New York City who is still on the team, said that although he did not personally lose someone in the attacks, some members of his team lost their lives due to the toxic environment.

"You know, it's just a sad day. It's just a really sad day, lots of memories," said Rhodes. "It's hard to go through the details without getting very upset, or not really upset, but just sad about it, right? It makes me cry still."

Ted Kettlewell, a retired task force member, said he got the call to be deployed with no knowledge of what he was getting into.

"I was in my office, and I got a call on my FEMA pager saying that I needed to be ready to deploy, and I had an hour to do it," said Kettlewell. "I had no idea. And then we turned the radio on and then found out that apparently a plane had flown into one of the World Trade Center buildings and didn't really know what was going on. And shortly after that, the second plane hit."

They did not realize the severity of the attacks when the initial call came in.

"And at that time they were thinking it was just a small aircraft," said Les Crews, the rescue team manager during 9/11. "Then the second plane hit the second building, and immediately we knew that something wasn't right."

Kettlewell worked in logistics and as a safety officer during his time in New York. He said for years his team had been trained in search and rescue, but once they arrived, there wasn't any rescuing to be done.

"It was some fairly grotesque work finding body parts ad and trying to search for people that just weren't there anymore," he said

The attack shook New York, according to Kettlewell. He said the impact wasn't just physical, but emotional.

"Some knew they'd already lost two or three generations of family. And, you know, New York had come to a dead halt," said Kettlewell.

Steve Wholesale, the founder of the task force, said the members deployed were working non-stop and under immense stress. The members slept roughly 3 to 4 hours a night and constantly worked during daylight.

There was a feeling of unfuffilment at the time, according to Kettlewell.

"You almost, a lot of us felt like the job hadn't quite been done, and that leaves you with a feeling of, 'well, it could have been done better,'" said Kettlewell.

Despite this, the team kept their heads held high, knowing they did the best they could with the situation at hand.

"I guess the biggest thing we can take away from it now, through the recovery process, at least we were very successful in that, and we did help with that. And we just know that maybe that brought some closure to those family members," said Crews.

Wholesale said it is important to remember 9/11 as the impacts of that day continue to affect the world.

"9/11 continues to live in our country and around the world," said Wholesale. "I think it's an important thing for everybody in the world to understand that this is what these kinds of acts can cause. They can literally turn the economy and the society and everything completely around."

Kettlewell said that this event affected not just the people of New York, but everyone around the world.

"There were 2,977 people or thereabouts that were killed that day. They were from 80 different countries. So it really was a world event," said Kettlewell.

It only took the 102 minutes from the first impact to the second tower's collapse to change the world, Crews said.

Crews said it is important to teach the next generations the sacrifices that were made during this historic day, and to never forget the innocent lives lost.

"When you look at my personal calendar, today is a day of remembrance. The remaining 364 days are never forgetting," said Crews.