PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — “When we got to Ground Zero, I can tell you there had to be more than 2,000 emergency workers, and you’d think it’d be noisy — no. It was actually eerie and quiet,” said Gregory Masi, a retired police sergeant who served more than 40 years in the Philadelphia Police Department.
Masi said in all his years of service, he’s never seen as much devastation as he did at ground zero in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.
He says what’s stuck out most for him after all these years is the “hundreds and hundreds of people” that came up to their car holding pictures of their loved ones.
“It was just a very sad moment. These people were desperate for information. They couldn’t locate their loved ones,” he said.
In total, 343 firefighters with the New York City Fire Department died that day. Masi says 360 have died from 9/11-related illnesses since.
“There are so many of us responders that are suffering illnesses and so many who’ve passed on,” he said.
“... None of us want to see a 9/11 again. But what I do want to see is a 9/12. I’ll never forget the day after this incident occurred. It didn’t matter what your political affiliation was — your skin color was, this country came together."