One officer spent 59 days recovering remains at Ground Zero. An Ohio sheriff’s chaplain ministered to Port Authority police officers after the department lost 37 of its own. In Florida, a deputy and his cadaver dog searched World Trade Center debris at Fresh Kills Landfill.
Twenty-five years after the Sept. 11 attacks, law enforcement agencies across the country are recounting the memories of people who answered the call. Some still serve the departments that sent them. Others now wear a different patch, carrying memories from earlier careers with the NYPD or Port Authority Police Department.
Their assignments extended well beyond the pile. Officers staffed transportation hubs and morgues, answered emergency calls, searched for remains and attended funerals for colleagues they had never met.
Here are some of their stories.
NYPD: The officers who ran toward the towers
The NYPD lost 23 members in the line of duty on Sept. 11. In the years since, the department has added the names of many more officers to its 9/11 memorial after they died from illnesses connected to their work during the rescue and recovery operation.
In a series of videos marking the 25th anniversary, the department turned to officers, dispatchers and family members to tell the story in their own words.
Chief of Transit Joseph Gulotta responded to the World Trade Center and was later diagnosed with cancer related to his time at Ground Zero. He said he has never regretted helping the city when it needed him most.
Chief of Transit Joseph Gulotta will never forget responding to the World Trade Center on 9/11.
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) September 9, 2026
He was diagnosed with cancer, related to his time at Ground Zero.
Thousands share a similar story.
Still, he says he never regrets helping his city when it needed him the most. pic.twitter.com/urqfOpkiYK
Retired Police Officer Shaun McGill had been on the job for only 18 months when the towers were attacked. He joined the response and searched for ways to help amid a disaster unlike anything officers had trained to confront.
Retired Police Officer Shaun McGill was only on the job for 18 months when he responded to the World Trade Center on 9/11.
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) September 8, 2026
That day, McGill ran towards danger looking to help as many as he could.
We will never forget his service. pic.twitter.com/kPdpVM1FwA
The response also depended on people the public never saw. NYPD 911 operators Crystal Johnson and Melissa Brown were both off duty that morning. Both reported to work as calls poured in.
Sept. 11 was the last time Detective Steven Stefanakos saw fellow Emergency Service Unit Truck 10 members Police Officers Paul Talty and Thomas Langone. Both were killed while responding to the World Trade Center. Stefanakos said he lives each day in their honor.
The department’s account of 9/11 now includes a new generation. Police Officer Casey Kloepfer was 4 years old when his father, ESU Officer Ronald Kloepfer, died while responding to the World Trade Center. Casey Kloepfer graduated from the NYPD Police Academy in June, continuing his father’s service in the same department.
The memories have also traveled with officers who later joined agencies outside the city. Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina was an NYPD sergeant on Sept. 11.
In a video shared by Suffolk County police, Catalina recalled heading toward the danger as the attack unfolded.
In North Carolina, Wake County Sheriff’s Deputy John Donnelly also carries an NYPD history. Donnelly was an NYPD lieutenant on 9/11 and supervised seven sergeants and 100 officers assigned across Ground Zero, Times Square, Grand Central Terminal, Penn Station, the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and the medical examiner’s morgue. He now works in Wake County’s Courthouse Operations Unit, according to the sheriff’s office.
Port Authority Police: A department’s staggering loss
Port Authority police officers stationed at the World Trade Center began evacuating workers and helping the injured within minutes of the first impact. Thirty-seven PAPD officers died that day, the largest single-day loss of police officers in U.S. history.
Officer Will Jimeno was a rookie when he joined Sgt. John McLoughlin and other officers collecting rescue equipment at the World Trade Center. As they moved through the shopping mall below the towers, the South Tower collapsed. Jimeno, McLoughlin and Officer Dominick Pezzulo survived the initial collapse, trapped about 30 feet beneath the debris. Pezzulo was killed when the North Tower came down. Jimeno and McLoughlin remained trapped until rescuers reached them hours later, according to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
| MORE: From New York to Los Angeles: A fallen 9/11 officer’s legacy lives on
In a new interview, Jimeno described being buried for hours and the chance he later had to watch his daughters grow up.
The department’s response did not end with the rescues. Then-PAPD Bailiff Michael Dercola joined the bucket brigade and sifted through debris at Ground Zero. After retiring from the Port Authority in 2018, he moved to North Carolina and became a bailiff with the Wake County Sheriff’s Office. Dercola was diagnosed with cancer in 2021 and underwent chemotherapy and radiation.
In a Wake County Sheriff’s Office tribute, the agency said Dercola was five years in remission but continued to receive monthly checkups.
Response to the Pentagon
The law enforcement response on Sept. 11 stretched beyond New York. Local and federal officers converged on the Pentagon after American Airlines Flight 77 struck the building, helping evacuate survivors, treat the injured and secure the surrounding area.
Arlington County police officers responded to the attack and remained involved in the recovery. For the 25th anniversary, retired Deputy Chief Stephen Holl shared his firsthand account of the department’s work, the conditions responders faced and the lessons that continue to shape the county’s emergency planning.
Alexandria Assistant Police Chief Mike May was among the department’s officers who responded to the Pentagon. He is one of the few members of that group still serving 25 years later, according to the Alexandria Police Department.
U.S. Park Police officers were also among the first law enforcement personnel to arrive. They helped people escape the burning building and provided first aid as other officers evacuated monuments, secured the National Mall and prepared for the possibility of another attack.
More than 100 U.S. Park Police officers ultimately served in Washington and New York. At the Pentagon, their assignments included medical evacuations, searches of the wreckage, security around Arlington National Cemetery and the movement of military and FBI personnel. Some worked for 24 hours before sleeping in offices, vehicles and cafeterias, according to the National Park Service.
Response to Flight 93
The 40 passengers and crew members aboard Flight 93 fought back after learning that other hijacked planes had struck the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Their actions prevented the hijackers from reaching their intended target in Washington before the plane crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing everyone aboard.
Pennsylvania State Police troopers were among the first responders who converged on the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after the plane went down at 10:03 a.m.
Retired Trooper James Broderick was working the day shift at the PSP Somerset station when Flight 93 crashed. Broderick became the first state trooper to arrive at the scene. He retired from PSP after 25 years.
For the 25th anniversary, Pennsylvania State Police released a remembrance featuring Lt. Col. George Bivens, who reflected on the troopers who responded to Shanksville and the relationships they formed with victims’ families.
“I thought about the first troopers who ran toward the wreckage, not knowing what they would encounter,” Bivens said.
PSP also participated in the 25th anniversary observance at the Flight 93 National Memorial, where its Ceremonial Unit was assigned to conduct the memorial flag fold.
Recovery work continued for weeks
For many responders, the mission quickly shifted from rescue to recovery and identification.
Arthur Bohanan, a retired Knoxville Police Department forensics expert, deployed with a federal disaster response team and spent 59 days at Ground Zero. He worked night shifts in the rubble and at the temporary morgue, recovering remains so families could receive answers about their loved ones.
“We took care of each other,” Bohanan told WBIR, describing how team members watched over one another during the physically and emotionally punishing assignment.
Bohanan returned home with health problems that he connects to his exposure. His partner and close friend, KPD Officer Steve Tinder, later died from cancer believed to be linked to his Ground Zero work. Bohanan said he still experiences flashbacks and cannot bring himself to return to New York.
Seminole County Sheriff’s Capt. Mark Pergola was a deputy when he deployed from Florida with his cadaver dog, Dino. The pair spent five days at Fresh Kills Landfill, where debris from the World Trade Center was taken for sorting and recovery.
Pergola and Dino searched for human remains amid the wreckage. On the final day of his deployment, Pergola assisted the NYPD during a funeral at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, according to a Florida Sheriffs Association account of the state’s response.
Officers across the country responded to Ground Zero
Departments and multidisciplinary task forces from across the country sent personnel to New York in the days after the attacks.
Members of the Ontario County Sheriff’s Office traveled from western New York to Ground Zero in the aftermath of the attacks and spent days assisting wherever they were needed.
Two of those responders, Robert Holland and Steve Mumby, remain with the sheriff’s office as part-time members. In a video released for the anniversary, they recount their service and the work the Ontario County team carried out at Ground Zero.
Oakland County Sheriff’s Office personnel were on the road from Michigan shortly after midnight. Sheriff Michael Bouchard had been in contact with New York authorities, who requested additional assistance in the hours after the attacks. Twenty-five years later, Bouchard is sharing the story as the keynote speaker at Orion Township’s Patriot Day ceremony.
A group of Philadelphia police officers also deployed to Ground Zero in an official capacity. Retired Sgt. Greg Masi spent several days in Lower Manhattan. He was later diagnosed with blood cancer and asthma that the World Trade Center Health Program linked to his service, NBC10 Philadelphia reported.
The nationwide response also moved through federal urban search and rescue teams. Arizona Task Force 1 deployed 62 firefighters, police officers, physicians and K-9 handlers to Ground Zero, according to the city of Phoenix.
Ohio Task Force 1 was among the teams sent to New York. Its multidisciplinary members spent nine days recovering victims and fallen firefighters, WHIO reported. Available public sources confirm the team’s deployment, but do not identify which participating law enforcement agencies had personnel on that 2001 roster.
Not everyone who traveled to New York was assigned to search or recovery work. The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office in Ohio is sharing the accounts of two members who supported responders in different ways after the attacks.
Father Leo Connolly, a volunteer sheriff’s office chaplain, traveled to New York with two other central Ohio chaplains on the Sunday after 9/11. They ministered to Port Authority police officers and civilian employees after the department lost 37 officers.
“That was an experience beyond description,” Connolly told The Catholic Times. Twenty-five years later, he is describing how the assignment continues to affect him.
Others traveled to support departments burying their dead. Franklin County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Jim Gilbert drove from Ohio to New York to attend a fallen officer’s funeral after the attacks. In a video released for the anniversary, Gilbert explains why he felt compelled to make the trip and what that act of support has meant to him since.
How departments are honoring 9/11, 25 years later
Departments are marking the anniversary with stair climbs, memorial rides, formal ceremonies and tributes to responders who later died from 9/11-related illnesses.
In Texas, Coppell police officers joined firefighters and officers from across the Dallas-Fort Worth area for the annual Dallas 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb. Wearing full duty gear, participants climbed 110 floors of Comerica Bank Tower in memory of the 343 firefighters, 70 law enforcement officers and nine EMS workers killed at the World Trade Center.
In Pennsylvania, three Folcroft Borough police officers completed a stair climb of their own. Officer Matty, Officer Surplus and Cpl. Kesser joined members of Matty’s former high school lacrosse team for the tribute.
Wearing boots, duty belts, vests and plated outer carriers, the group climbed 2,200 steps in 52 minutes. That exceeded the 2,071 steps used to represent the World Trade Center’s 110 stories, according to the department.
In Florida, members of the Orlando Police Department’s SWAT team joined the University of Central Florida community for a 9/11 Stair Climb Challenge.
Participants climbed the stadium steps in memory of the first responders and civilians killed in the attacks. The tribute was organized with UCF’s Office of Military and Veteran Success, Team Red, White & Blue and UCF Athletics, according to the department.
Motor officers from departments across the country participated in America’s 9/11 Ride, which brought together approximately 600 motorcycles.
The annual ride visits all three attack sites: the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, the Pentagon and the World Trade Center site, according to the West Seneca Police Department.
The Pentagon Force Protection Agency also shared how it carried out another Pentagon responder’s final request. The funeral procession for Arlington County Police Cpl. Barry Foust passed the Pentagon, where he had responded on Sept. 11 and worked for the following week. Foust died May 22 after more than 35 years in law enforcement and a battle with 9/11-related cancer.
For the officers who responded and the departments that sent them, the 25th anniversary is about more than remembering where they were on Sept. 11. It is also about remembering those who did not come home and those whose lives were changed by the work that followed.
