Sept. 11, 2022 marks the 21st anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and another unsuccessful attempt which led to a crashed plane in Pennsylvania –all of which the city of Ashland remembers.

Many brave people sacrificed their lives that day to assist or locate those who were trapped in the towers and among them were first responders. To honor those who gave their lives, we spoke with first responders in the Ashland community to gain their perspective on this day of remembrance.

Chief Rick Anderson of the Ashland City Division of Fire took the time to reflect on where he was the day of the attacks.

“I was on duty, upstairs, in a training class when someone who was on shift as the cook that day stuck his head in and said ‘hey, one of the towers just got hit by a plane’,” Anderson said.

Not much thought was given at first, as Anderson stated he and others on duty thought it may have been a commuter plane and knew the towers were built to withstand such an impact, until the cook saw more reports and came back, telling them they should see what was on the news.

“It was kind of an uneasy feeling for everybody at that time,” Anderson reflected. “By the time we got downstairs, we saw the second plane and it just snowballed from there. We were glued to the TV for weeks just watching. It felt so strange. We had some people ready to go to New York if they needed anything.”

Today, Anderson holds Sept. 11 as a day of remembrance and explains that despite the attacks, people in America showed the outside world strength in their drive to move forward.

“It’s important to remember and pay tribute to the men and women of the public that lost their lives that day,” Anderson said. “But we kept doing what we were doing as a populus to show people although that was a setback, it did not interrupt us, we kept going.

Lieutenant Jerry Bloodhardt of the Ashland City Police Division also reflected on where he was that day.

“At that time, I was still a young officer, just in my first year with the department, and I was actually at home as I was assigned to the midwatch,” Bloodhardt said. “My wife woke me up and said hey, look what’s going on.”

Being from a military background and upon seeing the news that both towers had been hit, Bloodhardt explained that he was ready to defend his country.

“Immediately, I was ready to drop this, get signed up and ready to go get who was responsible,” Bloodhardt reflected.

Though there were feelings of uneasiness, uncertainty and fear in the air, a strong community bond brought the city of Ashland closer together.

“For here, especially when everyone came back to work, the bonding and way people looked at us as first responders was different,” Bloodhardt concluded. “There was that feeling of appreciation and love which grew and got really strong. I have to say, even now, the amount of times in this community I’m thanked for my service is humbling and reminds me of my purpose of why we do what we do.”