When the four young first responders from Warrior, Alabama, a northern suburb of Birmingham, pulled into New York City the night of Sept. 12, 2001, they were surprised to find themselves digging in the rubble within minutes of arrival.
Joining countless others who could get to the scene quickly, the Warrior crew were the only firefighters from Alabama to assist in those early days of search and rescue at Ground Zero. Others would certainly join the recovery and cleanup effort in the coming days.
But in those first hours after the attacks, fire chief Clay Neely prepped fire medics Chris Hardin, Nick Burns, and Patrick Weeks for a no-time-to-think, just-go, kind of mission.
Hardin, Burns, and Weeks were all in their early 20s at the time. Chief Neely had about a decade on them and knew they were up to the task. Neely is now retired and no longer living in the area, but the three who followed him took some time to reflect on their experience the evening prior to the 25th anniversary.
On Sept. 10, 2026, they spent some time with me talking about their experience.
Chief Hardin, Patrick Weeks and I made our way to the Pleasant Grove Fire Department, where Lt. Burns now serves. They chatted around the dinner table next to the room where Chief Hardin and Lt. Burns happened to both be on Sept. 11, 2001.
They recalled watching the news nonstop that morning right where we were chatting and looking through photos 25 years later.
The memories unfolded seamlessly as the firemen shared various stories, and all these years later, they still aren’t quite sure why they were ushered to the front of the line and down in the hole to sift carefully through debris.
Maybe because their uniforms were eerily similar to New York’s finest, possibly due to the fact they all had medic training, and certainly because Chief Neely knew how to communicate clearly in a crisis.
But maybe — just maybe — God allowed the four firemen with the standout southern accents to be front and center so everyone working around them could keep hope alive and be constantly reminded of our resilience as Americans.
After all, it was the name plates on their turnout coats that truly described the first responders on 9/11 — Warrior.
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