On the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Gregory Gay left work in Portland about 5 p.m. and drove to New York City to see ground zero.
He spent the night walking around, meeting and exchanging hugs with others who had come out to mark the somber occasion. About 6 a.m. the next day, he met a Port Authority police officer outside of the Millennium Hotel. The company he worked for, United Rentals, had donated its equipment to the city after the tragedy. The officer then walked with him into the site and to the Hudson River, where the victims’ families were, he said.
He wasn’t sure what compelled him to make the trip.
“I don’t know,” said Gay, now 67 and a Marine Corps veteran. “I think we all have a connection in some way.”
Twenty-two years later, Gay pulled on his Boston sweatshirt and joined about two dozen other Portland residents for the city’s ceremony at Fort Allen Park commemorating the 23rd anniversary of the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.
Portland police officers and firefighters stood in formation as fire Chief Keith Gautreau and police Chief Mark Dubois were escorted by a bagpiper to lay two wreaths next to the memorial, which reads, “All gave some, some gave all, and all still some give.”
“I ask you all this morning, especially my fellow first responders here today, across the country and especially after last night’s debate, let us put our political and social differences aside for at least this day to honor those lost and keep our promise to never forget,” Gautreau said.
Portland fire Chief Keith Gautreau, center, salutes the 9/11 memorial after laying a wreath in Fort Allen Park on Wednesday. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer
Wednesday’s clear, bright sky was reminiscent of that Tuesday in 2001, when nearly 3,000 people died in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania, Gautreau said. Among those killed were the brave New York City firefighters, police officers and Port Authority officers who ran toward the towers “without hesitation,” he said.
Gautreau reminded the small crowd of the community’s close connection to the attacks – two of the men who would later hijack American Airlines Flight 11 and destroy the World Trade Center flew out of the Portland International Jetport in the early morning. The plane left Boston and and crashed into the North Tower at 8:46 a.m. Mohamed Atta, of Egypt, and Abdulaziz al-Omari, of Saudi Arabia, stayed in South Portland the night before, at the Comfort Inn on Maine Mall Road in South Portland.
Gay said he knows and respects a lot of Portland’s first responders. Since 9/11, their loved ones worry even more if they will come home safely, he said.
After the ceremony, he quietly stood in front of the memorial. On the same hand that was holding his coffee, he wore a bracelet representing each of the Armed Forces.
“These guys do a lot for us,” Gay said. “A lot of people don’t realize that. Not only them, but it takes a toll on their families more than anything.”
On that trip to New York 22 years ago, Gay remembers having someone take his photo. He had just pulled out a photo from his pocket of his friend’s son, who was born at 4 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001.
“With death comes life, no matter how you look at it,” he said to the stranger.
Today, Gay still holds onto a little urn filled with dirt and glass he collected from ground zero.
“I might just bring it to the headquarters of the fire department and leave it with them because I don’t have any family or anybody to leave it to,” Gay said. “I figured it’d be a nice little gesture.”
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
