‘We swore to never forget.’ At 9-11 stair climb, sacrifice is honored with every step.
The badges with names and faces spread across three tables at Kroger Field. All 403 lay there, all of the first responders killed on 9-11 when the World Trade Center buildings collapsed. Alex Wilbur was only 2 years old at the time, but when he saw the badge of Lt. John Napolitano from Rescue Company 2, he clipped it to his T-shirt.
“When I was in high school, I read ‘Last Men Out,’ and I did a lot of research, so I recognized him because he served under Rescue 2,” Wilbur said. “He’s a real inspiration.”
On Thursday night, Wilbur, a third-generation firefighter who’s now a recruit in Lexington, was ready to climb for Napolitano. Nearly 600 people were with him as part of the Lexington 9-11 Memorial Climb. Some in full firefighting kit, they clambered up and down the bleachers at Kroger Field until they reached 110 flights, the height of the World Trade Center. When they were almost done, they stopped, rang a bell and spoke their person’s name into a microphone. Soon, the steady chime was accompanied by the somber litany of the fallen — John Napolitano. Jeffrey Giordano. Greg Atlas. Timothy Higgins. Mark Joseph Ellis. Gerald Baptiste.
“A lot of us can’t remember the day, but we were raised in a post 9-11 environment,” Wilbur said. “How much of an impact that was in putting others ahead of yourself. I want to help carry on the standard they set for us — my job is to help other people as much as I can.”
It was a high standard set 20 years ago, and sometimes these days, it feels as if the day we vowed never to forget, the day that brought America together, has been lost to our petty divisiveness, our selfishness, our disagreements over nearly everything. Right now, in the midst of another national crisis, we could use the unity of Sept. 12, unity that was on display at Kroger Field.
“That feeling of humanity on Sept. 12, a lot of people have lost that,” said Heston Hughes, a firefighter who works in Georgetown and Covington. He wore the badge of Jeffrey Giordano clipped to about 70 pounds of clothing and equipment. He’s done the climb before and said he really thought about 9-11 with heavy steps, “you remember the level of bravery they had to go into a building you know is collapsing. That should be honored.”
The 9-11 Memorial Climb has grown from its infancy nine years ago — when firefighters crowded into the narrow stairs at the Big Blue Building downtown — to Kroger Field, where the scoreboard showed photos from Ground Zero.
“Every year, it’s this moving,” said Lexington Fire Department spokesman Jordan Saas. The $25 entry fee pays for the event and also supports the monuments to fallen police and firefighters in Lexington’s Phoenix Park.
“This is a way for us to constantly remember, and a way to educate the next generation. There are kids climbing who weren’t even born when 9-11 happened,” he said. “We need to keep remembering. Things distract us, but it’s important for us to learn from our history.”
Jacob Turner is one of those kids. He’s 17, and 9-11 is an academic subject he learned about in school. But it helped influence his desire to become a firefighter.
“It’s had a huge impact on American culture and the way we view the world,” he said. “The firefighters at Ground Zero, that’s real American heroes.”
The Tates Creek High School basketball team showed up for some conditioning, both physical and emotional, said assistant coach Jay Bordas. “Twenty years is a big deal,” he said. Unlike his team, Bordas has a clear memory of the event. His University of Kentucky professor dismissed class, telling them, “go home and call the people you love.”
Capt. Steve Lewis carried a flag emblazoned with all 403 names of those lost. “We swore to never forget, and this is the way we can honor the lives lost that day,” he said. He was 25 on 9-11, working in HVAC but an aspiring firefighter. “Being born and raised in Lexington, being able to serve the community I’m from is a huge honor for me.”
Twenty years is a long time, and these days, the concepts of duty and honor seem very far away. 9-11 ushered in a new and vastly more complicated world; for just a few hours, Kroger Field symbolized a simpler time where service is paramount, duty sacred and politics obsolete. Maybe we need reminders more than once a year.
In little under an hour, people started emerging from the bleachers, sweaty but happy. Jake Viersta, a member of the Kentucky National Guard, rang the bell for Richard Kelly Jr., a 50-year-old firefighter who had just finished his 24th year with the department.
“I hadn’t thought about it for a long time, but I read about him,” Viersta said. “When I rang the bell, I was looking at the pictures of Ground Zero, and it brought it all together. It made it real.”
This story was originally published September 10, 2021 at 10:53 AM.
