GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – You never forget where you were when the twin towers fell.
Especially, if you were there.
John and Donna Kneeley were on the 77th floor of tower one when American Airlines Flight 11 hit at 8:46 am.
“I said ‘Dad, something happened at the world trade and we don’t know what’,” says Donna Kneeley. “Maybe it was a bomb I said, but we’re gonna go down now.”
They traveled down the staircase and safely made it out, just moments before tower two collapsed.
2 decades later, they tell FOX 11 the trauma still hasn’t healed.
“No, no. Not at all. Every morning, I feel guilty. Every year. And there are so many that are, especially the ones that ran into the building,” says John Kneeley. “Regularly I have dreams, still. I thought it would pass by now. It hasn’t.
Nearly 3,000 people took part in the ninth annual 9/11 stair climb at Lambeau Field on Saturday, including Tom O’Neil.
“When somebody else is hurt or gets killed or something we all feel it and we certainly did that day., says O’Neil.
O’Neil is a captain for the town of Delavan Fire Department.
At the climb, he honored the brotherhood.
“We made a promise 20 years ago that we would never forget them,” says O’Neil. “And this is a way of remembering them, honoring their sacrifice, by doing the stair climb.”
They climbed what’s equal to 110 stories.
It’s the highest floor firefighters got to during rescue efforts.
After saying the name of the firefighter on their participants badge, they ring the bell in their memory.
Comments