9/11 20TH Anniversary Remembrance Edition by APG Eastern NC

September 2021

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9/11 20TH ANNIVERSARY REMEMBRANCE EDITION

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9/11 20TH ANNIVERSARY REMEMBRANCE EDITION

CONTENTS

PAGE 3 Edenton couple fed 9/11 searchers

PAGE 5 Town manager remembers Judge

PAGE 7 Senior chief underway when attacks happened

PAGE 9 Senior chief remembers attacks, DHS transition

PAGE 11 Fed dollars flowed to law enforcement after 9/11

Reggie Ponder/The Daily Advance These items, including two FDNY patches, are among the things shared with Charlie and Susan Creighton by people they met while volunteering at Ground Zero in New York City in spring 2002.

Edenton couple fed 9/11 searchers grits at Ground Zero By Reggie Ponder - Staff Writer

PAGE 12 How prepared are we?

PAGE 15 9/11 observances planned

PAGE 17 Young served in Afghanistan after attacks

harlie and Susan Creighton learned that a warm pot of grits — and standing alongside people during a difficuwlt time — can make an unbearable challenge somehow bearable. The Creightons, residents of Edenton, volunteered in the shadow of Ground Zero about six months after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Edenton had a connection to Ground Zero in the form of the priest at St. Paul’s Parish Chapel in Manhattan near Ground Zero. The chapel is associated with a large Episcopal Church that is located next door to it.

The priest at the chapel, the Rev. Lyndon Harris, was a friend of the Rev. Tom Rickenbacker, who at the time was the priest at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Edenton. Harris came to Edenton and spoke to a group at St. Paul’s. The Creightons actually went to New York on Sept. 28, 2001, just 17 days after the terrorist attack that brought down the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Susan Creighton noted that she and her husband had already booked the trip before the catastrophic attack and decided to go ahead and make the visit.

She said that they saw a lot of rescue workers while they were there. When they went out to restaurants during that trip, she said, people expressed gratitude for their patronage because so many tourists had canceled trips and were not visiting the city at that time. Harris came and spoke in Edenton in February 2002 and a few weeks later the Creightons responded to the priest’s plea for volunteers to come to New York City and help the rescue workers there. They spent four nights in New York and worked the night shift. “ We fed them all night long,”

9/11 20TH ANNIVERSARY REMEMBRANCE EDITION

Creighton said. “We would run out of food and Charlie would go to the grocery store.” The workers napped in pews at the church. They found beds for the searchers and made sure they woke up in time to make their shift. Susan Creighton was in charge of making grits. “We would make huge pots of grits for these people” she said. Creighton said most of the searchers had never eaten grits before but ended up loving them. Many of the searchers would come in crying because they had just found the body of a comrade, she said. “Or a body part,” he added. Charlie Creighton said the chapel at Ground Zero is as close to the bombed-out site as the Chowan Herald office on South Broad Street in Edenton is to the brick former Town Hall Building at the foot of South Broad Street. Susan Creighton noted it was very

cold when they were there and had been cold all that winter. “This chapel was an absolute beacon for them,” he said. It was somewhere to go for warm food and place to lie down — even if not a very comfortable place to lie down, he explained. “It was a real sight.” he said. Susan Creighton mentioned that the chapel yard was covered in ash to the point that it looked like snow. She said the volunteer work was meaningful. “It was a sad experience but rewarding,” he agreed. The Creightons became good friends with a police officer while they were there and made a number of other friends. Charlie Creigthon said he can’t say definitively what the cause was in each instance, but all the people they met at Ground Zero and have stayed in contact with have gotten divorced in the years since. “It impacted everybody’s life that we met very significantly,” he said.

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The Creightons became very close to Harris, the priest. While they were in New York City in spring 2002 the Creightons stayed in the same hotel they had stayed in for years when visiting the city. They

took the subway from the hotel down to the site. Susan Creighton said all the people they met were glad they were there. “Everybody was glad for everybody,” he agreed.

Graham Morrison/Associated Press A lone firefighter moves through piles of debris at the site of the World Trade Center in New York, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001.

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Knighton recalls death of FDNY chaplain Judge on 9/11 By Reggie Ponder - Staff Writer

he shock wave that Edenton Town Manager Anne-Marie Knighton felt upon first learning of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, was amplified when she heard the news that Father Mychal Judge had died while responding to the emergency at Ground Zero. Judge, the first confirmed casualty

at Ground Zero, was a Catholic priest who served as a chaplain for the Fire Department of New York. He was killed when a falling beam struck him as he administered last rites to a fallen firefighter inside the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Knighton felt a special closeness to Judge because of the close bond

Wikipedia Father Mychal Judge, the first confirmed casualty at Ground Zero, was a Catholic priest who served as a chaplain for the Fire Department of New York. He was killed when a falling beam struck him as he administered last rites to a fallen firefighter inside the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.

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he had formed with the family of her mother’s childhood bes t friend. Her mother’s friend, Shelia, had moved to New York City Knighton and her daughter Patty had married New York City police officer Steven McDonald. McDonald, who died in 2017, was paralyzed after being shot in the line of duty in 1986. Then-Mayor Ed Koch saw McDonald’s family in his hospital room praying and affirming their faith in God in the wake of the shooting. “Mayor Koch was so moved by the family’s faith that he called police headquarters and said, ‘send a priest right away,’” Knighton recalled. “Father Judge was sent over.” McDonald publicly forgave the shooter, and he and Judge began speaking together about forgiveness, reconciliation and peace at venues throughout

the United States and also in Northern Ireland. “They were amazing friends,” Knighton said. “They became iconic ambassadors for forgiveness and peace.” Knighton said that over the years her mother would frequently update her on the work they were doing. “My mother always talked about Father Judge and about Steven’s and Father Judge’s friendship,” Knighton said. When she heard the priest’s name in news reports about 9-11, “it was just so emotional and sad and tragic,” she said. “I immediately thought of my mother and Shelia — my mother’s friend — and Patti and Steven. I immediately thought of them.” Knighton’s sister has good friends who lost their son on Sept. 11, 2001. He was passenger on American Airlines Flight #11, the plane that took off from Logan International Airport in Boston and was headed to Los Angeles when it was hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists. The plane, flown by Mohamed

Atta, was deliberately crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, killing all 92 people aboard. Members of Knighton’s extended family also lost friends on 9-11. Speaking at the Chowan County 9-11 remembrance program in 2016,

Knighton recalled the brave people who sacrificed their own lives that day to help others. “The actions, their intent to do good, is part of our American spirit,” she said. “And it is that spirit that I remember on 9-11.”

Tina Fineberg/Associated Press The bunker coat and helmet worn by FDNY Chaplain Mychal Judge are displayed as City of New York Fire Commissioner Salvatore J. Cassano speaks Sunday Sept. 11, 2011 at the New York City Fire Museum in New York during a memorial ceremony for the 343 members of the FDNY who lost their lives in the World Trade Center attacks. The bunker coat and helmet worn by Judge on Sept. 11, 2001, were dedicated to the museum during the service.

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Senior chief underway on 9/11 learned of attacks while in Bering Sea By Chris Day - Multimedia Editor

ommand Senior Chief Heather Coulter remembers the attacks of 9/11 from a different angle. Unlike many people, who learned of the attacks as they were unfolding live on TV news, Coulter didn’t learn about the attacks until later that morning. That’s because she was underway in the Bering Sea serving aboard U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Midgett, a 378foot, high endurance cutter based at the time in Seattle, Washington. “We were underway in the Bering Sea for a fisheries patrol,” Coulter said. “Back then, connectivity to the internet while underway on a cutter was little to none.”

She said the crew first learned of the attacks later in the morning when the commanding officer made an announcement over the ship’s intercom system. “We didn’t hear about the attack on the U.S. until well into late morning when the CO came over the 1MC and announced there was an attack at the Pentagon, Twin Towers, and another plane that went down before it reached its target,” she said. Aside from than the skipper’s announcement, the only other information Midgett and her shipmates received came from the few members aboard who had email capabilities. They were receiving updates from family, friends

and other Coast Guard members. “We had no access to television, so watching it play out on television like the rest of the world wasn’t an option for the crew,” said Coulter, who enlisted in April 1998. Coulter said she remembers the crew being somber and quiet, while continuing to find out as much as possible about what was happening in New York City. “A couple members of the crew had family in New York that worked at the World Trade Center, either as a first responder or as a civilian employee at the WTC,” she said. “We were waiting for orders and wanting to respond anyway we could to help those that needed it, even if

we were all the way up in the Bering Sea. The evening of 9/11, Cutter Midgett received orders to redirect to Valdez, Alaska, where the crew would perform security patrols with the helicopter that had been detached for the duration of patrol. “While we transited to Valdez we conducted gunnery exercises, weapons training and security protocols to ensure the crew was ready to respond to a threat if one presented itself,” said Coulter, whose enlisted job rating is storekeeper. “When we moored in Valdez, the town welcomed us, and many establishments provided full access to television, phones and internet so that the crew could watch

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the news and catch up, so to speak, with the rest of the world and allow us a way to contact our families back in lower 48.” Coulter, who is assigned to the National Strike Force Coordination Center in Elizabeth City, described the experience of 9/11 as humbling. “Realizing that your country and its people were targeted leaves you feeling vulnerable and exposed,” she said. “There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about 9/11 and the days/weeks/months that followed; wondering why it happened and when it will happen again.” Coulter was still attached to Cutter Midgett when in March 2003 the Coast Guard transitioned from the U.S. Department of Transportation into the newly formed U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Prior to transitioning, the Coast Guard had been a part of DOT since 1967. The DHS was formed when Congress approved the Homeland Security Act in late 2002. Its creation was among the major changes in national defense policy enacted because of 9/11. The

new department united several federal agencies, including the Coast Guard, under the purview of one overseeing federal authority. During the transitional phase, Coulter volunteered for duty aboard the Cutter Boutwell, another high endurance cutter that had received orders to deploy to the Middle East in support of

Operation Iraqi Freedom. “I transferred units in 2004, returning to the Middle East as part of USCG Patrol Forces Southwest Asia, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain, again in support of OIF and Operation Enduring Freedom,” Coulter said. Coulter described how the transition to the Department of Homeland Security

changed the role of the Coast Guard. “The transition over to DHS didn’t immediately change my mission or daily job,” she said. “Over the years though, the missions have expanded, our fleet has grown, the time away on deployments has gotten longer, and international and interagency missions have grown.”

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Senior chief recalls memories of 9/11, Coast Guard transition to DHS By Chris Day - Multimedia Editor

enior Chief Christie Hamilton had been in the U.S. Coast Guard a year when the attacks of 9/11 occurred. Like many other people old enough to recall the day, Hamilton still remembers details of the moment she learned of the attacks. “I was in coveralls getting ready to mow the base and thought I would go to the galley for breakfast,” said Hamilton, who is assigned to Base Elizabeth City. “Like most galleys, they had TVs on the wall with the news station constantly playing.” She said the galley was usually filled with the familiar sounds of the kitchen

staff working and the clanging of dishes and silverware. But on the morning of 9/11, the galley “was eerily quiet, you could literally hear a pin drop,” she said. Other service members were sitting at their tables, suspended in their movement with forks and knives held halfway to their mouths, she recalled. “Until I looked at the TV, I thought time literally was standing still,” Hamilton said. “That’s when I saw the plane hit the second tower. I didn’t move for

what felt like an eternity.” On 9/11, Hamilton was stationed in Morehead City at what used to be known as Group Fort Macon. It was a good assignment, given she was living in nearby Wilmington when she enlisted in September 2000. Hamilton completed basic Hamilton training at Cape May, New Jersey, and graduated at the top of her training class. Having earned honor graduate status, Hamilton entered the fleet motivated and ready to serve. A year later, on 9/11, she still maintained that sense

of duty and commitment. “I had enormous pride to be serving in the military at the time and was willing to do whatever was needed to safeguard our ports,” said Hamilton, whose enlisted job rating is marine science technician. After 9/11, there was a lot of uncertainty among the ranks, but precautions against potential future attacks were put in motion. “At the time we didn’t know what else could be coming so there was a lot of uncertainty,” she said. “As a result, there was increased security protocols and weapons training.”

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Hamilton also had orders to report to MST school at the Coast Guard’s enlisted training facility in Yorktown, Virginia. To her disappointment, those orders were postponed to a later date. “Pretty crazy looking back, how small and insignificant that was compared to our entire nation and Coast Guard changing missions and mindsets as a result,” she said, reflecting years later about having felt disappointed. The attacks of 9/11 affected everyone throughout the Coast Guard, regardless of where they were stationed that morning, Hamilton said. “Every unit elevated their security protocols and basically went into lockdown,” she said. “I was engaged to be married at the time to another Coastie at the same unit and the next time I saw him, he was handed an M16 machine gun and told to patrol the small boat station and the beach in front of the unit.” M2 .50 caliber guns were mounted on the small boats from which crews launched around-the-clock port patrols, she said. “We all had some sort of security detail to perform; it was an eye-opener for sure,” said Hamilton. It was a tragic time for everyone, but it also united Americans of all backgrounds, she said. “I wish that comradery, feeling and sentiment could be brought back today, without the turmoil that caused it, of course,” she said. Two years later, Hamilton was finally attending MST school in Yorktown. During that time, she was a participant in another major change in the lives of Coast Guard personnel. In March 2003, the Coast Guard transitioned from the U.S. Department of Transportation, where it had been since 1967, into the newly formed U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The DHS was officially formed when Congress approved the Homeland Security Act in late 2002. Its creation was among the major changes in national defense policy enacted because of 9/11. The new department united several federal agencies, including the Coast

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press Members of U.S. Coast Guard Honor Team take their positions at the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial before the start of the September 11th Pentagon Memorial Observance at the Pentagon on the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018.

Guard, under the purview of one over- and better identify/deter threats. Truth more to change the DHS than the DHS be told, I think the Coast Guard did changed the Coast Guard.” seeing federal authority. Hamilton spoke briefly of what the move from DOT to DHS was like for the Coast Guard. “A lot of our mission sets went from science-based to more of a safety/ security stance,” she said. “Our relationship with (U.S.) Customs and Border Protection was definitely more robust. Even though we worked with them screening consumer goods via foreign flagged vessels, we now had the same boss, and our missions were better aligned.” Hamilton’s job was changed by 9/11 as the result of two new acts passed by Congress, the Marine Transportation Security Act and the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code, she said. “My job as a marine science technician transitioned heavily into more of a security role, as we aimed to address port and waterway security, requiring ports and vessels to develop security plans and protocols to identify, establish and patrol restricted areas,” she explained. “In essence, it created a consistent security program for all the nation’s ports to address vulnerabilities

9/11 20TH ANNIVERSARY REMEMBRANCE EDITION

Fed dollars have flowed to local police, fire agencies since 9-11 By Paul Nielsen - Staff Writer

ince the 9-11 terrorist attacks billions and billions of additional federal dollars for police and fire departments have flowed to local communities. Elizabeth City has received such money from the federal government and city Public Safety Director Eddie Bufflaoe said the money is much needed in the post-9-11 world. “I see the increased funding as part of the overall lessons learned from that terrible day,” Buffaloe said. “There has to be a continued effort to improve public safety measures for all citizens everywhere. Many agencies depend on the grant funding to do just that as it is used to supplement their own departmental operating budget in acquiring these safety measures.” Although started in 1994, The U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services program is just one of many federal programs that has seen a marked increase in money appropriated for grants to local law enforcement agencies since 9-11. Over $14 billon has been awarded since 1994, including $500 million last year. The Department of Homeland Security had nearly $1.8 billion available last year for communities in its preparedness program, of which 25 percent can go to law enforcement. DHS was itself created in the wake of 9/11. Buffaloe said COPS as well as other federal grants offer local funding for more personnel, enhanced technology and equipment, training and other resources that “help us to better serve our communities.”

Last month, the city submitted federal grant applications totaling around $800,000. In that application is a $250,000 request to have the federal government pay 75 percent for two police positions for three years. The city would Buffaloe be required to match a total of around $66,000 over the next three fiscal years if the grant is approved. Many grants, however, don’t require a local match. “The Elizabeth City Police Department has been a recipient of several of the awards,” said Buffaloe, who has been city chief of police for nine years. “That has allowed us to purchase police radios, mobile data terminals, body-worn cameras and in-car cameras.” But Bufflaoe said the biggest impact from COPS grants is that they have provided ECPD a means of adding additional police officers. “The Elizabeth City Police Department, since I have been here and records indicate the years before I became chief, has received additional positions of sworn police officers through COPS,” Buffaloe said. “All the positions through COPS add boots on the ground, which is definitely a benefit.” Buffaloe said another big change since 9-11 is that coordination between local, state and federal law enforcement agencies has improved. He said that change includes better sharing of intelligence information among different agencies. “We couldn’t operate in our own little silos anymore,” Buffaloe said. “We

have to share information. We did that on the sharing of resources (before 9-11). But in my opinion, we didn’t do that on the sharing of intelligence information.’’ Elizabeth City and other law enforce-

ment agencies across the state work closely with the N.C. North Carolina Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAAC). Known as a fusion center, the ISAAC was established in 2006 and is ad-

Mark Lennihan/Associated Press A firefighter at firehouse Engine 10 Company 10, adjacent to the World Trade Center in New York, pulls on his gear as he responds to a call. Three-hundred forty-three New York firefighters were killed in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

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ministered by the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation. The fusion center develops actionable intelligence on immediate and emerging threats and shares it with first responders. “It is more centralized now,” Buffaloe said. “Everybody basically talks with one another through this one centralized wheelhouse.” Buffaloe said local law enforcement becomes even more vigilant on anniversaries of past terrorist attacks like 9-11 and for special events that draw big crowds. “We take all the intel and it put together and make the best decision to keep everyone safe,” Buffaloe said.

“Public safety is our No. 1 concern and it is paramount in any situation. We are vigilant every day.’’ One such big event will occur in March when the U.S. Coast Guard Marathon is run in Elizabeth City. The event is expected to attract around 10,000 runners and spectators along a 26.2-mile course, part of which runs through the U.S. Coast Guard Base. “That will enlarge our public safety footprint,” Buffaloe said. “Of course, we think of the Boston Marathon bombing. We want to keep people safe and we have already started that coordination with the state, federal agencies and the Coast Guard.”

Mark Lennihan/Associated Press With the skeleton of the World Trade Center twin towers in the background, New York City firefighters work amid debris on Cortlandt Street after the terrorist attacks of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001.

How prepared are we? Much better than before 9/11, Parnell says By Julian Eure - Managing Editor

ow prepared are we to respond to a 9/11-style attack? It’s a question few people outside of risk analysts ever asked before Middle Eastern terrorists, armed with fuel-laden jetliners, slammed into the Twin Towers in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a field in Pennsylvania 20 years ago. The fact few people until then had asked the question was cited afterward as one of the reasons the attacks in fact happened. “A failure of imagination” is how the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, better known as the 9/11 Commission, famously termed one key reason for our lack of preparation for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans. The attacks changed a lot of things, but one key change was how federal, state and local governments plan for disasters.

“It’s changed the way we think about things. It really has,” says Brian Parnell, who took over as Pasquotank-Camden Emergency Management coordinator in January. Parnell, who was working as a paramedic when 9/11 happened, says prior to the attacks, if you heard of a disaster — even one fairly close to you — you weren’t immediately inclined to think “what if that happened here?” ‘”Now if you’re hearing a news report about something happening the next county over or the next state over or a whole country over ... you think, what if that happened here? How would we respond?” he said. As a result of that change, every possible agency that might be called on to respond to a disaster — everyone from fire departments and law enforcement to emergency medical services and 9-1-1 telecommunications centers — has not only been thinking about how it will respond,

it’s been training and planning for it. “Nine-eleven changed the concept of emergency response in general — how agencies like EMS, fire departments and law enforcement do their jobs day to day and respond to events,” Parnell said. “But it also changed how we plan. There was not a lot of in-depth planning as there is today.” Parnell said emergency management departments now partner with multiple agencies — everyone from the traditional ones in public safety to those like health departments, hospitals, volunteer groups, public utilities and wastewater operators — to “ensure you have adequate plans for (disaster) response.” Pasquotank-Camden had some of those kinds of plans in place prior to 9/11, Parnell said, crediting the work of Christy Saunders, his longtime predecessor at emergency management, and other local officials. But until 9/11, there was no widespread effort much

of anywhere to have integrated, standardized plans. Before the attacks, most local disaster plans were focused on events like hurricanes, hazardous waste spills and hostage situations, Parnell said. After 9/11, emergency agencies had to expand their response plans to cover incidents like suspicious packages, bombs, explosives. “After 9/11 you had to start thinking out of the box and do the what-if scenarios,” Parnell said. “It’s better to plan and be prepared than to not plan and try to figure it out as it happens, as it unfolds. “Unfortunately, things have to happen across the nation and world before we realize, ‘hey, we need to look at that a little more in-depth and see how it’s going to impact us here and whether we’ll be able to respond,” Parnell continued. One key operational change that grew out of the 9/11 attacks was

9/11 20TH ANNIVERSARY REMEMBRANCE EDITION formalization of what’s known in emergency response circles as the “incident command structure.” “That’s who’s in charge (at the scene of an emergency or disaster) and who’s going to be overseeing certain aspects of the event as it plays out,” Parnell said. Incident command had been in place for decades in fire departments, particularly in larger cities but “had never really crossed over into the day-to-day operations of regular emergency management and the public safety field,” Parnell said. The importance of the incident command structure became apparent in the aftermath of 9/11, Parnell said, when multiple public safety agencies decided on their own to self-deploy to New York or Washington, D.C., to assist in the response. Numbers of those people later got severely sick because they breathed in the harmful dust and particles swirling in the air after the attacks. There wasn’t any way to trace them all, however, because authorities didn’t know actually who had been at the site and who hadn’t. “That’s a big change overall. You can’t just self deploy to a region because they have a disaster. You have to be called upon,” Parnell said. “That was one of the things they found (in the aftermath of the response to 9/11). You had a lot of people who were unaccounted for on the scene, meaning they didn’t check in or check out and weren’t properly assigned to a mission.” EMS agencies also received more

training in the wake of 9/11 so personnel could determine who at a disaster scene needed to be removed quickly and in what order. “We did a lot more training in triage, which is seeing a bunch of patients and determining, based on their injuries, how high of a priority they are to get in the back of an EMS truck,” he said. Patients deemed “red” were considered in the worst shape while those deemed “green were those that could wait just a second if don’t have EMS transport units” available, he said. The federal government provided a lot of the funding for this additional planning and training, Parnell said.

And because communications failures were cited as one of the reasons many public safety personnel died in the response to the 9/11 attacks, local governments also received a lot of funding to upgrade radios and other communications equipment. In the years since, first responders have used these grants to also purchase light towers to illuminate areas after dark, generators, roadside message boards and even swift boats. Some may not remember, but following quickly after the 9/11 attacks was an anthrax scare as well. Federal dollars were also used to provide what’s known as “bioterrorism med-

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ical surveillance.” According to Parnell, federal grants were used to set up state medical assistance teams that could be deployed quickly to the site of a potential biological event. The teams had enough trailers and equipment to set up a field hospital large enough to either supplement or replace a hospital’s operations should one be compromised. Agencies like the one Parnell runs also get funds through what are known as Emergency Management Preparedness Grants. The federal monies are awarded to states based on population and then channeled to local emergency management agen-

Chao Soi Cheong/Associated Press Smoke billows from one of the towers of the World Trade Center as flames and debris explode from the second tower on Sept. 11, 2001.

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cies. Those agencies have to complete a number of disaster planning exercises each year to qualify for the funds. “That’s part of the preparedness effort to show we are prepared for all hazards that may happen,” Parnell said. According to Parnell, emergency management agencies conduct three types of disaster planning exercises — tabletop, functional and full-scale — and have to perform at least three a year to qualify for the EMPG funds.

“Tabletop is where you’re sitting around a table and going through scenarios,” he said. “Functional exercises are like full-scale exercises but you can simulate some of the parts of a real response. In a fullscale (exercise), you’re inParnell viting everyone who could potentially respond to event and giving them what we call ‘injects’ and cuing them to what they need to be doing” during a disaster response. The point of the exercises, which are another legacy of 9/11, are to make

Photo courtesy Pasquotank-Camden Emergency Management In this photo from 2004, representatives from local law enforcement agencies, fire departments, emergency medical services and other agencies participate in a tabletop exercise to test how they would respond to a weapons of mass destruction event in Pasquotank County. Exercises like this one have been required since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks for agencies like Pasquotank-Camden Emergency Management to receive federal disaster planning funds.

sure local first responders are prepared for any potential emergency or disaster. “You can have a plan but if you don’t exercise it, if you don’t test it to see where your failures are going to be, then it’s nothing but a piece of paper,” Parnell said. A plan needs to be exercised, he continued, so that it can be tweaked for circumstances that arise so “you can see how it’s going to work.” “That way when it needs to be utilized, you already have an idea of what to expect,” Parnell said. Two recent disaster planning exercises conducted by Pasquotank-Camden Emergency Management have significant relevance. One several years ago was designed to test area agencies response to a pandemic. Another, conducted just last year, was designed to test response to a civil unrest event. Both exercises have proven beneficial as local agencies found themselves responding both last year and this year to the COVID-19 pandemic

and then earlier this spring to large protests in the wake of Andrew Brown Jr.’s fatal shooting by Pasquotank sheriff’s deputies. “We’ve already had to scramble to put together COVID clinics, which was a joint effort between the health department, EMS and law enforcement to make those happen,” Parnell said. “We tweaked along the way and did what we had to do but we made it happen. And then we had the civil unrest event. We’ve had to test where we’re at and ... come together to work through” what we can do better. Would local agencies’ response to both the COVID-19 pandemic and the Brown protests have gone better even without the disaster planning exercises? “I’d say yes,” Parnell says, crediting the work Saunders did coordinating emergency planning before his arrival, the leadership of local emergency response agencies, and the training their personnel have received. “But it’s also part of the aftermath

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9/11 20TH ANNIVERSARY REMEMBRANCE EDITION of 9/11 that has pushed the preparedness efforts across all agencies to come together and train and learn from each other and learn from other events across the nation and world,” he said. Continuous preparedness efforts since 9/11 have allowed local responders to build a competence level “where we can function in any event,” Parnell said.

“It (the response) may not always look good but the end result should be the same, which is get us back to where we were — or as close to where we were — prior to the event,” he said. So how prepared is Pasquotank-Camden for a 9/11 attack some 20 years after the first 9/11 attack? “To be honest with you? We’re good,” Parnell said.

He bases that assessment on the resources his agency has access to, the resources and leadership partnering agencies like law enforcement, EMS and Sentara Albemarle Medical Center have, the training first responders already have, and the disaster planning exercises those agencies have participated in. “If we had an incident similar to

(9/11) happen here, it’s going to take the entire state of North Carolina to assist with that because locally we don’t have the resources to respond to that magnitude of an event,” Parnell said. “But we’re better capable to initiate a response and to work that response until we can get aid in here. And we know how to get the aid we properly need.”

9/11 observances planned in EC, Rocky Hock By Reggie Ponder - Staff Writer

rograms remembering the sacrifices of first responders who died in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, will be held in Elizabeth City and Center Hill this Sept. 11. A program will be held at noon at Sam A. Twiford Veteran’s Park at Twiford’s Funeral Home in Elizabeth City. At 2 p.m. there will be a program at Center Hill Volunteer Fire Department in Chowan County. David Twiford emphasized that the Elizabeth City program is a community-wide event and everyone is invited “to attend, reflect and remember the men and women that

gave their lives that others may live.” “We have a great keynote speaker who actually was with the president as he traveled to the crash site in Pennsylvania,” Twiford said, referring to President George W. Bush. “There will be a free barbecue luncheon for everyone following our ceremony.” The speaker for the ceremony is Walter (Kirk) Harris, who serves as special assistant in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense with direct assignment to the deputy assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Education. Harris works with the deputy assistant Secretary to ensure that the

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The Daily Advance Then Elizabeth City Fire Chief Corey Mercer places a wreath during the annual remembrance program for the victims of Sept. 11, 2001 at Sam A. Twiford Veteran’s Park at Twiford’s Funeral Home in Elizabeth City.

programs and policies of the current administration are implemented. Prior to receiving his presidential appointment he served as a White House Advance Associate supporting the office of the vice president, organizing the operational logistics in coordination with the U.S. Secret Service prior to the vice president’s arrival at a designated location. Harris’s military awards include the

Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal, Korean Service Defense Medal, Good Conduct and National Defense Medal, Sea Service, Air force and Coast Guard Commendation. The program will include as a distinguished guest Gene Overstreet, 12th Sgt. Major of the U.S. Marine Corps. Overstreet’s military honors include the Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement

Medal, and the Combat Action Ribbon. The program will also recognize Jim Rudolph, founder and president of Veterans Funeral Care. Out ‘N the Cold will perform “God Bless the U.S.A.” Leon Evans of the Rocky Hock Community in Chowan County has lined up the remembrance program for the Chowan community. This year’s program will be held at the Center Hill

Volunteer Fire Department. Evans was a member of the Center Hill Volunteer Fire Department for 40 years and was the fire chief for 10 years. His father was a charter member of the department, served as chief, and was a member for 45 years. His son served in the department for 21 years. Evans said the fire service is in his blood and that is probably one of the reasons he has felt compelled to honor the firefighters, police officers and other first responders who died responding to the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. “I’ve been doing it 10 or 11 years and the only year I missed it was the COVID year (in 2020),” Evans said. The speakers at the Chowan community observance will be Debbie and Billy Hilliard. She is a Chowan County native and both now work as instructors with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security through Louisiana State University. Billy Hilliard was a police officer for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Debbie Hilliard was a battalion fire chief with the town of Cary. Both have retired from those departments and they live in Clayton. They teach online courses for students across the United States and in a number of foreign countries. Patriotic music for the program will be performed by Margo Owens, a retired teacher in the Perquimans County Schools. Rachel Spencer, Evans’ granddaughter, will preside at the ceremony. The program will be similar to what has been held in previous years.

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Young went from Guard to active duty before tours in Afghanistan, Iraq By Chris Day and Paul Nielsen - Staff Writers

ames Young of Elizabeth City was already serving in the North Carolina National Guard on the morning of 9/11, but it would be several more years before he was deployed to Afghanistan. Young enlisted in the National Guard in 1997 and completed basic and advanced training as a forward observer at Fort Sill, in Lawton, Oklahoma. After 9/11, Young could not deploy to Afghanistan because he had to fulfill his state contract with the National Guard. He would have to wait getting out of the Guard and enlisting in the active Army in 2004. Following 9/11, Young was deployed

with the National Guard as part of Operation Noble Eagle. The operation involved dispatching National Guard and military reserve personnel to provide security at the nation’s airports, and other potential targets, such as infrastructure. Operation Noble Eagle was significant because at the time there was no Transportation Security Administration, a branch later created and placed under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. TSA is tasked with providing security at the nation’s larger airports. After a few weeks of training, Young was assigned to secure Norfolk International Airport, in Norfolk, Virginia. He completed his National Guard

tour and returned to civilian life and worked as a sheriff’s deputy for a couple of years in Portsmouth, Virginia. When his National Guard contract was complete, he enlisted in the Army, a process similar to when he joined the National Guard. Already familiar with the role, customs and regulations of the Army, Young had to attend a refresher course at Fort Jackson, in Columbia, South Carolina. Young maintained his forward observer job specialty in the active Army and was deployed to a unit in Germany, from where he was later deployed to Iraq.

Following his tour in Germany he was reassigned to a command at Fort Hood, in Killeen, Texas. From Fort Hood he was deployed again, but this time to Afghanistan. That tour spanned 2008-2009. In Afghanistan, he was based in the region around Kandahar. “It was hell,” he said, of his experiences in Afghanistan. He survived at least 30 roadside improvised explosive device explosions, of which four were serious, he said. If he was in a Humvee, the military’s general purpose utility vehicle, he would not be alive today, because he saw so many of the vehicles destroyed in

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Sgt. Jillian G. Hix/US Army In this image provided by the U.S. Army, paratroopers assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division conduct security as they continue to help facilitate the safe evacuation of U.S. citizens, Special Immigrant Visa applicants, and other at-risk Afghans out of Afghanistan, at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 25.

roadside explosions. Not all his time spent outside the forward operating base was in convoys. “It seems like I walked hundreds and hundreds of miles,” Young said, of having to conduct routine patrols. Young is no longer in the military and is retired. Of the three tours he completed — National Guard, Iraq and Afghanistan — he said his duty at the Norfolk airport was perhaps the toughest. “It was a different world then,” he said of Americans’ attitudes toward security in the aftermath of 9/11. “We couldn’t trust anybody,” he said. “9/11 was literally fresh on everybody’s minds still 45 days out.” There were occasions he and his fellow National Guardsmen and women had to be aggressive with U.S. citizens who seemed to be acting suspicious or hostile in the airport. Young said he found responding to those situations difficult.

“There are good people in Afghanistan, I would never say that there is not. Unfortunately, in the communities I was in, they were already Taliban strongholds. They didn’t want us there. They would blow us up every chance they got.” James Young

“It’s the craziest feeling pointing a loaded weapon” at a U.S. citizen “and not know why,” he said. In mid-August, the Biden administration began the final phase to withdraw the remaining U.S. troops from Afghanistan. In a deal struck with the Taliban during the Trump administration, the withdrawal also included

remaining U.S. citizens and Afghans with special immigrant visas, those who assisted U.S. troops during the 20-year war. Young said he agrees with the U.S. ending the war and leaving Afghanistan but said the exit has been poorly executed. “As an Afghanistan veteran it is

really heartbreaking,” he said. “This is something where we shouldn’t have been there for 20 years, 30 years. That part I agree with. But what I don’t agree with is that we left billions of dollars of equipment there. Who is accountable now for this equipment?” Young said during his tour in Afghanistan many of the Afghans outside of the larger city’s supported the Taliban. “There are good people in Afghanistan, I would never say that there is not,” Young said. “Unfortunately, in the communities I was in, they were already Taliban strongholds. They didn’t want us there. They would blow us up every chance they got.” Young feels that how the exit from Afghanistan has been handled will be a stain on the country. “We lost Vietnam, we pretty much lost Afghanistan and Iraq,’’ Young said. “It’s not looking good.”

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