FROM STAFF REPORTS

Mitchell Community College honored the lives lost 19 years ago in the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, with a somber ceremony on the Circle at Statesville campus on Friday morning.

After a moment of silence, Mitchell President Tim Brewer recounted the events of that tragic morning, when hijackers flew two commercial airliners into the World Trade Center in New York and a third into the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. A fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back against the terrorists.

Some 2,977 people, including more than 500 first responders, died on September 11, 2001.

Students enrolled in Mitchell’s law enforcement, firefighter and EMT programs attended Friday morning’s ceremony, along with Statesville firefighters, Iredell County EMS personnel and several elected officials. 

John Freudenberg, who was working as a paramedic supervisor for a hospital system in Brooklyn on September 11, was among those who were on hand Friday morning.

Freudenberg made sure that each of the future law enforcement officers, firefighters and EMTs made a connection with one of the first responders who gave their lives in the line of duty, supplying each of the trainees with a small card bearing the photo, name and agency of one of the fallen heroes.

“These guys saved thousands of lives that day. That’s something we have to remember too,” said Freudenberg, who moved to the area seven years ago and now works at Davis Regional Medical Center as an EMS coordinator. 

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