RICHBURG, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) Communities across the nation and right here at home pausing to remember September 11th 2001. Union Associate Reform Presbyterian Church in Richburg hosting a special 9/11 memorial on this Friday.
Many first responders and leaders from around the Tri-County area here in Richburg today, to memorialize 911, and one special guest is here to share his story and hopes that future generations don’t forget that tragic day.
Former Fire Chief at Greenport Long Island Fire Department, Richard Hulse, says, “Today we’re just paying tribute to all the fallen members of the emergency services and all the people who have died that day.”
“My wife and I moved here in 2000. And when 9/11 happened I was in Gatlinburg. And my wife and I came down from the hotel room, she had forgotten some thing, she went back to get it, I told her I’d meet her in the lobby. And when I came around the corner at the lobby, I saw a 15 people sitting at the bar and I said, ‘kind of early in the morning for people to be sitting at the bar’, then I realized what was going on and what they were watching on TV and we sat there the rest of the day watching it,” shared Hulse.
Hulse recalls, “I lost three friends in the New York City fire department. Two of them they were instructors of mine from the Suffolk County Park coordinator’s office and the other one was a friend that I knew and a neighboring department. And I miss them. I knew them, the two instructors, I knew them for about eight years and the other guy knew for about three years. One of them was in rescue four and the other one was in an engine company, the other two were in an engine company. And they just respond like everyone else and just never made it home.”
In the video above, CN2’s Rachel Richardson is speaking with Richard Hulse about his loss.
