Team Aviano honors 9/11 heroes

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Michael Battles
  • 31st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy --  Normally filled with the silence of students studying, a small classroom in New York was suddenly disrupted by whispers claiming that something tragic had occurred.

Staff Sgt. Krystle Harris, 31st Security Forces defender, was in her senior year math class Sept. 11, 2001 when an announcement confirmed the rumors, instantly altering her life plans - a plane had hit the north tower of the World Trade Center.

America watched as a second plane crashed into the south tower, while a third hit the Pentagon outside of Washington D.C. A fourth plane crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pa., after passengers tried to overcome the hijackers. Nearly 3,000 people were killed as a result of the attacks, including firefighters and police.

Twelve years after the attack, Harris, a Brooklyn, N.Y. native, still remembers the details of Sept. 11, 2001, as if it was yesterday.

"Class never resumed that day, however, many of us were stuck on school grounds due to the Metropolitan Transit Authority trains and buses being out of service," she said. "When I did get home, I remember watching the news with my mom and staring out of my 18th floor apartment window in disbelief as the [World Trade Center] fell."

Prior to the attacks of Sept. 11, Harris dreamed of being a police officer with the New York Police Department. A dream that grew even stronger after the attacks, but was limited by the requirements to enter the force.

"I needed college or prior military service to apply," she said. "I started college that fall, but once I learned more about the Air Force and security forces, I decided to go that route."

Initially using the Air Force as a stepping stone toward the NYPD, Harris eventually chose to become a police officer in the military, and has made it a career for the past 10 years.

"The day of the attack, I was a civilian with no power, so to speak, to do anything against what was being done to my city and country," Harris said. "Now I'm in one of the world's greatest air forces -- I'm a part of my country's line of defense. So now, the anniversary is just a reminder of why I do what I do."

Harris is not alone in remembering the attack on the United States. On Sept. 11, 2013, approximately 150 Team Aviano members participated in a ceremony to honor military and civilian heroes, who responded that day, and lost their lives.

"Today holds a special place in the hearts of firefighters," said Tech. Sgt. Christopher Depuy, 31st Civil Engineer Squadron fire protection craftsman. "Today we remember those who lost their lives during the attack."

Depuy, a native of Williamstown, W.Va., was in the middle of his junior year of high school when he heard reports of the attack during his automotive technology class.

"We sat in amazement as we watched the second plane crash into the World Trade Center on the television," he said.

The event on base opened with the reciting of the Firefighter's Prayer, a creed that all firefighters live by. Following the prayer, representatives from the base performed the ringing of the last alarm, a tradition of the fire service that and honors those who lost their lives in the line of duty.

Despite being far from home and working in two different squadrons, both Depuy and Harris are brought together by the courage of police and firefighters alike, and are reminded of the true meaning of sacrifice each year on Sept. 11.

"It feels good to say I serve my country because not everyone can," Harris said. "If something like 9/11 happened again, I want to be on the fighting side. I felt that if someone was going to be charged with protecting my loved ones, why couldn't that someone be me."