ARVADA, Colo. (KDVR) — It’s been nearly 20 years since terrorists attacked America, flying planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and crashing into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. After the attacks, Americans vowed to never forget. There is a new memorial outside Arvada Fire District, Station 2, helping ensure we never do.
Arvada Fire unveiled the memorial Saturday morning, with the help of retired New York City firefighter, Nicholas Giordano. He was at the twin towers site on September 11, 2001, and the days after.
“That day, clear as a bell, we could see the towers in New York City, in lower Manhattan,” Giordano said. “We could see the smoke coming from the one tower. As we stood there, we literally saw the second plane hit the tower.”
“I was just a fireman doing his duty. By the time we got down there, debris was floating around, smoke was all over, active fires were going on. We did our job, we worked down there, we did what needed to be done,” he said.
The statue Giordano helped unveil was sculpted in his likeness.
“This is such a humbling experience to have this statue using my likeness, and to be part of this memorial that’s going to be here forever,” Giordano said.
Anyone in the fire service will tell you, they are a family. As such, Giordano passes the torch to the next generation of firefighters.
“There’s young firemen here,” Giordano said. “One of the big things in the fire service, guys, is, you always want to remember – you’re the problem solvers. We train, we train, and we train. We do what we can. And that’s what the guys who were in the towers were doing that day, the ones who died.”