VIDEO: Now nearing retirement, Albemarle County Fire Chief Dan Eggleston was working in Franklin, Virginia on September 11, 2001. He was one of the many brave men and women who traveled to New York City, responding to the attacks on the twin towers.
Twenty-four years later, he hopes the younger firefighters will always honor the legacy of that day.
“I remember that day like it was yesterday,” Eggleston said. “Thinking back now, after the fact, even years later, you start to uncover some of the sights and smells, it was just a devastating event.”
People who were kids and babies on September 11, 2001, are now grown, many of them inspired by the bravery of first responders became ones themselves.
For them, the memory of 9/11 is much less clear. “Everybody talks about where they were when 9/11 happened. Some guys said they were at work, others say they were in middle school,” Charlottesville Firefighter and EMT Matt Hildebrand said. “You know, I was walking around as a little toddler.”
At 25, Hildebrand is Charlottesville Fire Department’s youngest firefighter. He comes from a family of first responders, some who were there that day.
