Canton Memorial climb honors fallen 9/11 firefighters
CANTON – Canton City firefighter Melissa Miller stood silently at the base of the McKinley National Memorial with her fellow firefighters. They were waiting for 8:46 a.m.
She glanced down at the badge fastened to her uniform. It showed the photo and name of a firefighter killed on Sept. 11, 2001. He was 38 — just a year older than she.
She looked around at the other memorial badges — many of them had the name of a fallen 9/11 firefighter who had been in their 30s. She tried to imagine responding to a scene that those firefighters encountered 20 years ago in New York City. She couldn’t.
The toll of a bell pierced through the silence, telling Miller that it was 8:46 a.m.
As a bugler began to play “Amazing Grace,” she and other members of the Canton Fire Department started their ascent of the 94 steps of the monument.
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Behind them, hundreds of men, women and children followed.
Over a loudspeaker, Canton fire division chief Steve Henderson said: “At 8:46, 20 years ago, hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 11 crashed a plane into floors 93 through 99 of the north tower of the World Trade Center, killing everyone onboard and hundreds inside the building.”
More than 500 people ascended on the McKinley National Memorial Saturday for the 9/11 Memorial Climb, an event led by Canton firefighters to pay tribute to the 343 firefighters who died 20 years ago during the terrorist attacks. This is the second year for the event, which was canceled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
By scaling the monument’s 132 steps 12 times, the participants replicated the climb the responding firefighters made up the 110 stories of the World Trade Center towers. Participants also wore patches bearing the name of one of the 343 firefighters killed.
Canton Mayor Thomas Bernabei said participants did not need to finish all 12 laps, but encouraged them to do what they could.
“All of your efforts today are meaningful,” he said. “I thank you for your presence.”
He ended his speech quoting then-President George W. Bush who pledged to never forget the sacrifice of the men and women who responded.
“Here at the McKinley monument, we make the same pledge,” Bernabei said. “We will never forget their sacrifice.”
Climbing in remembrance
The stream of climbers on Saturday not only included firefighters, but also police officers in full uniform, athletes with weighted vests, men and women wearing knee braces and water packs, those in their 80s, and children and pregnant women.
Four-month-old Roman Yana likely was the youngest of the participants. He slept snuggly in his harness that was strapped around his father, Scott Yana, a firefighter for the Plain Township Fire Department. His mother, Victoria Carafelli, dressed in her Canton City firefighter gear, accompanied them on the climb. She was 6 years old in 2001, but remembers the uncertainty of whether her father, also a firefighter, would be sent to New York.
Roughly five minutes after they had begun their ascent, Miller and the lead pack of Canton firefighters were finishing their first lap.
Miller, who joined the Canton City Fire Department seven years ago, called the moment overwhelming.
“I’ve never gotten that emotional about it but, today, for some reason I was,” said Miller, who participated in the Memorial Climb two years ago. “I was right behind the lead guys the first few times. When we came around and were coming down the steps for the first time and there were still people waiting to start, it was overwhelming to see that turnout.”
The lead group was finishing its third lap when the bell tolled again at 9:03 a.m. to mark the time when United Airlines Flight 175 struck the south tower of the World Trade Center.
9:37 a.m.
As the bells tolled at 9:37 a.m. — to mark the time when American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon — Holly Masirovits stopped and paused at the base of the memorial with her head bowed in silence.
She was remembering those who died that day, including her friend Port Authority police officer Christopher Amoroso who was killed when the second World Trade Center tower collapsed. He had just escorted one woman to safety and went back in the building to help others.
Masirovits, formerly of South Carolina, also paid tribute to friend Steve Skipton Sr., a firefighter who had spent weeks at the World Trade Center site 20 years ago to aid in rescue efforts. He died of cancer in 2014 at age 41.
Masirovits said she thinks often about how her husband, Dave Masirovits, who had signed up to help with recovery efforts, could have been among those sent to New York.
“I’m thankful now (that he didn’t go),” said Masirovits, who moved to Ohio in 2018 when her husband became the fire chief in Trumbull County’s Brookfield Township. “I know it killed him not to go.”
At 10:03 a.m.
As the bells tolled again at 10:03 a.m. — to mark when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania — the lead pack of firefighters finished their 12th lap, representing the top of the 110th floor of the World Trade Center.
The firefighters congratulated each other with handshakes, high fives and hugs while getting water and taking off their gear.
For Canton resident Adam Davis, the journey wasn’t over yet.
Davis, a 2001 GlenOak High School graduate, was midway through his fifth lap, more than half way toward his goal of eight laps up and down the front 96 steps of the monument.
A series of motorcycle accidents between 2006 and 2010 left Davis without the use of his left arm and a traumatic brain injury that left him unable to walk for two years. Holding a walker with his right hand, he took each concrete step one foot at a time, his left leg shaking with each step.
“You have to be stronger than your setback,” said Davis, who said he comes to the monument nearly every day to climb the steps.
He said he wanted to do the Memorial Climb to pay tribute to the fallen firefighters and to send a message.
“To show people there’s more about life than yourself,” he said.
Davis was guided by Perry Township residents Joanne Smith and Andy Kennard, who had climbed with Davis two years ago during the fire department’s inaugural event when Davis completed four laps.
As he finished his fifth lap, Canton firefighters joined him, steadying him on their shoulders.
As the bells tolled the final time at 10:28 a.m. — marking with the World Trade Center’s north tower collapsed — Davis shuffled to the base of the monument.
He wanted to do one more lap. One of the firefighters grabbed an American flag and held it as they began their climb together.
Reach Kelli at 330-580-8339 or kelli.weir@cantonrep.com.
On Twitter: @kweirREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Canton honors fallen 9/11 firefighters with climb at McKinley Memorial
