Today is the 18th anniversary of 9/11 when a group of terrorists attacked the United States. Manitowoc Fire Captain, Seth Dramm, spoke with SeehaferNews.com, and he recalled watching the coverage of the attacks on TV. “All I kept thinking was ‘Oh my gosh get out!’ When the towers collapsed, it was very overwhelming.”
Dramm said he was on duty as a squad lieutenant that day at the Dewey Street Fire station, & watching TV as the planes hit New York’s twin towers, triggering a series of tragic acts. He remembered being a little flustered, seeing reports of the Twin Towers, then the place crashing into the Pentagon Building, and another plane going down in a Pennsylvania field. “It just was like ‘What’s going on?’”
Captain Dramm said many of his brother firefighters and EMS personnel tried to help others in those buildings, knowing they might not be coming back. “They had a job to do, and that’s what they love doing,” Dramm explained. “I forget how many people they actually got out of the towers. It’s like tens of thousands of people, maybe 50,000 people.”
Dramm said there are some lessons to be learned on this 9/11 anniversary date. He reminds people to “Appreciate your life and what you have in America because things can change. If you look at things now, some of it is our own internal troubles, with the school shootings and things. It just breaks your heart. We need to come together as Americans.”
Captain Dramm spoke with us while standing near a 911 memorial wall in the lower atrium of the downtown fire station. He also pointed out a ladder truck purchased by the city in 2004, contains a small plaque on the front of the vehicle remembering those who lost their lives on 9/11.
