CALDWELL, Idaho — In honor of the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, students at Elevate Academy in Caldwell read the eulogies of 50 people who lost their lives on that tragic day.
Students began reading at 8:03 a.m. on Saturday morning, the same time the first plane hit the World Trade Center.
The students at the charter school had not yet been born when the attacks happened. But by allowing them to read the eulogies, they were able to fully grasp what the ceremony's keynote speaker witnessed 20 years ago.
Brian Bartley was a rookie with the New York Police Dept. on Sept. 11. He said the scenes of what happened that day play out in his memory to this day.
"It was one of the worst days of my life," Bartley said. "Just the sound of hearing that engine fly overhead. Knowing something was wrong but not realizing what was going on at the time. Just being in Manhattan outside Bellevue hospital seeing people walk up the block, being covered in dust and debris. And the look of shock on people's faces."
Bartley said the things he sensed and felt that day still linger in his mind.
"There is a smell that I will never be able to get out of my mind," he said. "From the burning pile and everything. It will be with me forever."
When asked if he had a message to share with those who were either too young to remember or weren't born yet, Bartley said it's important to remember what happened on that day and to think of those who continuously sacrifice and put their lives on the line.