September 3, 2024 • 30 mins
Charley discusses his personal connection to 9/11 and remembers one of his most memorable Flags For The Flagless projects in New York City, and how he never forgets those who perished in the 9/11 tragedy.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
So I want to start today with just a little
background on the story that I'm going to begin to
tell today. So far, out of all the podcasts that
I've written and spoken of, this one today has been
the most difficult one for me, and you'll you'll understand
why after I go a little deeper into the story.
(00:29):
But the story you're here today will actually be a
two part story. There's so much that's happened to me,
so much I've been a part of the meaning of
September eleventh, two thousand and one.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
To me, there's too.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Much for me to put into a twenty or thirty
minute conversation.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
So with that being said, I just wanted you to
know that this is.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
A difficult a difficult history lesson a difficult day for
me to talk about. Not so much sadness, but so
much has happened to me that I want to pass
along to you in the best best way that I can.
I was hired to be a police officer by the
(01:14):
City of Tucson in April of two thousand and one.
As you have learned by now if you've listened to
some of my previous storytelling, I hail from a long
lineage of police officers, and this began the nineteen twenties
in the city of San Francisco, where my two great uncles,
Martin Timothy Foley and John Budd Connolly were the first
(01:35):
in the family to be sworn in as police officers.
Over the years, I've had numerous cousins who were involved
with law enforcement. A few of those cousins were in Torrns, California,
at another in Redondo Beach, California, and a few more
cousins who are also police officers in San Francisco. Even
(01:56):
to this day, I have a cousin working in southern
Californi as a cop, and I have a nephew who
works in a law enforcement capacity for the state Department.
So truly, for the last one hundred years, there's been
a cop in my family being a defender of the constitution.
(02:16):
As one of my favorite country singers, ont saying, I
guess you could say it's a family tradition, right. So
I reflect back on my time at the Police Academy
in two thousand and one, and as we're wrapping up
and preparing for graduation, I just remember that my brain
at the.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Time felt stuffed. It felt as if it was at
full capacity.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
That that small little hamster in the wheelhouse up there
was just sprinting and causing all this steam to come
out of my ears. Like I can't begin to I did,
Like literally, my head was full of all this brand
new knowledge. I didn't know where to place it, right,
I didn't know how to categorize it. So I just
(03:01):
had all this knowledge. And you know, we had to
learn about what constitute constitutes a domestic relationship. Right, so
when I'm dispatched to a fight involving family members, I
know what the law says, what I need to do,
who's related to who? How does this pertain to domestic violence?
And so forth. I was trained on how to conduct
(03:22):
impair driving accidents or traffic stops, right, also known as
dui investigations. We were taught on how to investigate a
simple traffic collision.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Now that's known in most of you as a car accident.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
But as some of you may already know, cops are
taught not to call these traffic accidents, right.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Traffic collision is the proper phrase to use.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
If the word accident is used, then really no one
should be at fault. Okay, officer, was an accident accidents
just happened, Yeah, traffic collision.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
It was just before I left the police.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Academy when I was told where and when I needed
to report from my first day on the streets with
a senior officer who was going to show me how to,
you know, learn the ins and outs of street patrol.
These veteran officers are known as field training officers or ftos.
These ftos are typically tenured officers who, at least at
(04:22):
the time when I was working around the department, they
had a minimum five years on.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Right.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
We didn't want some two year, one year young person
who had been on the streets now training newer folks, right,
So we want people with at least five years minimum
tenure starting to train the new kids. Ftos have attended
a week long school and they're usually good representatives for
(04:49):
the most part of the department. These field training officers
are entrusted to train the new recruits coming out of
the academy and the officers who are now the future
of the department is who those f training And I
had once been an FTO for many years back in
the day. So getting back to when I was assigned
to my first field training officer, I was, of course
(05:10):
a little nervous, as you can imagine. This was going
to be my first day on the streets where the
action was, where I was gonna the proverbia, you know,
cut my teeth. I was going to go to the
streets of Tucson, in midtown Tucson and learn my trade there.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
This is where I I was.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Hoping I could start putting all that clutter, all of
those scenarios that they ran throughout the academy, and you know,
try to put those in some sort of order or semblance.
You know, there are all the traffic laws, all the
criminal laws, all the things which I had accumulated during
my months preparing. I was now going to be on
(05:48):
the big stage. I had to start putting it to use.
I was about to start, you know. Once I knew
where I was going and the day that I was
going to start, I knew that I was about to
start one of the greatest journeys of my life. So
five months after that April, I was hired. Going through
(06:10):
long hot summer in the desert at the police Academy,
I was told respond following Tuesday morning at nine am
to the old police station that was located at the
time in the middle of Tucson, the Midtown substation that
was called. And I remember that day so visit, visit
vividly because it started just like any other day for me,
(06:34):
with my usual routines, you know. And at the time,
that was when I would turn on my TV and
my bedgroup before I could jump in the shower, just
you know, turn on the news or sports, whatever it
might be. And on that particular day, the first day
that I was reporting to work, the only thing on
TV that early Tuesday morning in.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
September was news of a plane.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Which had just flown into one of the twin Towers
of New York City. That's right, My first day on
the streets as a cop was September eleventh, two thousand
and one, nine to eleven. By the time I was
out of the shower, I had seen now that second
(07:19):
plane I've been flown into the other tower, additional twin tower.
I recall that I at first I couldn't figure it out,
you know, what was I seeing?
Speaker 2 (07:28):
What was I being told?
Speaker 1 (07:29):
It didn't make sense to me, so naive, right, the
first plane I figured had been some sort of accident,
some piet had gotten misdirected maybe somebody was in training
or some you know, it was an accident, but now
the second one, that's not an accident. It wasn't until
the details started to come out, just before I was
(07:50):
getting ready to walk out the door, that our nation
was under attack. Holy, this is how my first day
is going to start. I couldn't believe it. And as
I was driving to the substation that morning, I remember
looking back on my stint at the police Academy and
(08:12):
I tried to recall what were we taught about this
type of situation right, how they had prepared us for
such an event, But there was nothing for me to
refer back to. There was no such training given to
us that had prepared me in all my time at
the academy on how to handle a terrorist attack, which
(08:34):
was now two planes flown into multiple skyscrapers. I'd ride early,
of course, to report to work my first day, and
when I walked in the briefing room, and that briefing
room is a room where all the squads are assigned
to this particular substation. They meet at the beginning of
their shifts and they're their brief usually by their sergeant,
(08:56):
on things such as you know, current crime trends. We'll
go over maybe some wonted flyers about some criminals that
might be in the area. Maybe there that is where
we would be debriefed, maybe on some big incident that
took place the night before, you know, so we wanted
to be aware, Right, we come in the morning, what
happened overnight.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
All right, here's a.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Debrief of this shooting or this particular incident that we had.
But I remember that morning when I walked into that
briefing room. The only thing that I recall in that
room from that day it was written on a big,
large white dry race sport in the front of the
room and in.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Green mark or it stated go ten eight ten eight.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
And to even clarify further, it's the numbers. It's the
number ten dash eight ten eight. It's a phraser saying,
which is part of the ten code that i'll police
officers must memorize. It's cops speak, if you will, for
a way to convey a message that is short and
easy to understand. Right, you don't want somebody get on
(10:08):
the radio and putting this big, long dissertation out about
what's happening or what they need to So we have
ten codes. In this particular case, written on the front
of the board go ten eight Tenay's basically tells all
of us that to go out and hit.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
The streets, stay available for dispatch calls.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
And wait for their instructions. Welcome to the big leagues.
I said to myself as I went off first day
as a rookie. I'm trying to find my FTO, trying
to find a car for me to even use that
first day, didn't have a key, nothing. You know, all
this had to be done somewhere amongst this organized chaos
(10:45):
which was unfolding in front of me that morning, this
particular day, this moment in my life so many years ago,
I have learned since is what it has been described as.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
A flash bulb moment.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
A flash bowl moment for those who are not familiar
with the term, as a description that psychologists have coined
as a phrase to define a vivid memory about an
emotionally significant event, usually a historic or other notable event.
People often experience these memories in photographic detail and can
(11:22):
recall aspects like what they were doing when the event occurred,
or how they learned about what happened. So September eleventh,
two thousand and one for me, was one of only
two flash bulb moments which I can recall my life.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Most of us who are past a.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Certain age can tell you you know where they were
or how they found out about the terror attacks on
September eleventh, Much like our parents, I'm sure considered the
assassination of President Kenny a flash bowl moment for them.
Now for our children and our children's children, what will
be if they'd already have one their flashball moment be?
(12:01):
I often wonder it's going to happen. Don't know what
that is. So with this insight into my past that
I've now provided to you, you can understand a little
more clearly as to why I have chosen to make
all September elevenths since that two thousand and one meaningful.
In some way, I've always tried to provide some sort
(12:21):
of acknowledgment of the day for all those two thousand,
nine hundred and seventy seven people who were murdered.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
The thing about September eleventh, it's not a day to celebrate.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
It's not like the fourth of July or President's Day,
Memorial Day where people are able to take the day off, relax,
and celebrate this holiday. Nine to eleven isn't a holiday.
People aren't afforded the day off. It's just another day
to so many. Now it's simply a day to reflect.
So what I've tried to do over the years is
(12:55):
to take some time, take the pause each September eleventh,
to remember the events that day, the best of my recollection,
to try and remember all those who were taken from us,
and then just go and continue on.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
The rest of the day the best.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
I can never forget, I tell myself every single nine
to eleven, never forget. So over the years, I've put
together various flag events which focus on paying a tribute
to those who perished and forgetting what our country went through, right,
(13:28):
I want them to keep it in people's minds. And
one of these events took place in twenty and fourteen
where I raised up two flags here in Tucson in
front of one of the oldest buildings in the city,
a building which had two flags on the front of
it at one time, many years ago. It was so
(13:49):
long ago that when I went to install the brand
new flag poles, there were remnants of the old wooden
flagpoles that once were there. This is a building where
no flags had flown in over seventy years. I was told,
you know, and some of the things that we call
that day in twenty fourteen is that right before I
(14:10):
was to raise those flags and give a small talk,
I looked up and I saw the entire Tusson police
swat team. My old teammates had shown up to support
me after they had concluded taking part in an event
here called the nine to eleven Stare Challenge. All those
guys had run all the stairs and then they all
(14:31):
came downtown to support me in my endeavor for putting
these flags up on nine to eleven. I also had
the current owners of the building there. Their young daughter
spoke briefly. You know, some really great folks. It was
a good day. It was a good day to remember.
Another September eleventh found me in cenni you, California, with
my good friend Donnie Edwards. He helped me and raising
(14:54):
my very first flag in California, and we chose enine
to eleven as the day to do this as a
tribute to those who perished in the attacks.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Right, I don't want to make a significant moment, but.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
I will never forget the very first time when I
returned to New York after nine eleven. This was in
January of twenty fourteen. I had taken the red Eye
flight in from Phoenix. So I got in New York
City early, early, early that morning, and once I arrived
at the hotel i'd be staying at.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
I was staying in Times Square at the time, and.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
It was close to like six am, and it was
a cold January morning.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
But I knew that ahead of time.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
I knew that it was going to be cold, so
I packed some of my cold weather gear on top
of my suitcase, knowing that I would need it once
I got to the hotel.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
And once I had landed, so I got to the hotel.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Of course, my room wasn't ready for me since it
was early, so I took my suitcase and wheeled it
into the hotel lobby bathroom, and I changed into some
long john some wool socks, and a beanie and pulled
out my heavy coat, which I packed away. And when
I came out, I gave my suitcase and backpack to
the bellman to hold for me.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
My room was going to be ready later that day.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
And I then walked over and I asked a woman
who was sitting behind the front desk at the hotel,
and I said, excuse me, could you please tell me
how far ground zero is from the hotel here.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
In Times Square.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
This woman happened she was typing away doing something on
a computer, you know, trying to look very busy at
six in the morning. After she had digested what I
said and asked her, she stopped her typing or inputting,
and she was doing it.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
She looks up at me.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
And says, it's about three and a half miles south
from the hotel. I said, okay, and then I explained
to her that I had planned on walking there to
see the memorial.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
And I remember very clearly.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
To this day, ten years later telling the story, that
woman looked at me and she said, there is no
way in January, on such a cold day that you
will be able to make it. Or it's over fifty
blocks away and it'll take you about an hour and
a half to get there in this weather. I'm going
(17:08):
to guess that you give up halfway there and take
a taxi the rest of the way. It was here,
ladies and gentlemen, at this particular moment where I had
just crossed paths with a woman who do not share
the same convictions as I did. She didn't know me,
(17:31):
she didn't know what I'd been through that day back
in two thousand and one, basically telling me I would
fail in my pursuit, in my heart and in my
mind if I've stayed it before. Nine to eleven't struck
me in a way I can't describe.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
In a twenty or thirty minute conversation.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
That's why this podcast has been so difficult me to
put into words. You know, For me to walk to
ground zero in the middle of winter, I felt that's
the least I could do to honor in some way
those who were gone, those who were taken from us,
those who were murdered. I think that the families that
lost loved ones that day wish that their family members
(18:11):
are loved ones that were taken could again walk the
streets of this, you know, of New York.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
So what if my legs ached? Okay? So what if
I was going to be a little sore? Okay?
Speaker 1 (18:22):
So what if I became cold and tired, a little
suffering to remember the thousands who were killed. A walk
in January wasn't going to stop me? Is this what
sacrifice in fortitude is all about. I won't go into
the details of that walk, but I will tell you
(18:42):
I walked the entire way that January morning, damn cold,
and I will admit that I did stop once, just once.
I was in desperate need of some coffee and I
need to warm my hands up, and I had to
blow my ding nose running running it was so cold.
But after I did those things, that was it. I
(19:06):
continued on. I will walked all the way there, and
I walked all the way back to that hotel in
Times Square, the entire walk oh there and back. I
just can't replaying the events which took place that day,
and that was my motivation. I have some very strong convictions,
(19:27):
people have said, and when I have in my mind
set on a goal or a challenge, and if someone
tells me I will fail or not to succeed at
my goal or challenge, it's at these times when I
often hear one of my all time heroes saying the phrase,
never tell me the odds.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
It's your first mistake.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Okay, So now that I've told you about a few
of my past September eleventh, I wanted to go into
grand detail about one particular September eleventh that stands out
more than any of the other ones who try and
spoke of previously, and that was in twenty and fifteen.
What I want to do here is I want to
take you back with me as if we were, you know,
(20:11):
walking together, as you were walking alongside me that September eleventh,
twenty fifteen, so that you can witness the events that
unfolded for me that day. I was asked previously during
the summer of twenty fifteen by a teacher from PS
one thirty nine Public School one thirty nine, which is
in Brooklyn, New York, it was possible for me to
(20:34):
donate thirty five American flags to their school so that
all the classrooms there could display an American flag. Of course,
I said, of course I could make that happen. It
is so hard for me to say no, no matter
where the need is that you know, when it comes
to a flag, I'm making it happen.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Do I always know how I'm going to make it happen. No,
I'll make it happen. So I looked at the calendar
when she requested that, and.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
I chose September eleventh as a day to make this
flag event happen. I was able to obtain all the
classroom flags which were needed, and spoke with the school
principal and some other teachers, you know, via email, to
get the details squared away and input as to how
I would go about presenting the flags to the school.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
It was during these discussions that I was informed.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
That, at the time ps IE thirty nine was considered
the most diverse public school in the New York area.
And it was also at this time where I came
to realize that all of the children who would be
present at the school that day, in this big assembly,
this big auditorium, all those kids who I'd be speaking
(21:42):
in front of, were all born after September eleventh, two
thousand and one. None of these children, as far as
I knew, unless their parents had talked to them prior,
understood the magnitude of what had happened that day. So
the conclusion of that morning is of which saw me
go into this, you know, going into some of the classrooms,
(22:03):
I put some flags up. They had the holders that
I had sent them, they were up. So I was
placing flags in some of the classrooms. I walked out
of the school and I, you know, started walking to
my car, took off my sport coat, and.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
I was stopped by one of the teachers of the school.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
She wanted to share her appreciation of why what I
had done, you know, traveling across country to hand delivered
these flags on such an important date, and she was appreciative,
and she recalled the impact that that day had on her.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
In two thousand and.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
One, she told me that for the first planes had
struck She lived in Brooklyn, so she lived across the
East River from Manhattan. She told me that for the
first planes had struck the towers and they had collapsed.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
She said there were papers.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Random miscellaneous different colored office papers which had once been
inside the towers, right inside of people's offices and side
people's drawers, inside of their file cabinets, that they were
now all cast into the air, and they just began
floating all around the sky like snowflakes, gently falling in
(23:16):
a light breeze, just these different colored papers eight and
a half just floating all around. She said that a
lot of these random papers that were once at offices
inside the towers blew across the East River and landed
in and around.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Her yard at her home.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
She said, papers landed on top of cars in the neighborhood,
on her front lawn. And she told me that no
one touched any of these papers, No one cleaned them up,
no one gathered them up and disposed of them. Those
sheets of paper remained where they landed. It's as if
(23:59):
these loose, single sheets of paper where were sacred artifacts,
physical reminders to those who lived, as to once you know,
was once a normal part of everyday life was now
gone taken from us.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
It's a story which I've never heard before.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Right, They don't talk about that on the news, and
I don't remember ever see an interview about that image.
So I can only imagine of what that must have
looked like. And for the days, the weeks, the months
that went by those papers until for snowfall maybe you know,
covers them. So as after the presentation of flags, I
(24:48):
go back to my hotel in Brooklyn, I changed and
I walked out, and I headed towards the Brooklyn Bridge.
I was going to take the walk again to the
Lower Manhattan like I had done previously, but this time
my route was going to be just a little bit different.
I was not expecting the emotions twitch came over me
as I walked west across the bridge that day. See
(25:12):
in my mind, I'm sure, like many of you, we
have these still images, right, these photographs in our heads
from that day which have never faded from our memory.
One of the images, one of the photos I have
in my head, is of the Brooklyn Bridge on September eleventh.
(25:34):
I recall this image, this photograph if you will. That
you know all the lanes that were typically used for
vehicles on the bridge, right, you had two lanes had knees,
two lanes coming west out of the city.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
But here the bridge.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
That the lanes that were usually used by cars, and
all the lanes were now filled with thousands of people
walking away from Manhattan, walking away from those down towers.
They're all trying to escape, right, the carnage is taking
place that day. On a normal day, you would have
one side of the bridge being used for inbound like
(26:14):
I mentioned, the other side being used for outbound, and
there's a middle divider. If you never been to the
Brooklyn Bridge, there's this middle lane, middle divider that people can,
pedestrians walking or biseless can use. But on this particular day,
nine eleven, two thousand and one the entire bridge, all
lanes were filled with people going the direction away from
(26:39):
the city, heading towards Brooklyn. So now here I was,
after providing flags to the local public school, remembering my
first day as a cop, I'm now walking on the
Brooklyn Bridge, but on this stand, walking against the flow
of all those people who are walking away, all those
(27:00):
survivors in two thousand and one. I was now actually
walking against those people. I was walking in danger what
was once danger. And it's as if I could feel
the presence of all those who had made the trek
in the opposite direction some ten years prior. I could
(27:22):
feel the giraffes, the breezes of people who were not there,
but yet I could see them walking the opposite direction
of me, random faces, coughing, covered in dirt, covered in debris,
and I felt like maybe I was like brushing shoulders
with them.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Right.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
I could just see thousands of people, and here's this
one person going just the opposite direction.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
There was no one around. It was just me.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
But in my head, my brain that photograph had triggered
what I imagine, the sounds, the feelings, the presence of thousands
that were going the opposite direction that day, and it
was just me and my thoughts trying to make it
across the bridge that day through the breeze of thousands
of people hitting me as I went west. What was
(28:16):
awaiting me on the other side, I wondered. That's going
to conclude part one of this two part podcast. If
if you like what you heard and you want to
hear more, you want to see some images or some
more stories from some past September eleventh, I encourage.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
You to head over to.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Our Facebook page, Flags for the Flagless. There's photos there,
There's some stories there, photos that you.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
May have never seen before.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
But also there's going to be some photos about what
I have planned coming up for this September eleventh, twenty
twenty four, and that's gonna take place here in Arizona.
But it's gonna be probably the only event in the state,
and I've said probably the only event like this in
the country.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
That's going to take place on nine to eleven. So
if you want some.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
More information, you want some more stories, you want some
photographs to go with what I've spoken, just head over
to our social media page Flags for the Flagless, and
questions send them.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
I'll answer all that I can and that's it until
next time.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Thank you for joining us on this episode of Flags
for the Flagless. This episode was produced by Charlie Foley,
Doug Levy, and Jason Wikil. To listen to Charlie's newest episodes,
please download and subscribe through your favorite podcast service, and
if you like the show enough, leave a review. Your
thoughts would greatly be appreciated. Flags for the Flagless United
(29:59):
Stories of America is proudly produced and distributed by the
eight Side Network.
So I want to start today with just a little
background on the story that I'm going to begin to
tell today. So far, out of all the podcasts that
I've written and spoken of, this one today has been
the most difficult one for me, and you'll you'll understand
why after I go a little deeper into the story.
(00:29):
But the story you're here today will actually be a
two part story. There's so much that's happened to me,
so much I've been a part of the meaning of
September eleventh, two thousand and one.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
To me, there's too.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Much for me to put into a twenty or thirty
minute conversation.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
So with that being said, I just wanted you to
know that this is.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
A difficult a difficult history lesson a difficult day for
me to talk about. Not so much sadness, but so
much has happened to me that I want to pass
along to you in the best best way that I can.
I was hired to be a police officer by the
(01:14):
City of Tucson in April of two thousand and one.
As you have learned by now if you've listened to
some of my previous storytelling, I hail from a long
lineage of police officers, and this began the nineteen twenties
in the city of San Francisco, where my two great uncles,
Martin Timothy Foley and John Budd Connolly were the first
(01:35):
in the family to be sworn in as police officers.
Over the years, I've had numerous cousins who were involved
with law enforcement. A few of those cousins were in Torrns, California,
at another in Redondo Beach, California, and a few more
cousins who are also police officers in San Francisco. Even
(01:56):
to this day, I have a cousin working in southern
Californi as a cop, and I have a nephew who
works in a law enforcement capacity for the state Department.
So truly, for the last one hundred years, there's been
a cop in my family being a defender of the constitution.
(02:16):
As one of my favorite country singers, ont saying, I
guess you could say it's a family tradition, right. So
I reflect back on my time at the Police Academy
in two thousand and one, and as we're wrapping up
and preparing for graduation, I just remember that my brain
at the.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Time felt stuffed. It felt as if it was at
full capacity.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
That that small little hamster in the wheelhouse up there
was just sprinting and causing all this steam to come
out of my ears. Like I can't begin to I did,
Like literally, my head was full of all this brand
new knowledge. I didn't know where to place it, right,
I didn't know how to categorize it. So I just
(03:01):
had all this knowledge. And you know, we had to
learn about what constitute constitutes a domestic relationship. Right, so
when I'm dispatched to a fight involving family members, I
know what the law says, what I need to do,
who's related to who? How does this pertain to domestic violence?
And so forth. I was trained on how to conduct
(03:22):
impair driving accidents or traffic stops, right, also known as
dui investigations. We were taught on how to investigate a
simple traffic collision.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Now that's known in most of you as a car accident.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
But as some of you may already know, cops are
taught not to call these traffic accidents, right.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Traffic collision is the proper phrase to use.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
If the word accident is used, then really no one
should be at fault. Okay, officer, was an accident accidents
just happened, Yeah, traffic collision.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
It was just before I left the police.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Academy when I was told where and when I needed
to report from my first day on the streets with
a senior officer who was going to show me how to,
you know, learn the ins and outs of street patrol.
These veteran officers are known as field training officers or ftos.
These ftos are typically tenured officers who, at least at
(04:22):
the time when I was working around the department, they
had a minimum five years on.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Right.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
We didn't want some two year, one year young person
who had been on the streets now training newer folks, right,
So we want people with at least five years minimum
tenure starting to train the new kids. Ftos have attended
a week long school and they're usually good representatives for
(04:49):
the most part of the department. These field training officers
are entrusted to train the new recruits coming out of
the academy and the officers who are now the future
of the department is who those f training And I
had once been an FTO for many years back in
the day. So getting back to when I was assigned
to my first field training officer, I was, of course
(05:10):
a little nervous, as you can imagine. This was going
to be my first day on the streets where the
action was, where I was gonna the proverbia, you know,
cut my teeth. I was going to go to the
streets of Tucson, in midtown Tucson and learn my trade there.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
This is where I I was.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Hoping I could start putting all that clutter, all of
those scenarios that they ran throughout the academy, and you know,
try to put those in some sort of order or semblance.
You know, there are all the traffic laws, all the
criminal laws, all the things which I had accumulated during
my months preparing. I was now going to be on
(05:48):
the big stage. I had to start putting it to use.
I was about to start, you know. Once I knew
where I was going and the day that I was
going to start, I knew that I was about to
start one of the greatest journeys of my life. So
five months after that April, I was hired. Going through
(06:10):
long hot summer in the desert at the police Academy,
I was told respond following Tuesday morning at nine am
to the old police station that was located at the
time in the middle of Tucson, the Midtown substation that
was called. And I remember that day so visit, visit
vividly because it started just like any other day for me,
(06:34):
with my usual routines, you know. And at the time,
that was when I would turn on my TV and
my bedgroup before I could jump in the shower, just
you know, turn on the news or sports, whatever it
might be. And on that particular day, the first day
that I was reporting to work, the only thing on
TV that early Tuesday morning in.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
September was news of a plane.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Which had just flown into one of the twin Towers
of New York City. That's right, My first day on
the streets as a cop was September eleventh, two thousand
and one, nine to eleven. By the time I was
out of the shower, I had seen now that second
(07:19):
plane I've been flown into the other tower, additional twin tower.
I recall that I at first I couldn't figure it out,
you know, what was I seeing?
Speaker 2 (07:28):
What was I being told?
Speaker 1 (07:29):
It didn't make sense to me, so naive, right, the
first plane I figured had been some sort of accident,
some piet had gotten misdirected maybe somebody was in training
or some you know, it was an accident, but now
the second one, that's not an accident. It wasn't until
the details started to come out, just before I was
(07:50):
getting ready to walk out the door, that our nation
was under attack. Holy, this is how my first day
is going to start. I couldn't believe it. And as
I was driving to the substation that morning, I remember
looking back on my stint at the police Academy and
(08:12):
I tried to recall what were we taught about this
type of situation right, how they had prepared us for
such an event, But there was nothing for me to
refer back to. There was no such training given to
us that had prepared me in all my time at
the academy on how to handle a terrorist attack, which
(08:34):
was now two planes flown into multiple skyscrapers. I'd ride early,
of course, to report to work my first day, and
when I walked in the briefing room, and that briefing
room is a room where all the squads are assigned
to this particular substation. They meet at the beginning of
their shifts and they're their brief usually by their sergeant,
(08:56):
on things such as you know, current crime trends. We'll
go over maybe some wonted flyers about some criminals that
might be in the area. Maybe there that is where
we would be debriefed, maybe on some big incident that
took place the night before, you know, so we wanted
to be aware, Right, we come in the morning, what
happened overnight.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
All right, here's a.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Debrief of this shooting or this particular incident that we had.
But I remember that morning when I walked into that
briefing room. The only thing that I recall in that
room from that day it was written on a big,
large white dry race sport in the front of the
room and in.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Green mark or it stated go ten eight ten eight.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
And to even clarify further, it's the numbers. It's the
number ten dash eight ten eight. It's a phraser saying,
which is part of the ten code that i'll police
officers must memorize. It's cops speak, if you will, for
a way to convey a message that is short and
easy to understand. Right, you don't want somebody get on
(10:08):
the radio and putting this big, long dissertation out about
what's happening or what they need to So we have
ten codes. In this particular case, written on the front
of the board go ten eight Tenay's basically tells all
of us that to go out and hit.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
The streets, stay available for dispatch calls.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
And wait for their instructions. Welcome to the big leagues.
I said to myself as I went off first day
as a rookie. I'm trying to find my FTO, trying
to find a car for me to even use that
first day, didn't have a key, nothing. You know, all
this had to be done somewhere amongst this organized chaos
(10:45):
which was unfolding in front of me that morning, this
particular day, this moment in my life so many years ago,
I have learned since is what it has been described as.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
A flash bulb moment.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
A flash bowl moment for those who are not familiar
with the term, as a description that psychologists have coined
as a phrase to define a vivid memory about an
emotionally significant event, usually a historic or other notable event.
People often experience these memories in photographic detail and can
(11:22):
recall aspects like what they were doing when the event occurred,
or how they learned about what happened. So September eleventh,
two thousand and one for me, was one of only
two flash bulb moments which I can recall my life.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Most of us who are past a.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Certain age can tell you you know where they were
or how they found out about the terror attacks on
September eleventh, Much like our parents, I'm sure considered the
assassination of President Kenny a flash bowl moment for them.
Now for our children and our children's children, what will
be if they'd already have one their flashball moment be?
(12:01):
I often wonder it's going to happen. Don't know what
that is. So with this insight into my past that
I've now provided to you, you can understand a little
more clearly as to why I have chosen to make
all September elevenths since that two thousand and one meaningful.
In some way, I've always tried to provide some sort
(12:21):
of acknowledgment of the day for all those two thousand,
nine hundred and seventy seven people who were murdered.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
The thing about September eleventh, it's not a day to celebrate.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
It's not like the fourth of July or President's Day,
Memorial Day where people are able to take the day off, relax,
and celebrate this holiday. Nine to eleven isn't a holiday.
People aren't afforded the day off. It's just another day
to so many. Now it's simply a day to reflect.
So what I've tried to do over the years is
(12:55):
to take some time, take the pause each September eleventh,
to remember the events that day, the best of my recollection,
to try and remember all those who were taken from us,
and then just go and continue on.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
The rest of the day the best.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
I can never forget, I tell myself every single nine
to eleven, never forget. So over the years, I've put
together various flag events which focus on paying a tribute
to those who perished and forgetting what our country went through, right,
(13:28):
I want them to keep it in people's minds. And
one of these events took place in twenty and fourteen
where I raised up two flags here in Tucson in
front of one of the oldest buildings in the city,
a building which had two flags on the front of
it at one time, many years ago. It was so
(13:49):
long ago that when I went to install the brand
new flag poles, there were remnants of the old wooden
flagpoles that once were there. This is a building where
no flags had flown in over seventy years. I was told,
you know, and some of the things that we call
that day in twenty fourteen is that right before I
(14:10):
was to raise those flags and give a small talk,
I looked up and I saw the entire Tusson police
swat team. My old teammates had shown up to support
me after they had concluded taking part in an event
here called the nine to eleven Stare Challenge. All those
guys had run all the stairs and then they all
(14:31):
came downtown to support me in my endeavor for putting
these flags up on nine to eleven. I also had
the current owners of the building there. Their young daughter
spoke briefly. You know, some really great folks. It was
a good day. It was a good day to remember.
Another September eleventh found me in cenni you, California, with
my good friend Donnie Edwards. He helped me and raising
(14:54):
my very first flag in California, and we chose enine
to eleven as the day to do this as a
tribute to those who perished in the attacks.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Right, I don't want to make a significant moment, but.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
I will never forget the very first time when I
returned to New York after nine eleven. This was in
January of twenty fourteen. I had taken the red Eye
flight in from Phoenix. So I got in New York
City early, early, early that morning, and once I arrived
at the hotel i'd be staying at.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
I was staying in Times Square at the time, and.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
It was close to like six am, and it was
a cold January morning.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
But I knew that ahead of time.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
I knew that it was going to be cold, so
I packed some of my cold weather gear on top
of my suitcase, knowing that I would need it once
I got to the hotel.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
And once I had landed, so I got to the hotel.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Of course, my room wasn't ready for me since it
was early, so I took my suitcase and wheeled it
into the hotel lobby bathroom, and I changed into some
long john some wool socks, and a beanie and pulled
out my heavy coat, which I packed away. And when
I came out, I gave my suitcase and backpack to
the bellman to hold for me.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
My room was going to be ready later that day.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
And I then walked over and I asked a woman
who was sitting behind the front desk at the hotel,
and I said, excuse me, could you please tell me
how far ground zero is from the hotel here.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
In Times Square.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
This woman happened she was typing away doing something on
a computer, you know, trying to look very busy at
six in the morning. After she had digested what I
said and asked her, she stopped her typing or inputting,
and she was doing it.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
She looks up at me.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
And says, it's about three and a half miles south
from the hotel. I said, okay, and then I explained
to her that I had planned on walking there to
see the memorial.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
And I remember very clearly.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
To this day, ten years later telling the story, that
woman looked at me and she said, there is no
way in January, on such a cold day that you
will be able to make it. Or it's over fifty
blocks away and it'll take you about an hour and
a half to get there in this weather. I'm going
(17:08):
to guess that you give up halfway there and take
a taxi the rest of the way. It was here,
ladies and gentlemen, at this particular moment where I had
just crossed paths with a woman who do not share
the same convictions as I did. She didn't know me,
(17:31):
she didn't know what I'd been through that day back
in two thousand and one, basically telling me I would
fail in my pursuit, in my heart and in my
mind if I've stayed it before. Nine to eleven't struck
me in a way I can't describe.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
In a twenty or thirty minute conversation.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
That's why this podcast has been so difficult me to
put into words. You know, For me to walk to
ground zero in the middle of winter, I felt that's
the least I could do to honor in some way
those who were gone, those who were taken from us,
those who were murdered. I think that the families that
lost loved ones that day wish that their family members
(18:11):
are loved ones that were taken could again walk the
streets of this, you know, of New York.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
So what if my legs ached? Okay? So what if
I was going to be a little sore? Okay?
Speaker 1 (18:22):
So what if I became cold and tired, a little
suffering to remember the thousands who were killed. A walk
in January wasn't going to stop me? Is this what
sacrifice in fortitude is all about. I won't go into
the details of that walk, but I will tell you
(18:42):
I walked the entire way that January morning, damn cold,
and I will admit that I did stop once, just once.
I was in desperate need of some coffee and I
need to warm my hands up, and I had to
blow my ding nose running running it was so cold.
But after I did those things, that was it. I
(19:06):
continued on. I will walked all the way there, and
I walked all the way back to that hotel in
Times Square, the entire walk oh there and back. I
just can't replaying the events which took place that day,
and that was my motivation. I have some very strong convictions,
(19:27):
people have said, and when I have in my mind
set on a goal or a challenge, and if someone
tells me I will fail or not to succeed at
my goal or challenge, it's at these times when I
often hear one of my all time heroes saying the phrase,
never tell me the odds.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
It's your first mistake.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Okay, So now that I've told you about a few
of my past September eleventh, I wanted to go into
grand detail about one particular September eleventh that stands out
more than any of the other ones who try and
spoke of previously, and that was in twenty and fifteen.
What I want to do here is I want to
take you back with me as if we were, you know,
(20:11):
walking together, as you were walking alongside me that September eleventh,
twenty fifteen, so that you can witness the events that
unfolded for me that day. I was asked previously during
the summer of twenty fifteen by a teacher from PS
one thirty nine Public School one thirty nine, which is
in Brooklyn, New York, it was possible for me to
(20:34):
donate thirty five American flags to their school so that
all the classrooms there could display an American flag. Of course,
I said, of course I could make that happen. It
is so hard for me to say no, no matter
where the need is that you know, when it comes
to a flag, I'm making it happen.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Do I always know how I'm going to make it happen. No,
I'll make it happen. So I looked at the calendar
when she requested that, and.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
I chose September eleventh as a day to make this
flag event happen. I was able to obtain all the
classroom flags which were needed, and spoke with the school
principal and some other teachers, you know, via email, to
get the details squared away and input as to how
I would go about presenting the flags to the school.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
It was during these discussions that I was informed.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
That, at the time ps IE thirty nine was considered
the most diverse public school in the New York area.
And it was also at this time where I came
to realize that all of the children who would be
present at the school that day, in this big assembly,
this big auditorium, all those kids who I'd be speaking
(21:42):
in front of, were all born after September eleventh, two
thousand and one. None of these children, as far as
I knew, unless their parents had talked to them prior,
understood the magnitude of what had happened that day. So
the conclusion of that morning is of which saw me
go into this, you know, going into some of the classrooms,
(22:03):
I put some flags up. They had the holders that
I had sent them, they were up. So I was
placing flags in some of the classrooms. I walked out
of the school and I, you know, started walking to
my car, took off my sport coat, and.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
I was stopped by one of the teachers of the school.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
She wanted to share her appreciation of why what I
had done, you know, traveling across country to hand delivered
these flags on such an important date, and she was appreciative,
and she recalled the impact that that day had on her.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
In two thousand and.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
One, she told me that for the first planes had
struck She lived in Brooklyn, so she lived across the
East River from Manhattan. She told me that for the
first planes had struck the towers and they had collapsed.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
She said there were papers.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Random miscellaneous different colored office papers which had once been
inside the towers, right inside of people's offices and side
people's drawers, inside of their file cabinets, that they were
now all cast into the air, and they just began
floating all around the sky like snowflakes, gently falling in
(23:16):
a light breeze, just these different colored papers eight and
a half just floating all around. She said that a
lot of these random papers that were once at offices
inside the towers blew across the East River and landed
in and around.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Her yard at her home.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
She said, papers landed on top of cars in the neighborhood,
on her front lawn. And she told me that no
one touched any of these papers, No one cleaned them up,
no one gathered them up and disposed of them. Those
sheets of paper remained where they landed. It's as if
(23:59):
these loose, single sheets of paper where were sacred artifacts,
physical reminders to those who lived, as to once you know,
was once a normal part of everyday life was now
gone taken from us.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
It's a story which I've never heard before.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Right, They don't talk about that on the news, and
I don't remember ever see an interview about that image.
So I can only imagine of what that must have
looked like. And for the days, the weeks, the months
that went by those papers until for snowfall maybe you know,
covers them. So as after the presentation of flags, I
(24:48):
go back to my hotel in Brooklyn, I changed and
I walked out, and I headed towards the Brooklyn Bridge.
I was going to take the walk again to the
Lower Manhattan like I had done previously, but this time
my route was going to be just a little bit different.
I was not expecting the emotions twitch came over me
as I walked west across the bridge that day. See
(25:12):
in my mind, I'm sure, like many of you, we
have these still images, right, these photographs in our heads
from that day which have never faded from our memory.
One of the images, one of the photos I have
in my head, is of the Brooklyn Bridge on September eleventh.
(25:34):
I recall this image, this photograph if you will. That
you know all the lanes that were typically used for
vehicles on the bridge, right, you had two lanes had knees,
two lanes coming west out of the city.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
But here the bridge.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
That the lanes that were usually used by cars, and
all the lanes were now filled with thousands of people
walking away from Manhattan, walking away from those down towers.
They're all trying to escape, right, the carnage is taking
place that day. On a normal day, you would have
one side of the bridge being used for inbound like
(26:14):
I mentioned, the other side being used for outbound, and
there's a middle divider. If you never been to the
Brooklyn Bridge, there's this middle lane, middle divider that people can,
pedestrians walking or biseless can use. But on this particular day,
nine eleven, two thousand and one the entire bridge, all
lanes were filled with people going the direction away from
(26:39):
the city, heading towards Brooklyn. So now here I was,
after providing flags to the local public school, remembering my
first day as a cop, I'm now walking on the
Brooklyn Bridge, but on this stand, walking against the flow
of all those people who are walking away, all those
(27:00):
survivors in two thousand and one. I was now actually
walking against those people. I was walking in danger what
was once danger. And it's as if I could feel
the presence of all those who had made the trek
in the opposite direction some ten years prior. I could
(27:22):
feel the giraffes, the breezes of people who were not there,
but yet I could see them walking the opposite direction
of me, random faces, coughing, covered in dirt, covered in debris,
and I felt like maybe I was like brushing shoulders
with them.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Right.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
I could just see thousands of people, and here's this
one person going just the opposite direction.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
There was no one around. It was just me.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
But in my head, my brain that photograph had triggered
what I imagine, the sounds, the feelings, the presence of thousands
that were going the opposite direction that day, and it
was just me and my thoughts trying to make it
across the bridge that day through the breeze of thousands
of people hitting me as I went west. What was
(28:16):
awaiting me on the other side, I wondered. That's going
to conclude part one of this two part podcast. If
if you like what you heard and you want to
hear more, you want to see some images or some
more stories from some past September eleventh, I encourage.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
You to head over to.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Our Facebook page, Flags for the Flagless. There's photos there,
There's some stories there, photos that you.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
May have never seen before.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
But also there's going to be some photos about what
I have planned coming up for this September eleventh, twenty
twenty four, and that's gonna take place here in Arizona.
But it's gonna be probably the only event in the state,
and I've said probably the only event like this in
the country.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
That's going to take place on nine to eleven. So
if you want some.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
More information, you want some more stories, you want some
photographs to go with what I've spoken, just head over
to our social media page Flags for the Flagless, and
questions send them.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
I'll answer all that I can and that's it until
next time.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Thank you for joining us on this episode of Flags
for the Flagless. This episode was produced by Charlie Foley,
Doug Levy, and Jason Wikil. To listen to Charlie's newest episodes,
please download and subscribe through your favorite podcast service, and
if you like the show enough, leave a review. Your
thoughts would greatly be appreciated. Flags for the Flagless United
(29:59):
Stories of America is proudly produced and distributed by the
eight Side Network.
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Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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