Fort Liberty community mourns lives lost in 9/11 through remembrance ceremony

FORT LIBERTY, N.C. (WTVD) -- The Fort Liberty community came together Wednesday to honor those lost in the 9/11 attacks.

A ceremony commemorated the nearly 3,000 people who were killed, including the first responders who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Fort Liberty EMS Chief Bill Lehmann, who was one of the first responders at the World Trade Center, said he could hear the planes hit the twin towers. Lehmann, a retired paramedic from New York; said the scene was so chaotic that he didn't get to go home for four days.

"We stayed as long as we could and then we went and got a nap, and worked 20 hours a day for six months straight, seven days a week," Lehmann said.

Lehmann and others were moved by Fort Liberty's ceremony, which included speeches, a wreath presentation and the playing of taps.

"Just the playing of taps and the moment of silence honoring where everyone's still, you're not thinking about anything, we're not doing anything," said Fort Liberty Fire & Emergency Services Capt. Nicky Benazzi. "We're just honoring the people that gave the ultimate sacrifice on this day. So, that is what touches me the most."

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Lehmann said he was grateful to have the ceremony at Fort Liberty, especially when he can't reunite with other surviving first responders in New York to mourn the friends they lost in the terror attacks.

"We were so tired that it motivated us to keep going because our families had closure that we were OK," he said. "There were friends of ours, coworkers that their families didn't have the same, so we needed to give them closure."

Lehmann urged young people who didn't live through the attacks to learn about 9/11.

"We owe it to those people that we lost that day to make sure that that day never happens again," he said.