10 Days Later…Reflections on 9/11
“A warrior dies twice. First in life when they take their last breath and the second time when those that lived on stop saying their name.”
This is an excerpt from a story I told during our weekly company meeting last Monday. I was encouraged to share this piece as a way to honor a great man; a man my family affectionately knew as “Uncle Ron.” It was at this point, nine days after the last survivor was pulled from the rubble of the World Trade Center, I came to the conclusion that Ron would not be found alive.
“At TruView, the first sentence in our slogan is, “Born of Tradition.” We are proud to honor our history and company lineage, as we are an offshoot from the 40-year-old, private security company, Summit Security Services. With that history, comes a lot of respect for all the accomplishments of Summit. But today, on September 11th, we remember one of the saddest memories of our combined history.
Many of you may know that Summit was responsible for guarding the Towers on September 11th. We had over 425 personnel assigned to the Towers and tragically, we would lose eleven of our employees on that fateful day. I want to share the story and heroics of one of those employees, Ron Hoerner, the Resident Manager at the site. In 2015, Summit created the Ronald G. Hoerner Award for Valor so his name may be familiar, but you may not know the story behind the award.
Summit had taken over the World Trade Center contract a few short years before the 2001 attack. When Summit took over the contract, the Security Director placed the main security command node at the exact spot of the 1993 bombing. During his first walk through, the Security Director had pointed the newly constructed spot out to Ron and Summit’s Senior Leadership. The point to serve as a constant reminder that Summit was to never let an incident of that magnitude happen again at the WTC site.
And when you think about it, that is “security.” When you boil it down to its essence; security is protecting people from the dangers of the modern world. I would often quote this thought during my time at Summit, that at its most basic level, our job was purely to protect our Clients; to protect people. All of our officers’ additional tasks, duties, and responsibilities were secondary to that mission.
At the Twin Towers, Ron Hoerner led Summit’s security operation as the Resident Manager. He was responsible for all administration, investigations, and operations. It was a job he took to heart and the officers loved him as a leader for it. Ron had come to Summit after 27 years with law enforcement, having retired as an investigator from the New York State Police. Ron had known me since I was a child and my earliest childhood memories were of him out in his driveway washing his prized, red Datsun with a fastidious care. He brought that same attention to detail to his position at the Towers, and specifically, to the officers’ training. He trained the security officers at the Towers so well that USA Today would later remark in an article in 2002, that, the security officers at the World Trade Center were “the best trained in the country…and on September 11th, that training saved thousands of lives.”
On September 11th, after the Towers had been hit, Ron immediately helped evacuate people. After checking in with the security team, he would go back in to the Towers not once, but twice to assist others getting out. He was last seen by eyewitnesses heading back in to Tower 2 for the third time, after helping another person to safety. He was never seen again.
In the military, we would often say, “A warrior dies twice. First in life when they take their last breath and the second time when those that lived on stop saying their name.” And so, I tell this story so that we may honor and remember the brave man, Ron Hoerner, who made the ultimate sacrifice so that others may live. I hope that by sharing this one story of heroism, among so many on that tragic day, that I may play a small part in honoring his legacy.”
To find out more about Ron Hoerner and his story, please go to his Living Memorial:
http://livingmemorial.voicesofseptember11.org/ronald-george-hoerner-ron
Please also consider visiting and/or supporting the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, which serves to tell the story of those that perished, as well as those that continue to deal with the emotional and physical injuries, of that tragic day.
