WATERVLIET ARSENAL, N.Y. (Sept. 12, 2014) -- The World Trade Center towers had 110 floors and that is exactly how many floors two arsenal firefighters symbolically marched up yesterday to honor their fallen comrades who perished in New York City on 9/11.
Mathew Kolodzie, who has been an arsenal firefighter since 2006, said he wanted to do something more dramatic this year to gain a better appreciation for what his fellow firefighters in New York City experienced that fateful September morning.
"I knew this challenge was not going to be easy, but nothing was easy on 9/11," Kolodzie said. "It is hard to imagine the amount of determination those firefighters had as they ran up the towers because many of them must of known that they were not coming out alive."
Armed with his idea, Kolodzie challenged one of the newest arsenal firefighters, Adam Kraus, to put on more than 60 pounds of equipment and to join him in the arsenal gym to symbolically walk up 110 floors.
Kraus, a former army scout who has been at the arsenal for about 15 months, took up the challenge and joined Kolodzie on what would become a 45-minute, non-stop exercise that will forever give them a better sense of 9/11.
"There is something special about being a firefighter in that we all share the 9/11 story of bravery and sacrifice as if those New York City firefighters were our family," Kraus said. "Walking up 110 flights of stairs today was extremely difficult but nothing as difficult as experienced by those firefighters who entered the World Trade Center carrying significantly more equipment, battling smoke, as well as the unknown."
Kolodzie and Kraus are already looking forward to next September so that they can export this shared sense of remembrance to others at the Watervliet Arsenal.
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