DANVILLE — Lt. David Jones with the Danville Fire Dept. is thankful for a free meal from the American Legion in Danville on 9/11.
Jones has served with the department for 26 years. He was working at Station 4 on the tragic day.
“We heard it on the radio, and turned the TV on just as the second plane hit,” he said. “After all of that, we started keeping guys on the rigs, just to make sure. We had information that maybe terrorists were going to hijack the fire trucks.”
For Jones, his mind was on his family beyond his fellow fire crew, as his daughter was a newborn.
“Big thing there was, my daughter was just born in 2001, so I had that on my mind. It was rough,” said Jones.
Senior Vice Commander Steve Hughes and Junior Vice Commander Adam Shores served up between 150 and 200 Italian beef sandwiches, chips, and cookies for first responders and the public.
Both men served in the military. Hughes served with the Marine Corps from 1990-94, while Shores began serving with the Navy following high school graduation.
That day, Hughes said he was in Detroit for work training. “When it happened, they immediately shut everything down and sent us back to our hotels, and then that evening sent us back home.”
He said, however, getting back home was difficult with zero planes flying in the sky.
Hughes said, “I had driven up with a friend of mine, and when I drove back, I had about seven guys in my car.”
Meanwhile, Shores says he was the library aide as a senior in high school.
“There was a little bitty 13-inch TV in the library, and we watched the whole thing. The worst part was that our librarian, her daughter, was in the North tower. With that being said, the emotions were high,” said Shores.
The following year, Shores enlisted in the military.
As for the event, Lt. Jones is thankful.
“Every year, the American Legion always puts on a lunch and dinner for first responders, and I think it’s a great thing they do for us. We respect what they did for us and protect us and all that.”