Remembering 9/11: A Call to Duty

They were all in different places when both towers of the World Trade Center collapsed the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. By midnight Sept. 12, (from left) Sgt. Tom VanSimaeys, Lt. Noel Clason, Lt. Terry McDonnell and Officer Jay Reynolds (not pictured) of the Bloomfield Hills Department of Public Safety were in a car heading to Ground Zero to help in any they could. 

Cross-trained as both firefighters and police officers, they said they were compelled to assist in the aftermath of the nation’s worst terrorist attack.“We have a skill set that we were thinking they could use, but we just didn’t know what we’d be doing,” Clason said. 

In a department of just 26, their stay in New York City as part of the bucket brigade was limited to two days. However, reflecting a decade later, they said the bond they shared through the experience will last a lifetime. 

“It will always be there for the four of us,” Clason said. “It’s one of those singular events that brought us closer together.”

They are standing before a framed collection of photos taken during their stay. Chief Richard Matott presented the group with the montage on the five-year anniversary of 9-11, and it is now mounted prominently inside the department.