PONTIAC, Mich. (WXYZ) — A 9/11 memorial in Pontiac brought together former and current first responders Friday to mark 25 years since the attacks — including several Oakland County Sheriff's Office deputies who drove through the night to help at Ground Zero.
Ten officers from the Oakland County Sheriff's Office loaded a truck full of supplies and drove to New York in the hours after the attacks. Several of them gathered at the Pontiac memorial for a ceremony that included a 21-gun salute and a helicopter flyover.
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Retired Deputy Roger St. Jean was among those who responded.
"I feel fortunate that I was capable of doing something to help," St. Jean said.
St. Jean described the conditions at Ground Zero when they arrived.
"And somebody would lead you out to where they wanted you to dig, and we would dig by hand because you couldn't get a shovel or a tool in any place, any heavy equipment wasn't there yet," St. Jean said.
Deputy Thomas Poulin said the response from within the department was immediate and overwhelming.
"He wanted volunteers and everybody said, 'I'll go.' I mean, we're talking over 300 people in our union saying, 'We'll go,'" Poulin said.
For Poulin, the memory remains vivid.
"It's amazing how fast it went. I mean, we're watching everything and it's like seems like — yesterday," Poulin said.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard reflected on the lasting toll the response took on those who went.
"Now we know how many kinds of particulates and asbestos and everything that was in the air. After that day, I've never heard one person that went say, 'I wish I didn't go.' Again that goes to the the heart and soul of the men and women that responded from all over this country, including the team from Oakland County," Bouchard said.
Thomas Quisenberry, who served as Oakland County Undersheriff at the time, said the magnitude of what they experienced took time to fully set in.
"It was big, but I never knew quite how big until later when we came back and had time to think about it because for that first week when we were working, you didn't think about it," Quisenberry said. "You were just doing your job, working and trying to help out the best way you can."
Friday marked the first time Quisenberry visited the 9/11 memorial in Oakland County, where his name appears on a plaque.
"That's the first time I've seen this monument. It's the first time I've stepped in here. I just didn't have the heart to want to come and address. Upstairs, all the emotions that have gone on," Quisenberry said.
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