9–11 Hero

February Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Statues”

There were many kinds of heroes.

When we think of 9–11 heroes, we think of first responders, like police, firemen, and medical personnel, and those who volunteered to dig and search for days after the Twin Towers collapsed. But there were four-footed heroes, too. Over 400 search-and-rescue and therapy dogs were called to duty. The search-and-rescue dogs endured long days and suffered many injuries while pawing through the mountains of glass, steel, metal, and other building debris. When only 20 people were found alive, the dogs transitioned to searching for cadavers or were used to comfort the exhausted, stressed, and depressed first responders.

On one of our trips to New Jersey and New York, my husband and I visited the Essex County Eagle Rock September 11 Memorial in West Orange, New Jersey, where we found this statue honoring the 9–11 rescue dogs. The statute is made of bronze and weighs almost 5,000 pounds. It was fashioned after the last living 9–11 rescue dog, a Golden Retriever named Bretagne. When she arrived at Ground Zero, Bretagne was two years old, and 9–11 was her first official search-and-rescue job. She passed at the age of 16.

© Dennett 2024

Thank you, Vidya Sury, for the February prompt, Statues: