Retired FDNY Firefighter Recalled Standing with President at Ground Zero
When he saw what was unfolding downtown at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, retired FDNY Firefighter Bob Beckwith told his family he was going. He needed to be there.
"They told me 'You're 69. You'r too old to be down there,'" Beckwith told a NBC reporter in 2023, three months before his death at 91.
Hearing that President George W. Bush was coming to speak to firefighters, he climbed up on fire truck to get a good view.
A Secret Service agent told him someone was coming to speak and to help him up. "He told me to get down once I did that...I was thinking that's great, I'm losing my spot."
Beckwith did was he was told to do. "After I asked: 'Mr. President, are you OK," and he said 'yes.' I started to get down. I told him I was told to get down and he said: 'No, no you stay right here.'"
He never imagined the president would put his arm around him as he addressed firefighters.
"That's when they said they couldn't hear him. That's when he told them:'I can hear you.The resit of the world hears you.'"
He added that he looked to heaven and said: 'Look at me, ma, I'm with the president.'"
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About the Author
Susan NicolSusan Nicol
News Editor
Susan Nicol is the news editor for Firehouse.com. She is a life member and active with the Brunswick Volunteer Ambulance & Rescue Company, Oxford Fire Company and Brunswick Vol. Fire Co. Susie has been an EMT in Maryland since 1976. Susie is vice-president of the Frederick County Fire/Rescue Museum. She is on the executive committee of Frederick County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association. She also is part of the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems (MIEMSS) Region II EMS Council. Susie is a board member of the American Trauma Society, Maryland Division. Prior to joining the Firehouse team, she was a staff writer for The Frederick News-Post, covering fire, law enforcement, court and legislative issues.