PUEBLO — For the entire month of September, Officers will be wearing special badges in honor of those who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks 20 years ago.
“I switched it out immediately, sent a couple pictures to family members back east," said Sergeant Michael Sincerbox, who is originally from New York.
The opportunity came up a couple of months back, says Sincerbox.
Officers who wanted to wear the badge purchased them with money from their own pockets.
“Losing 71 police officers and 343 firefighters… It’s my way of remembering that time period of my life,” said Sincerbox,
Stuart Bastin, PPD's Volunteer Coordinator, worked in the South Tower in 1995.
“You could tell that the building would sway in the wind... Felt like the street was moving but in fact it was not the street at all, it was the building, swaying in the wind,” said Bastin, reflecting on his time in the South Tower.
Bastin's company occupied "about 40 floors" of the South Tower.
In 2001, Bastin was based in Colorado Springs and watched the 9/11 attacks happen from his office.
“We are watching this happen on a Tuesday morning at the beginning of a work day, when we talked to folks in the building the day before. When you’re watching it and you've got that personal connection to it it, it just really drives it home."
Bastin says people should focus on unity this upcoming September 11.
“Remember those that we lost that day. That would be the important part, don’t feel the fear that the terrorist tried to instill in us, if anything remember the unity that was a result of this.”
A memorial will be held outside of the Center for American Values on the Pueblo Riverwalk on September 11, 2021.
A Run to Remember will be held in Pueblo West beginning at 9:00 am at 1277 W Calle Antigua.
