Retired Little Suamico firefighter remembers assisting in NYC after 9/11 attack

SOBIESKI, Wis. (WBAY) - On the anniversary of the single largest loss of life foreign attack on American soil, a retired firefighter from northeast Wisconsin is remembering how he answered the call 24 years ago to help those impacted.

For retired firefighter Dale Liebergen, September 11th, 2001, remains heartbreaking, even 24 years later.

Searching through the smoke and rubble at ground zero is still etched in his mind.

“It really messes with you to see something like that,” says Liebergen.

At 41 years old, Liebergen drove straight to New York City, just days after the attacks. With medical supplies in hand, his mission quickly became personal.

“There was a fireman coming down the sidewalk, crying. And I said, ‘Hey, buddy, what can I do to help you?’ He says, ‘Could you give me a ride back to my firehouse?’ And I said, ‘Sure,’” Liebergen remembers.

That firefighter was from Battalion 9, Ladder 4, Truck 54. He was off-duty, out looking for his brothers.

They lost everybody at that house, all 15 guys from that station were killed in the collapse,” says Liebergen.

For two weeks, Liebergen worked long shifts at the firehouse and longer nights at ground zero, digging through rubble hundreds of feet tall.

“Every time we’d go out, they’d ask, you know, bring home mom, bring home dad,” remembers Liebergen. “You did what you could, but we never found anything other than body parts.”

Liebergen has since returned to New York City, once in 2003 and again in 2021, the 20th anniversary of the attacks.

He says the memorial is beautiful, but the pain remains.

“You can’t erase what you saw, you can’t forget what you saw, you can’t forget what you did,” says Liebergen.

His career in EMS and law enforcement prepared him for many tragedies, but nothing like this.

“That was the hardest thing that I’ve ever done. It took a while to recover from that,” says Liebergen.

Two decades later, Liebergen says he’s still proud to be an American and proud to have helped in the country’s darkest hours.