Richmond TSA Officer Recalls His Role at the World Trade Center After 9/11 Terrorist Attacks

Richmond TSA Officer Recalls His Role at the World Trade Center After 9/11 Terrorist Attacks

Nineteen years ago, he was a police officer with the New Jersey State Department of Corrections and a member of the Special Emergency Response Team, so when terrorists attacked on 9/11, Leonard Mitchell “saw our brothers and sisters in blue in distress and I felt it was my duty to respond.”

Mitchell has worked for the Transportation Security Administration as a TSA officer for nearly seven years, first at Newark Liberty International Airport and more recently at Richmond International Airport for the past three years. He looks back on the tragic events of 9/11 with mixed emotions. What initially began as a rescue mission to help locate survivors in the rubble of the World Trade Center soon turned into a recovery effort. “Most people can never understand the devastation and destruction that took place at the World Trade Center that day,” he said.

Mitchell was assigned to assist with digging through the rubble to help find any possible survivors. “We worked digging through the rubble for the next three days, but no survivors were ever found.”

His next assignment was morgue detail at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York City, a few miles from Ground Zero, where he was to transport body bags from the site of the attacks to the hospital for possible identification.

“The smell of death permeated the air. Body bag after body bag came in,” he said. “As we unloaded the remains, we all stood at attention and saluted. Tears fell almost every day. We worked around the clock. We gave up our vacations, personal time and days off to help work the site.” He worked that detail for three months. “It was a horrifying scene every day,” he said.

Mitchell’s emotions ran from anger toward the attackers to humiliation that the U.S. could be attacked in such a manner, to pride for his fellow volunteers who were coming together and gratefulness to complete strangers who stopped by the site to share food, extra clothing and words of encouragement as they worked. “I never felt more proud to wear the uniform” of a corrections police officer, he said.

As he reflected back to 2001, Mitchell said he thinks back to the men and women who he worked alongside at Ground Zero. Many passed away from illnesses contracted from breathing in the air at the site. Yet, he continues to stay in touch with some of his fellow officers who he worked with” during those sad days.
many bad memories,” he said.

After he retired as a corrections officer, Mitchell wanted to continue to serve and give back, which is why he joined TSA. “I wanted to continue to honor those who lost their lives and be the first line of defense so that a tragedy like that would never happen again. September 11th was my motivation to join TSA. I hope I can continue to live up to the memories of those who lost their lives on that Tuesday morning in September, 19 years ago.”

Featured

  • The Need for a Comprehensive Strategy Addressing Cybersecurity and Quantum Technology

    The Need for a Comprehensive Strategy Addressing Cybersecurity and Quantum Technology

    Over the past two years, the Biden Administration has taken a series of steps centered on quantum and cybersecurity. Read Now

  • IoT Saves the Day

    IoT Saves the Day

    Today, creating a safe environment across schools, hotels, office buildings, housing complexes and other facilities has become a necessity. There are so many dangers lurking in buildings of all sizes and shapes from fire hazards, vaping issues, chemical/air quality issues, intruders and so much more. Read Now

  • One Pane, Less Pain

    One Pane, Less Pain

    Just because a solution is built on an open-standards platform doesn’t ensure that all the vendors’ systems will work together as promised. Some features may not be supported, or not supported to their fullest potential. Read Now

  • Revamping Wrigley Field

    Revamping Wrigley Field

    When talking about baseball in the United States, it’s hard not to think of the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field. With a history spanning more than 100 years, the Chicago Cubs are one of the most recognized teams in professional sports. Read Now

Featured Cybersecurity

Webinars

New Products

  • ComNet CNGE6FX2TX4PoE

    The ComNet cost-efficient CNGE6FX2TX4PoE is a six-port switch that offers four Gbps TX ports that support the IEEE802.3at standard and provide up to 30 watts of PoE to PDs. It also has a dedicated FX/TX combination port as well as a single FX SFP to act as an additional port or an uplink port, giving the user additional options in managing network traffic. The CNGE6FX2TX4PoE is designed for use in unconditioned environments and typically used in perimeter surveillance. 3

  • Camden Door Controls ‘SER” Surface Boxes and Extension Rings

    Camden Door Controls ‘SER” Surface Boxes and Extension Rings

    Camden Door Controls has introduced new ‘SER” surface boxes and extension rings that provide a complete solution for new construction. In addition, they provide a simple and robust solution when replacing round wired and manual push plate switches with either Camden’s wired or wireless SureWave™ no-touch switches or Kinetic™ no-battery wireless switches. 3

  • Unique Oversized ID Card Printer

    Unique Oversized ID Card Printer

    Idesco Corp. is announcing its card printer – the XCR100 2.0 printer- that allows customers to personalize oversized ID cards on demand. The printer is ideal for assisting healthcare organizations find the right badging solution. As healthcare facilities continue to combat the spread of COVID-19, issuing oversized ID cards has helped identify staff clearly while adding an extra layer of security. The XCR100 2.0 printer is the only dye-sublimation printer on the market that can personalize CR100 cards (3.88" x 2.63"). The cards that are 42% larger than the standard credit card size. The printer can produce up to 180 full cards per hour in color, and up to 1,400 cards per hour in monochrome. An optional flipper is available to print dual-sided badges in one pass. Contactless encoding comes as an option to help healthcare facilities produce secure access badges on demand and the card printer features a 2-year warranty. 3