Survivors, community members honor those killed on 9/11 at Lambeau Field

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - A somber morning at Lambeau Field, as more than two-thousand community members paid tribute to the 343 New York City firefighters who perished on September 11, 2001.

John and Donna Kneeley who now live in Mountain, Wisconsin were at work on the 77th floor of Tower One when American Airlines Flight 11 hit at 8:46 a.m., just floors above them.

“When the plane hit the building, we had no idea what was going on. We eventually decided to take the stairs and go down,” John Kneeley said alongside his wife Donna. “We saw our first firefighter around floor 29 and I asked him, I said ‘well what happened?’ and he said that a plane hit the building, then he stopped and said no actually two planes hit the building. And he just kept going up. It wasn’t until we got down to the lobby and saw what had happened. It was basically a war zone. Huge slabs of marble had come off the wall and it was smoky,” Donna explained.

The couple was able to make it out safely.

“We were about five minutes out when Tower Two collapsed, we were just a couple of blocks away,” John said. “We just heard a snap and turned around and watched it melt, basically in front of our eyes,” Donna added.

Donna was six months pregnant at the time. She, like so many others, was stunned by what unfolded.

“All of a sudden there were just people running everywhere and it was this narrow street and this 40-story wall of smoke starts barreling down,” Donna remembered.

Donna says they couldn’t hear anything but the noise from all the sirens going off. Sirens of first responders.

“9/11 is a dark day in our country’s history,” said Lt. Shauna Walesh, Green Bay Metro Fire Department.

In the stands of Lambeau Field, Saturday morning’s stair climb stretched the equivalent of 110 stories. The same height of the fallen World Trade Center Towers.

“It’s an honor to be here, it’s an honor to see it. It’s chilling, it’s beautiful and it’s reaffirming of who we are as a nation to see people come out and support those who help us every day,” Donna said holding back tears. “We think it’s remarkable that Green Bay, Wisconsin is still honoring the promise of never forgetting.”

When climbers reached the 78th-floor level, the highest point reached by firefighters in the Towers, they rang a memorial bell and read the name of a fallen firefighter.

“They were charging up, everybody else was running down and I think that just shows unbelievable courage, unbelievable compassion, unbelievable dedication. Every time I hear that bell, I know it signifies one of the FDNY members that perished that day,” said Chief David Litton, Green Bay Metro Fire Department.

All of the event’s proceeds benefit the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, which supports the families of fallen firefighters.

Organizers tell us more than $150,000 were raised, with “Team Kneeley” coming in as one of the top fundraising teams.

“For us, it’s huge to know that people here in the Midwest still remember and care is something that will absolutely keep bringing us here,” Donna said.

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