San Angelo honors fallen at Sept. 11 ceremony Published Sept. 12, 2012 By Staff Sgt. Tsuyoshi Shinzato 17th Training Wing/ Public Affairs SAN ANGELO, Texas- -- While Americans everywhere paused to remember the events of Sept. 11, 2001 only a few could remember the details of that day as vividly as Rosey Velez's. "The sound of the building coming down...that's a sound I'll never forget." he said. Rosey, a retired chief of the New York Critical Response Team, shared his personal story from the eyes of a first responder to a crowd that gathered to remember the events of Sept. 11 in a ceremony held in San Angelo. "After the collapse, it was a whole different ball game," Velez said. "It was a lot of reaching out to people and not getting answers and it was scary. It was really, really scary." The ceremony was held at the 9/11 memorial next to the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts Tuesday, where Col. Jeffrey McBride, 17th Mission Support vice commander, also spoke. He explained that the local memorial was made from the New York rubble. He expressed how wonderful it was to see the memorial grow and draw people together. As the ceremony drew to a close Capt. Chris Mowrey, San Angelo Police Department, reminded the crowd that these ceremonies are not only a time to remember the tragedy that struck the United States but more importantly it's a day to celebrate all the lives that were saved.
