Duane Hagelgans vividly recalls the uncertainty in the days after 9/11 — the feeling "that life had been thrown into the unknown."
He also recalls the sense of unity and patriotism. Flags were everywhere. His son, then 6, painted one on the wall of his bedroom that remains today.
What has become of that sense of unified national purpose, Hagelgans asked his audience at the county's annual 9/11 remembrance service.
"It alarms me as to how far divided we are as a nation," he said, "and how easily we neglect to remember all the sacrifices our military members, our emergency responders, and our citizens have made."
Held at the Lancaster County Public Safety Training Center, Monday's 9/11 observance was well attended. It honors those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as well as the 52 members of Lancaster County police, fire and emergency medical services who have died in the line of duty.
Cadets from the county Protective Services program laid a flower at the podium as each of the 52 names was read and a bell tolled.
Hagelgans, a former Lancaster City Bureau of Fire Battalion Chief, is a professor of emergency management at Millersville University and commissioner of the Blue Rock Regional Fire District. He serves on the South Central Pennsylvania Counter Terrorism Task Force and is the chairman of the Public Safety Training Center Foundation.
The foundation recently bought a 2023 Pierce Enforcer fire engine, costing a little under $900,000, for use in training at the center, replacing an outdated apparatus that is being retired. The new engine was on display Monday morning along with another from the center's fleet.
Hagelgans said he remembers 9/11 "like it was yesterday." He noted that the year 2001 bisects his public safety career: He had served 22 years before it, and has served 22 years since.
He urged the young cadets arrayed behind him to study history. Those who do, he said, "state that our nation is currently in a very perilous position."
"Those who study terrorism, like myself," he said, "know that a nation divided is ripe for attack from the outside, and unfortunately, from within."
He referenced Gettysburg, where in 1863, during the Civil War, the country's deadliest battle took place. Gettysburg is "geographically and politically ... just a short distance from where we stand now," he said.
Americans must stand united, he said, remember those who sacrificed and continue to work toward a better future.
"If we are a nation of loyalty, faith and charity to the world and this great democratic experiment, it will continue to prevail," he said.
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