A TIME OF REFLECTION
Mets’ Syndergaard & Parnell take an emotional tour of 9/11 Memorial
BOBBY PARNELL remembers the morning of 9/11 vividly.
He had just started his senior year at East Rowan High School in Salisbury, N.C., which is about 40 minutes outside of Charlotte. He was sitting in English class on what started as a “normal” September morning.
He recalled a couple teachers scrambling and talking with each other rather frantically before one of them wheeled in a TV set that sat on top of a cart with shelves.
The teachers explained the situation and then turned on the TV to show the World Trade Center’s North Tower smoldering. He and his classmates were stunned as they watched what unfolded.
The South Tower was hit a few minutes later and his classmates and teachers, joined by the rest of the nation, knew then what was really happening, that the U.S. was under attack.
He said there was a lot of chaos and paranoia at the time over whether Charlotte was a potential target.
“There was a lot of talk of Charlotte, which was about 40 minutes from us, being a possible target because nobody really knew what was going on,” Parnell said. “There was a lot of chaos.”
Parnell said he first thought of his father, Bob, who is originally from New Jersey and is a fire chief in Salisbury. He thought of what his father would do and how he felt.
Parnell and fellow teammate Noah Syndergaard spoke to the Daily News after taking a guided tour of the 9/11 Memorial on Friday. It was the first full tour for Parnell and the second for Syndergaard, who was just a fourth grader on that tragic Tuesday.
“I remember being extremely confused and my dad came and picked me up from school,” said Syndergaard. “And I had no idea what was going on. I didn’t even grasp what a terrorist attack was.
“I can’t imagine what the families who were effected felt.”
Parnell and Synergaard have grown close this season, Parnell becoming a mentor to the hardthrowing righthander after an uncomfortable spring training incident when Parnell, along with David Wright, took the rookie to task for eating in the clubhouse during an intrasquad scrimmage. According to a source, when Syndergaard did not get up fast enough, Parnell took his plate and threw it out.
Parnell said after the tour that the exhibits of fire engines and tools used by the firefighters that day to attempt to rescue more than 3,000 civilians spread between both towers was what really “touched home” with him. The exhibit of Ladder No.3 out of the East Village made him think of his father and his brother, who is also a firefighter and lives in Granite Quarry, N. C.
Ladder No. 3 was led by Captain Patrick (Paddy) Brown. The crew had just been released that morning and was off duty. After the North Tower was hit, the crew re-equipped themselves and made their way over to the burning building.
Ladder No. 3 made it to the tower and began to climb the stairs, evacuating civilians as they fought devastating heat and smoke. They made it to the 35th floor of the tower by 9:21 a.m. and were still there, fighting to get people out when the tower fell at 10:28 a.m. Every member of Ladder No. 3 was killed that day when the building collapsed.
“I know my father would do the same thing and I know my brother would do the same thing,” Parnell said.
“I know there are hundreds of thousands of firefighters out there who would do the same thing.”