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Macomb County honors first responders killed in the line of duty

‘Everybody worked together, everybody mourned together’

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. – Saturday marks 20 years since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Nearly 3,000 people were killed that day in New York, at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Many gathered in Mount Clemens to solemnly remember the difficult day Saturday. It was one of the dozens of ceremonies that took place across the nation.

Read: Memorial held in Mount Clemens pays tribute to fallen soldiers, first responders

“Today, I watched it, until I saw her name come across the screen and I thought, ‘She’s remembered,’” said Frank D. Blowers.

Every year on Sept. 11, Blowers watches the National September 11 Memorial Service.

“I listened to the reading of the names and all that, and I was waiting,” Blowers said. “When they got to the Pentagon list of names, there was a name that I knew very well. Patricia Mickley was her name.”

Blowers said she died when the plane crashed into the Pentagon. That’s part of the reason why he created the plans for the memorial in front of the Macomb County Courthouse. It honors local first responders who died in the line of duty.

One of those names is Ken Reygaert’s brother Patrolman Jim Reygaert.

“He was a good man. He was a really good guy. Taught me how to play baseball, just a good person. Yes, he pulled a person over to give a ticket that just ran a red light, and he didn’t know it at the time, but he just shot someone. When my brother got out the car, he shot my brother,” said Ken Reygaert.

This time of the year is tough for his family, but now the fact that many can stop by and see his name and others help eases the pain just a little. But Sept. 11 will forever be a day where the nation will come together to remember and unite, for at least for a moment.

“Everybody was together. Everybody worked together. Everybody mourned together, everything that you can possibly imagined, brought America together,” Blowers recalled. “And we still need that and we’re bringing America back together again.

Read: More Sept. 11 attacks 20 years later coverage


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