Changed By 9/11: Ground Zero Volunteer Looks Beyond Twin Towers

Vin Ricciardi, a personal trainer in Southold since 2003, worked with the Air National Guard’s 106^th Civil Engineering Squadron to secure the perimeter of Ground Zero for two weeks, starting on Sept. 12, 2001, after the

And though almost 10 years have passed, Ricciardi says he still can’t watch TV coverage of 9/11 without tears in his eyes.

“I’d never been to a warzone before — and that’s what it was,” he said of Lower Manhattan during that time. “Everything blown out everywhere, fire and police vehicles crushed to the ground, everyone walking around dazed and confused — it was a very eerie scene to walk into.”

While other members of the military searched for survivors, removed body parts and collected DNA samples to identify remains from the rubble, Ricciardi also worked security detail around the Brooklyn Bridge and other New York City landmarks that might possibly be targeted by terrorists.

He said he remembers the kindness — and desperation — in people during those two weeks.

“Some would bring me coffee and sit and talk with me,” he said. “And I still remember the faces of people approaching me and asking if I’ve seen their sister or mother.”

Ricciardi, a native of Yonkers and a North Fork resident since 1998, said that 10 years “kind of smoothes out the edges” emotionally-speaking for him and his memories of 9/11. But his greatest fear is that as more time passes since the national tragedy, people will associate 9/11 only with the World Trade Center and forget about the attack on the Pentagon and the crash of Flight 93 that same day.

“I hope we don’t forget the Pentagon and Flight 93,” he said. “We don’t have a clue as to what those people went through on that flight."

Related: