DeKalb County

DeKalb County firefighter remembers childhood friend killed on 9/11

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A DeKalb County fire captain said 9/11 will always bring back memories of his childhood friend.

Channel 2′s Berndt Petersen talked to Captain David Poole, whose friend was a firefighter too and died at Ground Zero.

Poole said that on that day 20 years ago, his phone was ringing off the hook.

“My uncle, who had recently retired, started enumerating what units were going,” Poole said. “And one of my close friends I grew up with was down there.”

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Poole said he thinks about his friend, who he didn’t identify, every year.

In front of DeKalb County’s public safety complex in Tucker there is a memorial to 9/11, and also to America’s resolve and sense of national unity following the attacks.

“For that moment in time, post 9/11, it wasn’t about Republicans or Democrats, Black folk or white folk, or any race or creed,” DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond said. “It was about all Americans coming together. We were one America.”

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The monument was installed ten years ago, but many people don’t know it is there.

Capt. Poole hopes from now on they will stop at the memorial and remember.

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“It would be nice if everyone had an opportunity to see these monuments and see what it means to different people like myself,” Poole said. “But all we can do is our best to try to educate and let these individuals know they’re not forgotten, and their family members are not forgotten.”