PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — A lieutenant with Palm Beach County Fire Rescue says the 9/11 terrorist attacks transformed a childhood memory of firefighters into a lifelong commitment to public service.
Miguel Johnson, who is from Queens, New York, said he was a 19-year-old student in Orlando when an instructor stepped out of his EMT class and returned with stunning news.
Johnson recalled the instructor saying, "We're under attack."
He and his classmates were dismissed, and he walked to a common area where monitors on the walls showed live coverage. People were gathered around the screens, crying and "awestruck."
"I then knew what he meant by 'we're under attack,'" Johnson said. "Being from New York… I really felt a personal duty. I really was inspired by the sacrifices I was made, and I just felt like I needed to do something."
At the time, Johnson said he was deciding between going into medicine and joining the military like many in his family. He had returned to Florida from California to attend EMT school "just to learn basic life support."
Watching the attacks and the response on television changed that path.
"At 19, you changed the trajectory of your life," WPTV reporter Kayla McDermott said.
"Yes," Johnson replied.
He said his sister, who joined the Air Force, told him that "serving abroad or serving at home is the same thing."
Johnson decided to stay and serve in his own community rather than enter the military.
"That was my experience and what really changed my passion into this career," he said.
Johnson said the 25th anniversary of the attacks is approaching, and he hopes to visit the New York memorials for the first time.
Early Memory of Firefighters
Johnson said 9/11 was not the first time firefighters had left a mark on him.
As a 4-year-old living in Queens, he said he remembered being evacuated during a house fire.
"I remember them evacuating us through the stairwells," he said.
Firefighters in full gear passed him going up the stairs as he went down. The noise, commotion and flashing lights stayed with him.
"At that age, it's impressionable, but you don't really know what's going on," he said. "I didn't know anything about the career. I was just like every other young kid. Oh my gosh, I want to get to be a cop or a firefighter."
He said it wasn't until he was a young adult, back in school and watching 9/11 unfold, that he fully understood "the importance of what the job does and what it entailed."
Later, during his paramedic training at the same school, Johnson said another instructor — a retired Air Force member who also worked for a local department — helped him understand that the profession is "really a life of service."
"He inspired me. He coached and mentored me," Johnson said. "That is what he has solidified it at that moment."
'One Big Family' and a Nation United
Johnson described the days after the attacks as a time of rare unity.
"What I saw, which was quite impressionable, was the selflessness," he said. "The way the country came together, the way of hundreds of firefighters that came together, and even the aftermath, the thousands of people who responded."
He said the response "brought this country to the level of unification and togetherness" that is "really hard to explain for those who weren't there."
"To be a part of that, knowing that you are that we're the fabric of this country, I felt like it was an honor to do that," he said.
Looking back nearly 25 years after choosing fire rescue, Johnson said he believes he made the right choice.
"For me… it's an honor. It's not about me. It's about the thousands of men and women, hundreds of thousands around this world, that do what we do every day," he said. "It's an honor and a privilege to have the opportunity and even the courage to answer that call."
He said a key lesson from that time is that "we're all one big family."
"At the end of the day, this is our country. We're all family, and when times get tough, whether it's tornadoes or hurricanes or any other disaster, we all come together and we help each other," Johnson said.
"The commonality of us all is that we're all human. We all hurt. We all have sadness. We all have lost things," he said, adding that the attacks "brought us all down to the same common denominator to realize that we're all vulnerable."
Honoring the Fallen — and Their Families
Johnson, sitting at the 9/11 memorial in Wellington that includes steel from the World Trade Center, said seeing the names and artifacts "really kind of sends chills down your spine."
"Knowing behind every name is a story. Behind every name, a son, a daughter, a brother, a husband, a wife. That's not coming home," he said. "It just shows that it's so much bigger than us."
Johnson said he has also visited the firefighter memorial in Colorado honoring line-of-duty deaths, including the 343 firefighters killed on 9/11.
"Again, we're one big family. It's an extension of your family," he said. "When we all suit up together, how we're all just one big thread."
Johnson is a member of his department's honor guard, which he described as "the color guard basically that marches with the flag and shows reverence for fallen firefighter funerals, events, things like that."
He said taking part in memorial events, including 9/11 ceremonies, is "an honor."
"To give honor to the fallen as well as their families… for their sacrifice," he said.
He added that it is often families who carry the unseen burdens of the job — missed birthdays, long shifts and the work that continues at home.
"Remember, it's not necessarily us that goes and serves; it's the family members that we leave behind," he said.
Johnson said he plans to be on honor guard duty again at an upcoming Friday remembrance event.
"We have to remember, lest we forget," he said. "We remember the good, but we also remember the tough times. But it's how we have been, how we've persevered out of this, and how we've grown."
Message to a New Generation
Knowing many children in school today were not alive when 9/11 happened, he hopes they understand that stepping up to serve does not require a national disaster.
"It doesn't take a tragedy for you to step up and to do whatever it is in your community, whether it's volunteering, whether it's helping someone," he said.
He urged people to "remember your why."
"It's something that is an internal, innate spark that occurs when you're doing the right thing. You know it. You feel it. It's nothing that anyone has to explain," Johnson said. "Stay true to that. Stay continuing to do the right thing, whether anyone's looking or not."
"When you do that, it feels good to you. It's rewarding, and it inspires others," he said. "That's the spark. That's the hope that we have."
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