Twenty-five years later, the grief of Sept. 11 remains with Salvation Army responder Ken Tregellas, and so does his conviction that his experience was worth the sacrifice.

“My kids had asked me over the years, ‘Dad, knowing you’d get cancer, would you still have served?’ And I told them, ‘I wouldn’t have changed a thing. It was an honor,’” he said.

During this year’s anniversary, Tregellas is looking back on the decision that took him from his family in Wisconsin to Ground Zero, where he spent months caring for people searching for answers about their loved ones.

It started as a typical Tuesday morning. Tregellas was getting his twins ready for school when he saw the North Tower had been struck. Like millions of Americans, he was confused. It wasn’t until United Flight 175 struck the second tower that he knew America was under attack.

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Within a few hours, his phone rang, a call that would change the course of his life.

Tregellas previously operated The Salvation Army’s emergency assistance programs in underserved communities. So when he was asked to be the Red Zone coordinator at Ground Zero, he knew he needed to deploy.

When flights opened back up, Tregellas flew from Wisconsin to New York City. Only four other passengers were on board.

“I’d never been to New York in my life, so I really didn’t have, other than pictures and movies, I didn’t have anything to compare it to,” he said.

Tregellas could not have known that his first glimpse of New York would come under such unimaginable circumstances.

Walking into the Red Zone in Lower Manhattan, he encountered a scene unlike anything he had ever witnessed. Smoke continued to rise from the twisted shards of metal, while the remains of the World Trade Center smoldered in a massive pile.

“I was still pretty shocked that there was still fire burning,” Tregellas said. “I mean, the piles where the two main towers were, were still burning every time they were picking up debris.”

As the Red Zone coordinator, Tregellas was responsible for overseeing all of The Salvation Army’s efforts on the ground.

“Our job was really to take care of the people that were looking for bodies at that point,” Tregellas said. “It was more of a recovery effort.”

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