DETROIT — Clinton Township residents came together Wednesday to honor first responders, veterans and victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Familiar faces dotted the crowd at Resurrection Ceremony as the honor guard positioned an American flag before veteran memorial stones. The ceremony draws out many of the same Macomb County residents, veterans and first responders each year as a testimony to the township's sense of unity, residents told The Detroit News.

"It's difficult sometimes to talk about these things — and not for the reason that it's a story you can't remember," said Colonel David Spehar, a 127th Wing Deputy Commander at the Selfridge Air National Guard Base. "It's the one that you can't forget."

Communities across Michigan reflected on the historic day at other ceremonies Wednesday. Detroit police joined the Detroit Fire Department for an annual ceremony in Campus Martius, while the city of Lansing officiated a victim's memorial ceremony at Wentworth Park.

Clinton Township officials organized their first annual ceremony days after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, Supervisor Robert Cannon said. Wednesday's ceremony was intended to reflect the same reverence 23 years later, he said.

Spehar spun around his car and floored it back to the base on Interstate 94 upon hearing the news on the radio in 2001, he said.

An active duty major at the time, Spehar had just seen off another Michigan team deployed to Saudi Arabia that August, he said. Spehar was at first wracked with jealousy watching his team members leave for the field before realizing his place in Michigan would serve a purpose in September, he said.

He arrived to the Harrison Township base to find the National Guard scrambling to prepare planes, munitions and crews immediately after the news broke, Spehar said. Other guardsmen left work and poured into the base ready to help, he said.

The unwavering resolve of first responders has remained integral to keeping Michigan and the U.S. safe ever since, he said, emotionally recalling the toll the Sept. 11 attacks wielded on families of victims and first responders.

"I share this story not to showcase military hardware or Selfridge as a base," Spehar said. "It's more than that. It's those people. We could never have done what we did without all those people being ready to go."

Ronald Gnesda, a firefighter with the Clinton Township Fire Department, told the crowd he was a sophomore in high school when news of the terrorist attacks broke during the school day. Students huddled together around TVs to watch the events unfold as his school went into lockdown, he said.

The experience inspired Gnesda to follow other family members into the work of emergency services, he said.

"Seeing the bravery of the first responders, the firefighters, police officers and paramedics who ran into those burning towers ignited a sense of purpose within me," Gnesda said. "I knew that I wanted to be part of something bigger than myself, to help others in their time of need just as those heroes did that day."

Gnesda took on firefighting after graduating from the fire academy at Macomb County Community College years later. He's always remembered the responsibility first responders undertake each day ever since diving into his own service in Chesterfield township, Southfield, Mount Clemens and Clinton Township, he said.

Michigan residents and people across the country banded together in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks and forged a new era of steadfast patriotism in the U.S., he said.

"The events of 9/11 are a constant reminder of the fragility of life and unpredictability of the world we live in," Gnesda said. "But they also remind us of the power of unity, resilience and compassion."

Mary Gottler, 68, said she drove straight home to the township when news of the attacks broke at her work in 2001.

Gottler had visited the Windows of the World restaurant in the North Tower just one year prior, she said. She came home and pored over her photos from the 106th floor of the skyscraper, thinking of the people who were trapped in the same place she had once stood.

She felt called to attend the community's first Patriot Day ceremony days later.

"I've been coming ever since," she said.

Sal Ales, another longtime Clinton Township resident, said he had also attended many of the community's Patriot's Day ceremonies since 2001. Ales, 80, was drafted into the U.S. Army from his Detroit home in 1965, he said.

Ales was making deliveries for FedEx when news of the attacks broke, he said. He immediately thought of his niece and family working and living in Manhattan and Brooklyn at the time.

Ales comes to the ceremony each year out of gratitude for their safety and his own through his service in the Vietnam War, he said.

Clinton Township has distinguished itself as a community for honoring Patriot's Day at the ceremony each year, Cannon said. Despite plans to retire from his role with the township in November, Cannon said he hopes to never miss attending.

"Terrorism wasn't born on Sept. 11, 2001," he said. "It just reared its ugly head, reminding us how dependent we are on each other and those sworn to protect us on a daily basis."

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