 Hi, I'm Matt Sainsing, Assistant National Communications Director for DAV, and I'm here with Rick Albrecht, a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel and DAV life member out in South Dakota. He answered the nation's call around September 11th, 2001, and volunteered with the Red Cross in New York City just months after 9-11. Rick, thank you very much for being with me today. Thank you, Matt. Glad to be here. Walk me through what your day was like on 9-11. Where were you that day? What do you remember? I was actually doing some substitute teaching, and I had stayed up late the night before, so I actually slept in, and when I turned the news on, that's when I saw the first tower that was ablaze, and I just couldn't believe what was going on. I was just glued to the TV, I had been involved with some terrorist things, monitoring terrorist activity and that kind of stuff in the military and the intelligence field. When the tower was, I saw it burning, I'm like, how long is it going to be before this thing collapsed? I know that was always a question that everybody's finding, whether or not it's going to collapse now, but in my mind, I thought it was going to, and I was hoping and praying that people were being evacuated at the time. And then continuing to watch, and then as the second tower got hit, it was like, you know, it's like, how much worse can it get? Well, I can get a lot, I got a lot more worse with the plane hitting the Pentagon as well as the flight 93 United that crashed in Pennsylvania for sure. Now, when did you travel to New York City? I think this was in December, correct? Correct. I was a substitute teacher at the time, and I recognized that there would be a lot of people who would initially volunteer to go out there. But I also knew that this was going to be a long term thing and that there would be several iterations of volunteers who were going to be needed. And so I waited until December when I would have a Christmas break from substitute teaching. I figured that a lot of people wouldn't want to give up their holidays. I was a single guy, so I said, you know, I can actually do this and make a difference over the holidays. What motivated you to travel all the way from South Dakota to New York City? And how long were you there? This was a three week deployment, normally for the national response team for the Red Cross, you're out for three weeks. And that's what this one was as well. As far as motivation, it was just a call to serve. I think that's the reason I joined the military to start with that. But I was 17 as well. We had no money in the family for for scholarships or college or anything like that. And I'd always been impacted by Kennedy's inaugural speech. Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country that just has always stuck with me. Interesting, you say that. I'm actually wearing John of Kennedy's socks right now. I won't show the camera, but definitely for sure. Yeah, you said you volunteered with the American Red Cross, Parvus National Disaster Response Team, and you worked out of a family assistance center at Pier 94 right in Manhattan. What did you do and what was your purpose? Here, 94 was the largest center there in New York City. I believe there were a dozen centers. And what I did was I met with families who either lost their jobs or lost their homes and we would write checks for vouchers for groceries, rent and utilities to make sure that people could stand on their feet. Initially, there was such an overwhelming response that the vouchers were only for a 30 day period. And when I got there, that was extended to 90 days to make it easier for the families that they'd always have to come back and go through the paperwork to get financial assistance. The local Red Cross dealt with the families who lost loved ones. And then there were also the emergency response vehicles that stood out the sides or in the back. They were there down at Ground Zero to provide refreshments and food for all of the people there doing the recovery and the search operations. And then you also had mental health workers there to deal with the families as well. For sure. Did you yourself ever go to Ground Zero and see the wreckage? Ground Zero itself was wardened off. That was protected by National Guard and local authorities. So you couldn't get close. And then you also end up with a sense of respect for the search operations that were going on, respect for the families. There was a memorial that people built right next to Ground Zero that family members were able to go to where they had cards and letters to loved ones that were still that had not been recovered. Absolutely. What was the energy like in New York City in the weeks and months after this terrorist attack? One of the major things I noticed I've been to New York City before was that the city was almost eerily quiet. Didn't have the honking of the horns or anything. Not a lot of the congestion on the subways. Everybody was very silent, very reserved. It was kind of a haunting feeling. Whenever I would take the subways to go down to work, I would always introduce myself as who I was. I recall when I'm with the Red Cross, I'm here to help. And that automatically opened up the doors that got people talking. You know, thanks for being here. They were just absolutely dumb. You know, it was it was sad. It was very it was a very solid time. Absolutely. And in New York, definitely, as the nickname is the city that doesn't sleep, right? And so it definitely had a character for there to be no honking or yelling or any of the sight, sights and sounds of the bright lights of the city. You're a substitute teacher. You were a substitute teacher on 9 11. Tell me a little bit about this from our hearts to yours gifts that you received from students at elementary school in Tucson, Arizona. Our hearts to yours. There was a teacher in that car here that even says what it is that Rebecca Carlton was an art teacher there in Tucson, Arizona. And it was her second grade class that came up with these hearts. They're hearts that were red, white and blue striped. It was like a ceramic material with lacquer over the top. It was made into a Christmas ornament. And on the back, the kids had written from our heart to yours. Manzanita school, Tucson, Arizona, love and then their name. And I brought back all of those ornaments. I gave someone to be a director of Red Cross at that time. I got two that I still hang on like Christmas tree. And there was one that I was able to get into the hands of Rudy Giuliani when he came to Sioux Falls for a visit back in I believe was 2006. Wow. And at the time, of course, he was the mayor of New York City. And what did it mean to see students willing to help as a substitute teacher? It was very, very hard warming. I didn't deal with elementary school kids when I was a substitute teacher, but these were the ones that that I was most touched by. They had groups of kids dressed up as angels that came and sang to us one day. All kinds of artwork that was sent in Christmas ornaments of all shapes and sizes, colors and everything were all sent into us. They were sent into the families. There were truckloads after truckload after truckload of gloves and hats and scarves and everything to give to the families. But there was no place to put any of this. So they asked volunteers, please take some of this with you. And I was doing that. I said, I need to reach out to those who sent this stuff in to let them know that it got here and that made a difference. And you went back to South Dakota just in January in 2002. So you were just there for about a month, right? What did you take from New York City back to South Dakota? What did you take away from this experience? You know, there was a lot of solemnness, a lot of at the time, a lot of revenge, a lot of anger, a lot of frustration, anxiety. What I brought back is that even even one person can make a difference. It doesn't matter what your age, what you're doing. Like the kids sending in letters, cards, family sending in things, well wishes, letters, whatever. Anybody can make a difference. And I mean, I just made a very small difference. There were thousands of bread cross volunteers that came. Other organizations were there as well. Government agencies, churches, boyards, small business associations, Department of Logistics, Salvation Army, everybody was there helping. And it was just that sense of unity that everybody came together to help for a common cause. It was great to see America come together like that. Absolutely. I think unity in the in the weeks, days and months after 9-11 was absolutely something that we all, those of us who were there to bear witness that remember and carry with us. Lastly, thank you for being with me. But the last question is, what do you want other Americans to know about 9-11 and maybe your volunteer work there? Anybody can be a volunteer. Even the most insignificant thing is important to someone. You're going to touch somebody's heart regardless. So please reach out and try and touch somebody if you have another disaster like this. You don't need to do it at a national level. You can do it at a community level as well. There's thousands of opportunities wherever you live to reach out and to help everybody else. Absolutely. And it just takes one person to make a difference as you did just after 9-11. Rick, thank you very much for being with me today. I'll give you the last word if you want to say anything else. Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad. That's great. Well, Rick, again, thanks for being with me and we'll be in touch. Thank you very much, Matt. Thanks.