Blythe now serves as a volunteer firefighter and has made the annual climb a personal tribute to the 9/11 firefighters and other emergency responders who lost their lives in the attacks.
Twenty-five years after the September 11, 2001 Islamic terrorist attacks in the United States, a 26-year-old Iowa volunteer firefighter, Taylor Blythe, has continued to honour the firefighters who died while trying to save lives at the World Trade Center in New York.
Blythe was only one year old when the attacks occurred, but he says learning about the sacrifice made by firefighters that day later shaped his understanding of the tragedy and inspired his decision to join the fire service.
“A lot of us were just kids when it happened. We didn't really realize the impact it would have on us until we got older,” Blythe said, according to live coverage of the 25th anniversary commemoration in New York broadcast by the BBC.
Growing up in Iowa, Blythe said he developed a strong interest in firefighting and became particularly moved by the stories of firefighters who entered the burning World Trade Center towers despite knowing they might not survive.
