Chairman Woody Johnson and Vice Chairman Christopher Johnson led a Jets’ contingent that traveled to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan days before the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2011 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

In addition to the Johnson brothers, the Jets group included five players — QB Geno Smith, LB Demario Davis, S Minkah Fitzpatrick, DT Harrison Phillips and P Austin McNamara. The team’s former quarterback and Long Island native Vinny Testaverde was also in attendance.

Amazing Stories from Surviving Families
“My wife and I have come here a couple times just in our years in New York, and it’s really heavy,” Phillips, 30, said.

“My generation, we’re in our 30s, so we were young when it happened, but our parents were super invested,” Phillips added. “I think there was a whole other form of patriotism that was built in. You try to find positives out of negatives. Obviously, it’s a huge tragedy.”Cliff Chanin, the executive vice president & director of the museum, led the Jets on a tour that began with a look at the Memorial Pools – the names of 2,983 people who were killed in the 2001 and 1993 terrorist attacks are inscribed on bronze parapets edging the pools – and culminated with some time in an exhibit that examines the enduring impact of service inspired by the attacks.

“Hearing some of the stories from some of these surviving families and the amazing, incredible people that they’ve become, and the service that they’ve put in — and firefighters and police officers — and serving our country,” Phillips said. “I feel like that’s kind of what America is. We’re going to build back up, and hopefully, any adversity brings us together more, and we become a stronger nation for it.”

Following in Dad’s Footsteps
That tragic day had a profound impact on millions of people throughout the world although the Museum said 100 million Americans are too young to remember 9/11. That makes the personal testimony and experience of people like FDNY lieutenant James Dowdell more poignant and impactful.

Dowdell’s father, FDNY Lieutenant Kevin Dowdell and some of his fellow firefighters stationed in Queens were called into action. He and nine members of his crew were killed when the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m. James Dowdell now serves on the 9/11 Memorial & Museum Visionary Network Leadership Council joined and spoke to the Jets’ contingent.

“My father, he was working out in Queens, when the North Tower was hit [at 8:46 a.m.],” Dowdell said. “They were sent to the initial plane crash. By the time he got there from Queens, the South Tower was hit [at 9:03 a.m.]. They were sent to the South Tower, but they had to park down by Pace University and make their way through the streets to the West Side Highway to the command post and get their orders to head up. And that’s what they did.

“By the time they started heading up, we don’t imagine they were up super high just because of rough timelines, but they were sent up to help as many people as they could, and then the building collapsed [at 9:59 a.m.], and they were all killed. There were nine guys from his company working on September 11th, and all nine were killed.”