Musselwhite led a delegation from Gainesville to New York in mid-October 2001, to deliver money that had been collected by local firefighters for the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) Widows' and Children's Fund. He says he got the idea for the trip after a couple of city firemen appeared before the council to talk about the fund raiser .
"I asked them how they were going to get the money to New York," Musselwhite said Wednesday, "and one replied that he 'guessed' they would just take a couple of days off and drive up there with it."
Musselwhite told them to sit tight and he would see if he could find a better mode of transportation . He says by the end of the day, he had lined up a corporate jet for the trip. With him and four fire fighters, two each from the city and the county departments, was then-Hall County Commission Chairman Gary Gibbs.
In that conference room, Musselwhite says, 20 people were opening and reading letters of condolence. Musselwhite remembers one in particular - from a Boy Scout who had won a medal of some sort of medal as part of his Boy Scout work.
"And, he wanted one of those firemen's kids to get that medal," Musselwhite remembered. "It would pretty much knock you to your knees with tears in your eyes."
The FDNY lost 343 fire fighters in the attack on the World Trade Center.
Musselwhite says the sights, sounds and smell at Ground Zero are still vivid after five years. The odor from the still burning ruins was nearly overwhelming.
"The smell was the worst smell," he said, adding that it stayed with the group long after they got back to Gainesville. "And, I can still smell it today."
Musselwhite says he still talks about the trip - five years later, not so much about the sights, sounds, and smell. "And, I tell folks, too many people have forgotten about 9/11."
But he warns, that is a mistake.
"...it's something that is real. The devil walks amongst us, you know. It's something I'll never forget."
http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/9/104267