Alone With The Gods

It takes a special type of person to be a first responder - to rush headlong into danger, to put one's life into peril, and to be willing to sacrifice one's self so that people you may have never met before and may never meet again do not have to sacrifice themelves.

Kenneth F. Tietjen was a special type of person.   At thirty-one, he was a nine-year veteran of the Port Authority Police Department.  His assignment was the 33rd Street PATH Station.  On September 11, 2001, Officer Tietjen was manning his post when he learned the World Trade Center had been attacked.  He commandeered a taxi - hopping behind the wheel after directing the driver to get into the back seat - and headed downtown.  

When he arrived on site, he immediately got to work helping evacuate the injured from the North Tower.  At some point, he found himself in need of a new respirator, and learned that only one remained.  He looked at his partner, who was his junior officer, and smiled while saying, "Seniority rules", before taking the respirator and running into the South Tower to help those in need. 

Officer Tietjen was inside the South Tower when it collapsed. 

He grew up in the Belford section of Middletown Township and joined the Belford Volunteer Engine Company when he turned eighteen.  He would join the Port Authority Police Department four years later.  As a child, he had been afraid of fire trucks and police cars.  To the surprise of no one who knew him, he not only overcame that fear, he converted it into a love.  

More than that, he converted it into a way for him to help others.  It was something he loved to do.  It was something he did exquisitely well. 

-AK