Annual 9/11 ceremony held at Michigan Fallen Heroes Memorial in Pontiac

PONTIAC, Mich. (FOX 2) - The Michigan Fallen Heroes Memorial was held September 11 in Pontiac, dedicated to police officers and firefighters throughout the State of Michigan who have lost their lives in the line of duty. 

This event honors the memory of these heroes and pays tribute to the police and fire communities. Many survivors of those who have died were also in attendance.

Among the crowd was Monroe Township fire captain David Nadeau and Chief Mark Cherney. They came to remember their friend and fellow firefighter Joseph Liedel who died at the end of August. 

"He was a very caring person. He would do anything for you, help in any way he could he was one heck of a firefighter for me," said Cherney. 

"He had a massive brain bleed while responding to someone else who needed help and our fire department responded to him," Nadeau said.

Nadeau and Liedel, a 28-year veteran of the department, shared countless memories. One that stands out is volunteering together to go to New York where they helped respond to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. 

"It's something you never forget. We all knew what we were going to, we knew we were going to see death on an unimaginable scale that you could not imagine," Nadeau said.

For Nadeau, this September 11 is more emotional than most because its the first one without his dear friend. 

"Every year some of our guys that went, we text each other and I couldn't text him today. It was tough." 

Now as Nadeau looked at Liedel's name freshly etched on the memorial, he's asking us all to remember something this 9/11.

"This country has to come together, gotta stop the fighting. Stop tearing us apart. Start being one like we were on 9/11."