He’s a ubiquitous presence on the Notre Dame campus, whether it’s on official duty as captain and commander of the Pontiac substation of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office or as coach for a number of Fighting Irish teams over the past nine or 10 years. But what many in the Notre Dame community may not know is that Tim Atkins, a.k.a. Captain Tim. C. Atkins, was one of the earliest emergency responders in New York City after the World Trade Center was attacked by terrorists on September 11, 2001.
As a tribute to Atkins and to the 24 other Oakland County law enforcement officers who responded to the crisis in New York 14 years ago, a special “9/11 Memorial” was dedicated on Friday, September 11, 2015, at the Sheriff’s main office on Telegraph Road in Pontiac.
On a plaque that was installed as part of the memorial, an inscription reads in part, “This memorial to September 11, 2001, pays tribute and recognition to the Oakland County Law Enforcement Officers who answered the call.”
‘Beyond belief’
On the morning of September 11, 2001, as the nation and world watched in horror as the U.S. was attacked by terrorists, 25 deputy sheriffs and police officers from four agencies in Oakland County were already formulating a plan to get to the World Trade Center site in New York City to help out as quickly as possible.
In photo above, Atkins is at the site of the World Trade Center in New York City shortly after the terrorist attack in 2001.
“Shortly after the events of 9/11, [Oakland County] Sheriff Bouchard contacted officials from New York and the White House and offered our assistance,” Atkins recalled. “So the Sheriff’s Office assembled a team of volunteers to go to New York to help and I was one of the volunteers chosen to go. We left around 6 p.m. on the evening of September 11 and drove all night to New Jersey where we received our assignments.”
Atkins and the team from Oakland County spent seven days at the WTC site doing a whole host of things, including assisting the FBI with recovering evidence, searching for airplane parts, helping on the bucket brigades and searching adjacent buildings and roof tops for more evidence.
“When we first got to New York we met with the governor of New Jersey and the director of the New Jersey State Police,” he said. “The director took us over to Ground Zero via their state police boat to show us what we were in for. I remember walking into the site and thinking ‘Oh my gosh! It was beyond belief and so surreal.’”
Patriotism from citizens of New York and New Jersey
Atkins, who is the husband of NDPMA lower division principal Diana Atkins, said he has many memories from that weeklong trip. He recalled that when he and his team left to come home, he remembers having a very strong feeling that there was much left unfinished.
“There was still a lot of work that needed to be done, and we all wanted to stay to help,” he said.
But despite the horror he had witnessed during that week, Atkins said he still managed to come home with a few positive memories.
“The most heartwarming thing I recall was all of the patriotism the citizens of New York and New Jersey showed us and all the other responders from across the country,” he said. “People were lined up along the roads cheering and waving the American flag when we drove to and from the disaster site, and each night when we returned from working at Ground Zero, patrons of our hotel and restaurants would stand up and cheer and come over to thank us.”
The 9/11 Memorial site on Telegraph Road in Pontiac also includes the Fallen Heroes Memorial, which is dedicated to police and firefighters in Oakland County who have died in service over the past many years. Currently, there are more than 810 names etched on the memorial.
Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org.
Follow us on Twitter @NDPMA
About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.