Bayside EMT is remembered

On that fateful September day 10 years ago, Michele Miller knew her brother would be running into the Towers.
Mitchel Scott Wallace, 34, was an EMT, a New York State Court Officer and a member of the Bayside Volunteer Ambulance Corp – but more than that, he was a hero.
“Saving people was always his first passion,” said Miller.
On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, Wallace was on his way to work when he noticed the thousands of people fleeing. But instead of running away from the scene, he ran right into it.
“When we knew he was there it wasn’t a shock,” said Miller. “It was the natural thing for him to do.”
“He brought a lot of people out,” Miller continued.
And, amidst the chaos, a photographer captured a moment in time – Wallace tending to a bloody, soot-covered, shocked woman.
It was the last photo of him alive.
“He went back in and the Tower came down,” said Miller. “They never found his body.”
Miller described the days and weeks following the attack – how her family, like the thousands of others, held out hope.
“We looked through missing persons at the hospitals; no one knew if there were survivors,” she said. “For a short period of time we were still hopeful people got out.”
But after a few weeks, Miller and her husband came to face the grim reality – that Wallace was one of three court officers, one of thousands, to perish in the attacks of 9/11.
“Brian and I came to the realization sooner than my parents did. It’s not supposed to be that parents say goodbye to a child.”
“The piece of the puzzle that is missing is finding him,” said mom Rita, who in the weeks, months and years following her son’s death was able to get back his duffel bag; his hat, which went to his nephew, Logan; his gun, shield and badge (the number has since been retired); and a ring, which she proudly displays in her home.
Miller was then faced with the task of explaining to her seven and three-year-old children that their uncle – a bigger-than-life hero in their eyes – was never coming back.
“They were really close with him.
“The hardest thing is the empty place at the table, especially on holidays,” she continued. “Nobody is the same. He was just going to work that day.”
A month after the tragedy, there was a memorial service at the courts, a tradition that continues today.
“Every year we go down for their service,” said Miller, who misses her brother’s sense of humor most. “Time helps but you never forget, you don’t want to forget. It’s a public anniversary and you share it with the world.”
This can be a double-edged sword, though, she said.
“This week, every time you turn the TV on you see it. You can never grieve privately. Sometimes you just want to turn on the TV and never see the Towers again.”
But Miller worries that time will fade the national consciousness of 9/11.
“I know they have begun teaching it in schools,” she said. “But as time passes it will lose its impact – just not for those directly affected.”