The first recorded casualty of 9/11 was a 68-year-old Catholic priest named Mychal Judge, a longtime chaplain for the New York City Fire Department.
Judge rushed to the World Trade Center on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, after learning of the terrorist attacks and followed firefighters into the North Tower to offer prayers and aid. He died when the South Tower collapsed and sent debris flying into the North Tower lobby.
One of the most well-known images of 9/11 is a photograph that shows five first responders carrying Judge’s body from the wreckage.
Eighteen years after Judge’s death, Santa Fe County firefighter Michael Judge walked up 110 flights of stairs in the second-tallest building in Denver at that city’s annual 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb — honoring the man with whom he shares a name.
Judge was one of 24 Santa Fe firefighters to participate in an event that is limited to 343 firefighters. The number represents the total of New York City Fire Department firefighters who died on 9/11. Each participant wears a badge representing a fallen firefighter.