CONWAY, Ark. — It's been 20 years, but Mike Winter, chief of the Conway Fire Department, still remembers it like it was yesterday.
"I don't even remember who called me. Asked if I was watching TV: that the World Trade Center had been hit," Winter said. "I can remember the first tower falling."
The events of 9/11 still stand out to him after all these years.
"Being in the fire service I think that went through every firefighters mind, just, 'my God,'" he said.
The City of Conway has never forgotten either – 10 years ago, the fire department made sure of that.
"Behind me, we applied and received a piece of steel, from Ground Zero, back in 2011," Winter said.
Outside the station is a memorial, and a reminder of the almost 3,000 lives that were lost two decades ago. Plaques circle the monument, with a personal reminder underneath.
"It's a personal promise that many people made," he said. "But to me, it's that there were 343 firefighters that perished that day."
343 bricks make up the bottom of the circular memorial – one for each firefighter lost.
A decade outside left the memorial in rough shape, so in honor of 20 years the Conway Fire Department gave the memorial new life by cleaning it up and replacing plaques.
"I think that's part of our duty to never forget, to make sure this thing stays pristine," Winter said. "This hopefully will outlast all of us and people that stop by on the sidewalk, they stop and they look and they read the plaques. It takes them back or educates them, just to keep that memory alive."
And as we approach the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Winter said there's a message to take away from this – Never forget, and always remember.
"I have firefighters now that were 2, 3 years old. They didn't live those events, they don't remember those events, but yet having this memorial here and the commitment we made that we will never forget," he said. "They will be indoctrinated with 'Never Forget.'"