Minnesota Public Safety leader reflects on working at ground zero at age 21

Minnesotans gathered Wednesday to honor the innocent lives lost on 9/11 and the emergency personnel who ran toward danger. For Minnesota Department of Public Safety Assistant Commissioner John Cunningham, the memories of that day remain as vivid.

“Twenty-five years goes by fast, but it just seems like yesterday,” Cunningham said. “These anniversaries are tough. It brings back a lot of memories, a lot of difficult memories, but it also empowers me why I got into public service.”

Cunningham was a 21‑year‑old college student at Fairfield University in Connecticut when he first heard about the attacks.

“There was no social media, so I remember hearing about it as I was walking the class. But I happened to be at a computer lab for one of my business management classes, so I was able to pull up some information online and get a kind of a real play-by-play of what was happening.&r...