Former Detroit minister, medic recalls 9/11 rescue efforts after volunteering to help at Ground Zero

FOX 2 (WJBK) - From New York to Pennsylvania and Washington D.C., the nation paused on this 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that killed close to 3,000 people.

Stephen Singleton - a former medic and a minister in Detroit - remembers gathering at a local church with multiple ministers to pray.

"After everybody had prayed - he started saying the Lord's Prayer - and he said it with a whisper - he said it with a shout - he said it with a sing - and then he said it with so much passion that it brought me to tears and I knew that I had to go," Singleton said.

Singleton says his friend at Hertz gave him a rental van - Home Depot and K-Mart donated supplies - and he started driving to New York - where he says he was put to work  - helping the injured.

"I wanted to save somebody - bottom line," he said.

But - he says - at Ground Zero - there was total destruction - as they used search and rescue dogs to look for the living.

"We did that on a continuous basis, a daily basis, trying to find survivors," he said.

FOX 2: "Did you find survivors?"

"Unfortunately I did not, and therefore I was very disturbed and disheartened," Singleton said. "I had come there to, I was on a mission from God to save someone."

But Singleton says, he would end up helping in other ways - at the Family Assistance Center.

"That was the hardest thing that I ever did in my entire life," he said. "I didn't realize that that's what was going to happen - so I started to weep."

Singleton was not alone - so many were so distraught - like George whom Singleton met and counseled, and is still friends with today. George told him about a firefighter who rushed up into the second tower as he and so many others fled down the stairs.

"He tapped him on the shoulder and he said I'm going to be alright - go - and the fireman went up," Singleton said. "And then when the fireman went up - the building collapsed."

Singleton says George was disturbed over the death of another young man he was trying to help - and felt so much guilt - for surviving.

"I explained to him - I said - listen - God has something for you - this young man has gone home," he said. "But God has something for you - and you know what he does today? He's a guide at the 9/11 site and he's explaining to the people that come in there as to what happened."

Finding purpose and a calling out of hatred and tragedy - and, says Singleton, a lesson for all.

"The lesson is love - God loves us - and we gotta love everybody else," he said.

Stephen Singleton