When the Twin Towers fell in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, itwasn’t just Americans that were affected on a very personallevel.

“You hurt one of us, you hurt us all,” said Queensland,Australia firefighter Rob Frey. “This is the ultimate way for us topay our respects and honor the people, especially the otherfirefighters, that were killed on 9/11.”

Frey made those comments Saturday morning as he sat in a quickattack rescue truck out of Montana. But he was sitting on the sideof Highway 51 just outside of Wesson.

Frey is one of 16 Australian firefighters that have joinedforces with 16 American firefighters, police and paramedics to runcross-country to New York City by Sept. 11 to commemorate the liveslost on that fateful day in 2001.

The 4,620-mile run, which has brought them through Dallas andNew Orleans and will take them through Chicago before they gotoward Pennsylvania and New York, began Aug. 12 at Santa MonicaPier in Los Angeles.

“We didn’t really pick a specific path, but we didn’t want tomake it easy,” said Melbourne, Australia, firefighter PaulPfeiffer. “We didn’t want a straight shot.”

Daily at 8:46 a.m., the time the attacks on the World TradeCenter began, the runners have paused to hold a brief dedicationceremony to honor the people lost in the Twin Towers tragedy. Twofirefighters each morning read out eight names each of emergencyworkers who were killed. They said every mile is dedicated to oneof the 2,976 civilians killed as well.

As such, the men run around the clock. They run in shifts oftwo, for six hours, constantly moving toward their goal.

Pfeiffer is a Maryland native. He said when the towers werefalling on 9/11, it was the hardest thing he’s ever done to bestuck overseas watching the devastation in his homeland.

“It was hard to be that far from home,” he said.

And it was hard for others to watch as well, Frey said.

“Australians and Americans have always gotten along so wellanyway,” he said. “And a firefighter is a firefighter. We’re allthe same, and we’re all brothers.”

Pfeiffer described how he and fellow firefighter Paul Ritchiecombined ideas to put together the commemorative run for the 343firefighters and others lost in the 9/11 attacks. He explained thatthere are commemorative runs through some of the great battlefieldsof World War I and World War II, and that Ritchie had an idea.

“We were talking a few years ago about putting together a runfor 9/11,” he said. “It took us 10 years, but here we are.”

As the trek has made its way across the country, the men saidthey have passed many fire stations. In an ideal world, they wouldhave loved to have stopped.

“The biggest difficulty is letting the stations ahead of us knowwe’re coming,” Pfeiffer said. “We try to call ahead, and we justhope the stations let the next ones know.”

Seeing the country, with its charming cities and small towns,has just emphasized more to the runners what it is they’re runningfor, Pfeiffer said.

“We just want people to remember what it felt like after theattacks. America united – we became a small community just likeyours,” he said. “This run is from L.A. to New York, and it’s tohonor the concept of never forgetting Sept. 11.”

Interested fans can follow the run at their website,www.tourofduty.com.au, where the profiles of the runners and a mapof their route are available, including other information on themovement and its history.

“We also see the run as an opportunity to acknowledge emergencyservices globally. Every day on every continent people are givingof their lives, risking their lives so our world can be a saferplace,” the website reads. “The military, police, fire and medicalservices represent just some of the people that give of themselves,so others may live a better life, their service can never beunderestimated.”

Pfeiffer said the group plans to finish their run at the site ofthe World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2010.