Chairman Woody Johnson and Vice Chairman Christopher Johnson led a Jets' contingent that traveled to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan days before the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2011 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

In addition to the Johnson brothers, the Jets group included five players -- QB Geno Smith, LB Demario Davis, S Minkah Fitzpatrick, DT Harrison Phillips and P Austin McNamara. The team's former quarterback and Long Island native Vinny Testaverde was also in attendance.

Amazing Stories from Surviving Families
"My wife and I have come here a couple times just in our years in New York, and it's really heavy," Phillips, 30, said.

"My generation, we're in our 30s, so we were young when it happened, but our parents were super invested," Phillips added. "I think there was a whole other form of patriotism that was built in. You try to find positives out of negatives. Obviously, it's a huge tragedy."Cliff Chanin, the executive vice president & director of the museum, led the Jets on a tour that began with a look at the Memorial Pools – the names of 2,983 people who were killed in the 2001 and 1993 terrorist attacks are inscribed on bronze parapets edging the pools – and culminated with some time in an exhibit that examines the enduring impact of service inspired by the attacks.

"Hearing some of the stories from some of these surviving families and the amazing, incredible people that they've become, and the service that they've put in -- and firefighters and police officers -- and serving our country," Phillips said. "I feel like that's kind of what America is. We're going to build back up, and hopefully, any adversity brings us together more, and we become a stronger nation for it."

Following in Dad's Footsteps
That tragic day had a profound impact on millions of people throughout the world although the Museum said 100 million Americans are too young to remember 9/11. That makes the personal testimony and experience of people like FDNY lieutenant James Dowdell more poignant and impactful.

Dowdell's father, FDNY Lieutenant Kevin Dowdell and some of his fellow firefighters stationed in Queens were called into action. He and nine members of his crew were killed when the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m. James Dowdell now serves on the 9/11 Memorial & Museum Visionary Network Leadership Council joined and spoke to the Jets' contingent.

"My father, he was working out in Queens, when the North Tower was hit [at 8:46 a.m.]," Dowdell said. "They were sent to the initial plane crash. By the time he got there from Queens, the South Tower was hit [at 9:03 a.m.]. They were sent to the South Tower, but they had to park down by Pace University and make their way through the streets to the West Side Highway to the command post and get their orders to head up. And that's what they did.

"By the time they started heading up, we don't imagine they were up super high just because of rough timelines, but they were sent up to help as many people as they could, and then the building collapsed [at 9:59 a.m.], and they were all killed. There were nine guys from his company working on September 11th, and all nine were killed."

While James followed in his dad's footsteps in the FDNY, James' brother Patrick was spurred to reapply to the US Military Academy in West Point, NY, after the events of 9/11. He had previously been rejected, but on the weekend before the attacks he was working on a new application with his dad at his side.

"When Dad got killed, Pat took this head on and kept on the process and ended up becoming [part of the] first class into West Point after 9/11, which I think was an incredibly admirable thing that he did," James said. "He didn't waver – he didn't falter. He said: 'How many people are going to join the military because of what happened to our family? How can I not go?' And he would go on to do tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and thankfully he's home safe and sound with us now."

In the aftermath of the attacks, the Dowdell brothers went to Ground Zero searching for their father and others. Part of the exhibit -- In Their Honor: 25 Years of 9/11-Inspired Service -- which will open the public on Sept. 12 at the museum is the older helmet the elder Dowdell was awarded when he was promoted out of Rescue 2 in Brooklyn. Also, part of the exhibit is the hat Patrick Dowdell was awarded upon his graduation from West Point.

Last week, the Jets made a $250,00 donation to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in partnership with the New York Giants, Washington Commanders and NFL Foundation to total a $1 million contribution.

A Lot of Hope and Love
It might be difficult to comprehend these 25 years later, but nearly 30 members of the Jets' 53-man active roster at present weren't born or were infants on Sept. 11, 2001. Among that group is Fitzpatrick, 29, a New Jersey native who grew up in Old Bridge and later played in a state championship game at MetLife Stadium.

"I think it's honestly ... This whole memorial and museum is a sign that even though a tragic and terrible thing happened here, it still united a lot of people," Fitzpatrick said. "Still gave a lot of people one thing to see past all of our differences. And then it's Ground Zero, something tragic that happened. This is a place where a lot of people come to remember their loved ones, where a lot of people come to remember the sacrifices that their loved ones made. So even though a tragic thing happened here, there's still a lot of hope and love today."

James Dowdell summed up the mentality that his father exemplified and passed along to his sons, and them to their children and others.

"Service is ... I asked my father, being a firefighter, what it is," Dowdell said. "And he said it's very simple. He goes: 'You show up on people's worst day, and you make it better."

Doing Something for Other People
As the Jets toured the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, several Jets employees were volunteering at a special food packing event at MetLife Stadium. The packing of non-perishable meals for people at risk of hunger was part of 9/11 Day as companies united across America to pack 18 million meals.

Before they made their way back to the Memorial Pools, the Jets spent time with Dowdell, John Paluska, who on 9/11 was a freshman at Fordham who volunteered at Ground Zero and subsequently joined the Army and became a Green Beret with combat deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq and other locations, and Logan Miller, who lost his uncle, New York State Supreme Court Officer Sergeant Mitchel Scott Wallace, in the 9/11 attacks and then lost his grandfather Kenneth Wallace, to illnesses related to his work in the aftermath of 9/11.

Even during America's darkest day, there was a light that was impossible to be blocked out. The lessons of service and volunteerism and sacrifice are eternal.

"So to me, service is just an effort to help, an effort to try to come in when someone's having a bad day and make it better, and just also be an example for my children and for other maybe younger kids to realize that there is something admirable about just waking up, working hard, doing something for other people," Dowdell said. "That's how we were taught to live.

"That's how my father was trying to raise his two sons. And we just tried to carry that type of mentality into our adult lives."