The two grizzled, tough-talking and wisecracking firefighters from New York City couldn’t help but turn somber when asked to compare two tragedies thousands of miles and 60 years apart.

Battalion Chief John LaBarbera and retired Battalion Chief John Carroll were among those who sifted through the rubble of the World Trade Center in the hours and days after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center towers 10 years ago this year. On Friday morning the two toured the USS Arizona Memorial and learned more about the other attack on American soil, 70 years ago this Dec. 7 at Pearl Harbor.

"There are so many similarities between Hawaii and New York," said LaBarbera, who was a captain in Brooklyn that day when, on his day off, he rushed from the gym to his fire station to join the rest of his comrades as they headed for Ground Zero in Manhattan.

Carroll said he could imagine that the scene of "total chaos and destruction" of Dec. 7 was similar to what first responders on 9/11 experienced. But both horrific events triggered an emotion in Americans both on that day and the days that followed to come together and help themselves pull through.

"People were coming out of the woodwork to make sure they could lend a hand," he said.

Carroll, a captain in the Bronx, said his crew rushed out after the second tower collapsed and did not go home until days later.

The two men are part of the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which sponsors a series of 5-kilometer runs across the U.S. in honor of Stephen Siller, a firefighter who ran three miles to Ground Zero to help carry 60 pounds of gear after his car ran into a roadblock at the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. Five kilometers is a little longer than three miles.

Siller, 34 and the father of five, was killed when the second tower collapsed.

Proceeds from the foundation’s 5K runs go to local charities including those that help first responders, military service personnel and their families. In New York the route retraces Siller’s steps from the tunnel to Ground Zero.

LaBarbera and Carroll are here to promote a Siller Tunnel to Towers Run in Hawaii on Sept. 11. To be held at Pearl Harbor, the run will benefit the Fisher House Hawaii at Tripler Army Medical Center.

Fisher House provides housing and other services for the families of patients at military hospitals across the U.S., including Tripler Medical Center.

Organizers are hoping to get 5,000 runners. LaBarbera and Carroll said they will return and feed all the runners a pasta dinner, New York fire station style, if they reach that goal this year.