Local news reports that there are 184 confirmed dead at the World Trade
Center. Over 2300 wounded and over 4000 missing. Among the missing are
almost 300 firefighters and paramedics; 57 police officers.
Among the known dead are practically the entire top echelon of the NY Fire
Department. First Deputy Fire Commissioner William Feehan, Chief of
Department Peter Ganci, Fire Chief Ray Downey (who led the FDNY's
contingent at the Oklahoma City bombing rescue effort) and the Rev. Michael
Judge, a Franciscan priest who served as an FDNY chaplain. Whole fire
companies may have been wiped out. The entire Rescue 1 squad, the best and
bravest firefighters certainly in NY and possibly the country are missing.
Commissioner Feehan was 71 years old, had held every office in the FDNY,
and never dreamed of retiring. At a time when most people are taking it
easy on the porch, he was still in there, working fires and saving lives.
Chief Ganci was last seen in the lobby of one of the towers, working his
radio, directing the rescue effort. Chief Ganci would never work a fire or
disaster from a command post a safe distance away. He was always in the
thick of it. Chief Downey made it his life's work to pull people from
death's grasp. He died as he lived, working to save lives. Father Judge was
one of the best known chaplains in the department. His work was to minister
to firefighters, especially when they lost one of their own. They loved him
for this. When his body was recovered, the firefighters he loved and tended
to bought his body to St. Peters church, a few blocks north of the World
Trade Center, and placed it on the altar. Yamel Merino, emergency medical
technician for a private ambulance company was on the scene when the towers
collapsed. He has not yet been found. Fire Captain Pat Brown of Ladder 3 is
also missing. Fire Captain Tim Stackpole, who survived a 1999 fire that
killed two of his fellow firefighters, recovered from 30% burns on his
body, worked out at the gym until he could return to duty. Like the rest,
he ran into the building, never to emerge. Ladder 132 lost six members
including one of the lieutenant's three brothers-in-law. Rescue 4 squad has
nine members missing. That's just what I've heard about. To put these
numbers in perspective, the New York Fire Department (FDNY) has about
11,000 members. These are your fathers, brothers, sons, in some cases
mothers, daughters and sisters. These are the people who don't ask who you
are, how much money you have, what race you are, whether or not you go to
church, who you are related to. If your home or building is on fire, if
you're trapped in a collapsed building, if you are in trouble, they come.
These are the people who ran into the World Trade Center as everyone else
was running out. Salute them, honor their memory. Remember they died that
others might live.
People seeking their missing relatives and friends gather around tv
reporters in front of Bellevue, NYU Medical Center and the makeshift
morgues. They stand behind the reporter, holding up signs with pictures and
information on it, hoping that some one will have some information. They
press flyers into reporters' hands, asking them to show the pictures on
television. Watching them is almost too much to bear.
I feel compelled to watch, etching the images in my mind of grief stricken
people hoping beyond hope. I think that of all the images of the past few
days, the ones I'll remember most are the ones of the firefighters covered
in ashes and soot leading people to safety, and those of people holding up
pictures of their loved ones.
I live in Northern Manhattan, on Riverside Drive. My windows face south,
and I can still smell the smoke. I think I always will.
I may post something about the politics of this all later, for now may God
bless my fellow Americans, and God bless the United States of America.
