Gregory G. Noll
This Thursday, September 11th, will mark two years since the terrorist attacks on the United States. Approximately 3,000 people died that day, the largest number of war-related deaths on any single day since the Civil War. For many Lancaster County residents, this date will always have a special meaning. Some will remember their lost friends and loved ones; others will view it as a generational equivalent to December 7, 1941. And unfortunately, others will simply forget.
On September 11, 2001 at 12:15 PM, myself and approximately 80 other emergency responders left our homes and traveled to Harrisburg International Airport where PA Task Force 1, one of twenty-eight Federal urban search and rescue (USAR) teams, assembled in preparation for our response to the World Trade Center (WTC). We would remain in New York as part of the WTC rescue effort until September 19th. Those eight days forever changed how I now look at the world, our country, and my family.
There are certain images that I will always remember, and some that I cannot forget. People have told me that they just couldn’t imagine what it was like. They talk about the images…the pictures…the video. But what they can’t capture are the smells and the emotions of being there. Those eight days were an emotional roller coaster.
I remember every nite when we left “The Pile” and traveled back to the Javits Center where the USAR Teams were housed. The streets were always lined with hundreds of people cheering our efforts. There were no dry eyes the first time, but we always knew and have never forgotten where the real heroes were located.
I remember several men and priests passing us one day as they left the site. Within seconds, one of the priests came back to us and introduced himself. It was Cardinal Edward Egan of the New York Diocese of the Catholic Church. He offered some very kind words and we all had a short prayer. He left referring to us as heroes…
I remember coming out of WTC Building 6 just as President Bush arrived on the site. I ended up about 50 yards away standing on top of a dump truck as he talked. We couldn’t hear much from our distance, but then, we didn’t have to. We have a saying in the emergency services that you can fool the spectators, but you can’t fool the players. Before he came down to The Pile, President Bush met privately with the families of police and firefighters, and then with USAR Team members at the Javits Center. Politics aside, President Bush is a player who truly belonged with us on West Street that day.
I remember that Saturday, September 15th was one of our better days. It was a clear, beautiful September day….you could see the F-16’s and F-18’s circling high above over Manhattan. We spent most of the day working on Tower 1, now a rubble pile 6 or 7 stories high. It was also the day where one of our search dogs, a golden retriever named Riley, made CNN and Life magazine. The Chief supervising our area asked if we could get a search dog up to our location, a request easier said than done. But 30 minutes later, after being hoisted above a 60 ft. ravine and then being passed person-to-person while sitting in a Stokes rescue basket, Riley was with us on the rubble pile at Tower 1. That day the bodies of two firefighters and a civilian were found in that area. It was a good day…
I remember the posters and the photographs of the civilians who were missing. The names and faces may have been different, but the words were always the same. Those showing missing parents with their kids were always the toughest. And while one could hope, nothing could change reality as the days passed.
I remember asking numerous FDNY firefighters “…How did your company make out?” The answers were rarely good. In the weeks and months that followed, I had conversations with FDNY friends who survived the collapse or who were off-duty. Firefighter Phil McArdle arrived on the scene just after Tower 2 had collapsed, and narrowly avoided being killed when Tower 1 fell. Of the 23 men who responded that day from his station, 20 were killed. Two months later, Phil’s oldest son died in an auto accident.
Later that fall another good FDNY friend told me that given the increasing terrorism threat and the targeting of emergency responders, he accepted the fact that he would probably die on the job. I also had a similar feeling. Terrorism is not just a big city or a metropolitan problem – it is a war against all of us and everything that America represents. I also believe it is a fight worth dying for.
I remember coming home and seeing my wife and family. Words can’t convey what I felt in my heart. In the end, it all comes back to family. I thought that I would be able to pick up where life was on September 10th. Eventually I did, but not until several weeks went past. Thankfully, my wife gave me time, space, and a strong shoulder when I needed it.
Several months ago I overheard a conversation where a woman said she was sick and tired of hearing about September 11th. She wished that both September 11th and Iraq would just go away…there were so many other things that were more important in her world. Her comments have led me to this column.
With all due respect to that woman and similar opinions shared by others, the freedoms that we have in this country are due to the sacrifices that many men and women have made in our history, including those serving today in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other places around the world. Personally, I will not forget. Rather, I vow to do everything in my power to ensure that others do not forget. Because here’s the bottom line – 3,000 people were murdered on September 11th, 2001 – not because they were black or white, …Catholic, Muslim, Jewish or Protestant….but because they were Americans.
A day may come where I am ready to forgive – but I will never, ever forget.
Originally published in the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal.
