Fall and Rise

by Mitchell Zuckoff

  4. Carlton stepped up: Dean E. Murphy, September 11: An Oral History (New York: Doubleday, 2002), p. 217.

  5. Powell stood: Interview with CDR Craig Powell, Naval Historical Center, conducted by Capt. Michael McDaniel, October 29, 2001.

  6. “Hey, ceiling’s going”: Ibid.

  7. General Carlton: Condensed transcript of Lt. Gen. Paul K. Carlton Jr., “Medical Response to 9/11,” from an interview by the Air Force History Support office, December 4, 2001.

  8. “jump or get toasted”: Interview with Dalisay Olaes, U.S. Army Center of Military History, oral history project, September 13, 2001.

  9. “I want reimbursement”: Interview with Martha Carden, U.S. Army Center of Military History, oral history project, October 29, 2001.

  10. “needs to get out of here”: Interview with John Yates, U.S. Army Center of Military History, oral history project, March 21, 2002.

  11. Captain Darrell Oliver: Interview with Captain Darrell Oliver, U.S. Army Center of Military History, oral history project, October 31, 2001, and Goldberg et al., pp. 52–53. Also see Ron Kampeas, “Discipline, Training Saved Lives After Pentagon Attack,” The Associated Press, September 17, 2001. Oliver’s personal account was recorded October 17, 2002, http://hereisnewyorkv911.org/2011/darrell-oliver/.

  12. rolled on the floor: Lieutenant Kevin P. Shaeffer (Ret.), “Never Forget,” Proceedings magazine, September 2011, Vol. 137/9/1,303. Also see Goldberg et al., pp. 32–33.

  13. ran toward the carnage: Interview with Father Stephen McGraw, June 9, 2017.

  14. Major John Thurman: Interview with Major John Thurman, U.S. Army Center of Military History, oral history project, September 20, 2001; and Thurman’s testimony at Moussaoui trial, transcript pp. 3397–3414. Also see John Spong, “Karen Wagner’s Life,” Texas Monthly, September 2011.

  15. he hadn’t recognized: Goldberg et al., p. 58.

  16. surveyed the scene: U.S. Army Center of Military History interview with George P. Aman, part of Noble Eagle oral history project, December 12, 2001.

  17. “huge heaps of rubble”: Arlington County After-Action Report on the Response to the September 11 Terrorist Attack on the Pentagon, p. A-8. www.floridadisaster.org/publications/Arl_Co_AAR.pdf.

  18. ninety-five feet: Goldberg et al., pp. 80–81. Also see American Society of Civil Engineers, Pentagon Building Performance Report, pp. 12–20.

  19. “The Pentagon is functioning”: Nicholas M. Horrock and Pamela Hess, “Rumsfeld: The Pentagon Is Still Functioning,” UPI, September 11, 2001.

  20. Dave Tarantino hoped: Interview with Dr. David Tarantino, July 12, 2017.

  Chapter 20: “This Is Your Plane Crash”

  1. Linda Shepley watched her television in shock: Interview with Linda and Jim Shepley, May 9, 2018.

  2. “You say that emergency vehicles are there”: NBC News live coverage of September 11, 2001, (Complete Today Show), on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89G749GrtBQ.

  3. “No, no, no, no”: Interview with Linda Shepley, May 9, 2018. Also see Flight 93 Memorial Oral History Transcript, interview with Linda Shepley, January 28, 2006, conducted by Kathie Shaffer.

  4. The first 9-1-1 call: Flight 93 Memorial Oral History Transcript, interview with Paula Pluta, June 15, 2008, conducted by Kathie Shaffer. Also see Transcript of Somerset County Emergency Management Agency September 11, 2001, communications. Call No. 27301, Paula Pluta, transcribed by Donna Glessner.

  5. “Oh, my God!”: Transcript of Somerset County Emergency Management Agency September 11, 2001, communications. Call No. 27301, Paula Pluta, transcribed by Donna Glessner.

  6. “There was an airplane”: Transcript of Somerset County Emergency Management Agency September 11, 2001, communications. Call No. 27303, Daniel Meyers, transcribed by Donna Glessner.

  7. At the family medical practice: Interviews with Terry and Kathie Shaffer, May 8–10, 2018, with phone and email follow-ups.

  8. between his house and his country store: Flight 93 Memorial Oral History Transcript, interview with Rick King, July 5 and December 13, 2006, conducted by Kathie Shaffer.

  9. “What stations are dispatched?”: Somerset County Emergency Management Agency 9-1-1 Call Center, Transcript of September 11, 2001, communications, transcribed by Donna Glessner.

  10. every available emergency unit: Shanksville Volunteer Fire Company, Station 627 Timeline, Calls from 9-1-1 Center, Recorder 3 transcript, call number 588086.

  11. “Guys, prepare yourself”: Flight 93 Memorial Oral History Transcript, interview with Keith Custer, March 24, 2006, conducted by Kathie Shaffer.

  12. “how’d you like to be the coroner”: McMillan, p. 7.

  13. The county job: Sara Rimer, “Public Lives: Where Death Mostly Tiptoes, It Rushed Violently In,” New York Times, Sept. 22, 2001.

  14. A car had struck a deer: The Associated Press, “Tax Collector Killed When Deer Hits Truck,” (Sharon, PA) Herald, August 21, 2001.

  15. “Could you ever think”: Flight 93 Memorial Oral History Transcript, interview with Wallace Miller, July 19, 2007, conducted by Kathie Shaffer.

  16. “possibly a hijacked aircraft”: Transcript of conversation between Wally Miller and 9-1-1 dispatcher and EMA Director Rick Lohr, September 11, 2001.

  17. “What do you want us to do?”: Flight 93 Memorial Oral History Transcript, interview with Rick King, July 5 and December 13, 2006, conducted by Kathie Shaffer.

  18. a wave of relief: Flight 93 Memorial Oral History Transcript, interview with Rick King, July 5 and December 13, 2006, conducted by Kathie Shaffer.

  19. He knew the Diamond T site: McMillan, pp. 113–14. Also see Flight 93 Memorial Oral History Transcript, interview with Wallace Miller, July 19, 2007, conducted by Kathie Shaffer.

  20. “If there’s four hundred people”: Flight 93 Memorial Oral History Transcript, interview with Wallace Miller, July 19, 2007, conducted by Kathie Shaffer.

  21. Terry walked through a blue haze: This section comes from interviews with Terry and Kathie Shaffer, May 8–10, 2018, with phone and email follow-ups, and Flight 93 Memorial Oral History Transcript, interview with Terry Shaffer, June 25, 2007, and April 5, 2017, conducted by Kathie Shaffer.

  22. Andrew “Sonny” Garcia’s wedding ring: Steve Levin, “Flight 93 Victims’ Effects Go Back to Families,” (Pittsburgh) Post-Gazette, December 30, 2001.

  23. Sandy Bradshaw’s flight log: Flight 93 Memorial Oral History Transcript, interview with Trooper James Broderick, May 11, 2005, conducted by Barbara Black.

  24. tree-climbing arborists: Flight 93 Memorial Oral History Transcript, interview with Mark Trautman, August 25, 2006, conducted by Kathie Shaffer.

  25. Superman logo tattoo: Flight 93 Memorial Oral History Transcript, interview with Trooper James Broderick, May 11, 2005, conducted by Barbara Black.

  Chapter 21: “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!”

  1. “door restrictors”: Dennis Cauchon and Martha T. Moore, “Elevators Were Disaster Within Disaster,” USA Today, September 11, 2002. Cauchon and Moore explained the use of “door restrictors” in their reporting. It is the author’s belief that Chris Young’s ability to force open the doors indicated that his elevator was not yet equipped with one. Also see NIST NCSTAR 1-7, p. 124.

  2. more than ninety minutes: This estimate is based on Chris Young’s estimate that he left the elevator about five minutes before the North Tower collapsed. That would be about 10:23 a.m., or about ninety-seven minutes after the crash of Flight 11. He also spent about one minute in the elevator before it stalled.

  3. “What’s your name?”: Transcript from NBC News, “The Miracle of Ladder Company 6,” September 28, 2001.

  4. “We gotta keep moving”: Ibid.

  5. “All FDNY, get the fuck out!”: 9/11 Commission Report, p. 307. Jonas and others credited Picciotto with using his bullhorn to order firefighters to leave. However, the men of Ladder 6 vehemently disputed claims Picciotto made in a book, television appearances, and elsewhere about his actions regarding the resc
ue of Josephine Harris. See Alice McQuillan, “9/11 Tale Doubted: Some Bravest Say Chief’s Book Exaggerated His Role,” (New York) Daily News, November 26, 2002.

  6. as many as one hundred men: Jim Dwyer and Michelle O’Donnell, “9/11 Firefighters Told of Isolation Amid Disaster,” New York Times, September 9, 2005. Also see 9/11 Commission Report, p. 310.

  7. “Didn’t you hear the Mayday?”: World Trade Center Task Force Interview with Lieutenant William Walsh, January 11, 2002, p. 18.

  8. “We’re not fucking coming out!”: 9/11 Commission Report, p. 310.

  9. pulse of air pressure: NIST WTC Investigation, Final Report, p. 32.

  10. “About fifteen floors down”: Kevin Dwyer, Jim Flynn, and Ford Fessenden, “FATAL CONFUSION: A Troubled Emergency Response; 9/11 Exposed Deadly Flaws in Rescue Plan,” New York Times, July 7, 2002.

  11. “I’m in the Trade Center, Tower One”: Transcripts of World Trade Center radio transmissions, Channel 23, Sergeant’s Desk, p. 42. Also see Dwyer and Flynn, p. 224.

  12. “That’s okay”: Jonas provided the dialogue from the fallen men he encountered, including Firefighter Faustino Apostol and Lieutenant Michael Warchola.

  13. “Dispatch, Captain Brown”: Michael Daly, The Book of Mychal: The Surprising Life and Heroic Death of Father Mychal Judge (New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2008), p. 330. Transcript of dispatch tape released August 16, 2006.

  14. upper floors sagged: The definitive report on the causes of the collapse, by the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, or NIST, is known as NCSTAR-1, “Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster.” Issued October 26, 2005, it was based on “some 200 technical experts—including about 85 career NIST experts and 125 leading experts from the private sector and academia—[who] reviewed tens of thousands of documents, interviewed more than 1,000 people, reviewed 7,000 segments of video footage and 7,000 photographs, analyzed 236 pieces of steel from the wreckage, performed laboratory tests, and created sophisticated computer simulations of the sequence of events that occurred from the moment the aircraft struck the towers until they began to collapse.” An excellent summary of the NIST findings appears here: www.nist.gov/el/faqs-nist-wtc-towers-investigation. The complete report can be found here: http://ws680.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=909017.

  15. five hundred million fiery, falling pounds: Steven Ashley, “When the Twin Towers Fell,” Scientific American, October 9, 2001. The NIST study also estimated that each tower weighed approximately 250,000 tons.

  16. lower sky lobby: Smith, p. 90.

  17. “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!”: Interview with FDNY Deputy Chief John A. (Jay) Jonas, October 13, 2017, with email and phone follow-ups for fact-checking. Numerous firefighters heard Warchola’s calls.

  18. didn’t have the heart: Testimony of Deputy Chief Nicholas Visconti before the House Committee on Homeland Security, September 20, 2007, p. 1.

  19. “Tell my wife and kids”: Smith, p. 87.

  20. evacuation of Lower Manhattan: Jessica DuLong, Dust to Deliverance: Untold Stories from the Maritime Evacuation on September 11 (New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2017), p. 87.

  21. didn’t want to hang up: Smith, p. 91.

  22. more than twenty-seven hundred people: In the years since 9/11, reports have claimed that the official death toll in New York does not include an unknown number of undocumented immigrants who worked in the towers.

  23. forty-six rounds: Smith, p. 91.

  24. WTC 7 collapsed: The fall of what has become known as Building 7 is at the center of numerous conspiracy theories built on claims that it was a controlled demotion. They point out that the building was not hit by a plane, no other steel-frame high-rise ever collapsed as a result of fire, and its tenants included offices of the Department of Defense, the Secret Service, the IRS, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Those theories persisted despite an official 2008 report by the National Institute of Standards and Technology report about the WTC 7 collapse. See http://ws680.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=861610.

  25. “We’ll come back”: Smith, p. 106.

  26. “a million planes flying”: Interview with Allan Hackel, January 28, 2017.

  Chapter 22: “Your Sister and Niece Will Never Be Lonely”

  1. officially ending in 2011: Barbara Salazar Torreon, “U.S. Periods of War and Dates of Recent Conflicts,” Congressional Research Service, October 11, 2017, pp. 8–9.

  2. “The number of casualties”: Dan Barry, “A DAY OF TERROR: HOSPITALS; Pictures of Medical Readiness, Waiting and Hoping for Survivors to Fill Their Wards,” New York Times, September 12, 2001, p. A9. Also see CNN transcript of press conference by Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Governor George Pataki, September 11, 2001, http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0109/11/bn.42.html.

  3. “Dave died in the line of duty”: FBI Press Release, dated May 26, 2018, from the Atlanta Field Office.

  4. 178th member: Announcement on FDNY’s official Facebook page, June 23, 2018: https://www.facebook.com/304603755728/posts/10156296133045729/.

  5. more people will have died: Noah Goldberg and Thomas Tracy, “So many deaths from 9/11-related illnesses, victims’ fund may run out of money,” (New York) Daily News, September 10, 2018.

  6. three thousand children: Carol Polsky, “Children of 9/11: Life with a Parent Missing,” Newsday, September 10, 2011.

  7. “We’re close to my house”: Interviews with John and Gerry Creamer, January 27, 2017. Details also come from John Creamer’s testimony at the Moussaoui trial, transcript pp. 3113–17.

  8. “I need to talk to you about something”: Interviews with John, Colin, and Julie Creamer, January 27, 2017.

  9. “life-safety systems”: One World Trade Center website, https://www.wtc.com/about/buildings/1-world-trade-center, accessed September 9, 2017.

  10. “Hi, baby”: CeeCee Lyles’ voice message is quoted in “Phone Calls from the Passengers and Crew of Flight 93” compiled by the National Park Service for the Flight 93 Memorial, based on FBI reports.

  11. “I love you”: Toby Harnden, “She Asked Me How to Stop the Plane,” The Telegraph, March 5, 2002.

  12. a minor miracle: Interview with Sonia Tita Puopolo, January 20, 2017.

  13. “I love Vamsi”: Testimony of Chandra Shakara Kalahasti at Moussaoui trial, transcript pp. 3087–88.

  14. “all I have”: Interview with Lee and Eunice Hanson, February 22, 2017; Lee Hanson testimony at Moussaoui trial.

  15. walked among the graduates: “Westling Tells BU Graduates to Build on Nation’s Democratic Institutions,” BU Bridge, May 31, 2002, p. 1. www.bu.edu/bridge/archive/2002/05-31/westling.htm.

  16. “We miss you so much”: Eunice Hanson, “Dear Son, You Remain in Our Hearts,” (Dubuque, Iowa) Telegraph Herald, September 11, 2002, p. e7.

  17. complicated feelings: Brian Charles, “Mother of 9/11 Victim Reacts to News of Bin Laden’s Death,” San Gabriel Valley (Calif.) Tribune, May 2, 2011.

  18. “I didn’t want terrorists”: Interview with Peg Ogonowski Hatch, January 27, 2017.

  19. “took their loved ones’ lives”: September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows website, http://peacefultomorrows.org/history/, accessed February 2, 2017.

  20. “It was obvious pretty quickly”: Interview with Andrea LeBlanc, January 21, 2017.

  21. “We’re here today”: Text of Donald Rumsfeld’s speech at the Pentagon rededication, New York Times, September 11, 2002, http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/11/national/text-rumsfelds-speech-at-pentagon.html.

  22. One hundred twenty-five people: Goldberg et al., p. 23.

  23. laminated prayer card: Interview with Debra Burlingame, July 26, 2018.

  24. Her group’s mission: From the group’s website, at https://911familiesforamerica.org/about/.

  25. replaced by plans: Ronda Kaysen, “Condo Tower to Rise Where Muslim Community Center Was Proposed,” New York Times, May 12, 2017.

  26. For rescuing Jerry Henson: Interviews w
ith David Tarantino, MD, July 12, 2017; Jerry Henson, July 14 and 31, 2017; and Dave Thomas, August 2, 2017.

  27. Janice Punches: Interviews with Janice Punches, Jennifer Punches-Botta, and Jeremy Punches, August 4, 2017.

  28. Soldier’s Medal: Interview with Lieutenant Colonel Marilyn Wills (Ret.), June 8, 2017. Also see Denise Steele, “Valor, Pain and Tears,” Association of the United States Army, December 1, 2001, www.ausa.org/articles/valor-pain-and-tears.

  29. “the other shoe to drop”: Interview with Kevin Nasypany, March 20, 2017. Also see Flight 93 Memorial Oral History Transcript, interview with Kevin Nasypany, July 23, 2013, conducted by Donna Glessner.