The Only Plane in the Sky

by Garrett M Graff

  Mary Beth Cahill, chief of staff for Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Massachusetts): When I first came to Washington, you could walk up to the Capitol, to every monument. You could walk in to talk to your representative, without having your bag searched. Now, we take for granted the way in which life has changed—and changed necessarily. It was a different world.

  * * *

  In Pennsylvania on Wednesday, September 12, investigators began sifting through the wreckage of Flight 93, looking for clues in the case that the FBI would call PENTTBOM, for “Pentagon/Twin Towers Bombing Investigation.” For weeks afterward, the quiet town of Shanksville was the center of a 24/7 operation, broadcast live by hundreds of media outlets from across the globe.

  Patrick McGlennon, special agent, FBI: The 12th was the actual first operational day, when the full-scale investigation began. Things started to move in the direction of bringing in our Evidence Response Teams, overflying the area, mapping it out, determining how large the scene actually was, and how many people we were going to need in there to effectively search it, document what was being found, and coordinate the overall effort. All the same sorts of things that you would do at any crime scene.

  Cpl. Martin Knezovich, Special Emergency Response Team, Pennsylvania State Police: I was back out at seven the next morning. We were given specific areas to search these areas for any type of debris, parts from the plane, or anything that we could find dealing with the crash.

  Sgt. Patrick Madigan, commander, Somerset Station, Pennsylvania State Police: There were several impromptu memorials that sprung up [in the days ahead]. One was at the media area. PennDOT [Pennsylvania Department of Transportation] erected two large flagpoles, and we put the state flag and the national flag there. A number of people left some mementos there. At the overlook, there was another memorial type of thing. There were hay bales there, and family members left a lot of personal mementos.

  Lt. Robert Weaver, Pennsylvania State Police: Everywhere you looked, there were flags.

  THURSDAY

  On September 13th, the engine of America’s economy began to chug back to life, and air traffic controllers—under strict security—began restarting air travel.

  Gerald Earwood, pilot, Midwest Express, Flight 7: I was captain of the first aircraft to leave New York. I had to perform an inspection around the aircraft, a bomb inspection with local law enforcement and the FBI observing everything I did. I would open up a panel, read the checklist, look into the hole, step back, and three more people would do the exact same thing. It probably took about 30 minutes to do something that usually takes five or 10 minutes.

  We loaded everyone up. We started to push back. The ground controller called and said, “We hate to tell you this, but there has been a bomb threat against your aircraft. You need to evacuate.” So, I picked up the PA and said, “You aren’t going to believe this, but we have a bomb threat and we have to evacuate.” Everyone calmly evacuated the aircraft and walked out onto the runway. At that moment, one of our military aircraft flew over, and that got our attention.

  When we got back on the aircraft and we were taxiing out, our friends from the military made another pass as we were leaving. I told my first officer, “I hope the military knows we are coming.” I remember the missiles stuck on the bottom of the wings. I called and asked the tower, “Confirm with us that the military knows that we’re about to be airborne here.” He came back and said, “Yeah, they know you are coming.” They sent us right over the World Trade Center. It was moving.

  Jared Kotz, Risk Waters Group: On Thursday, I did get back to my office [in Lower Manhattan], and I remember these empty desks. The telephones ringing all day long—people were calling, hoping and hoping against hope—or maybe they wanted to hear their daughter or their loved one’s voice and that was the only way they could hear it, to listen to the phone message. I never picked up the phones. I didn’t know what to tell people.

  Monika Bravo, artist, North Tower, 91st floor: I tried to get in touch with everybody who was part of our Studio Scape program on the 91st Floor of the North Tower—the other 15 fellow artists and the curators. I remember saying, “Why don’t we try to meet in two days or three days so we can comfort each other?” The whole world was going crazy and everybody was coming to terms with what’s going on. This first meeting happened Thursday. At one point in this meeting, I remembered I had the tape: “Oh my god, I saved the tape that I made of the storm on 9/10.” I had learned with practice that to process very deep emotions, you have to transform them into something—that’s why I’m an artist—so I decided to transform the tape into something and give it to everybody.

  It’s a very, very eerie video. I don’t want to say it’s premonitory, but if you see it from that perspective it’s like, “Wow.” I actually named the video “September 10 2001 Uno nunca muere la víspera.” It is a saying in Spanish. It’s impossible for you to die on the eve of your death. You only die when you have to die. You’re never close to death. You die or you’re alive.

  FRIDAY

  September 14th saw more steps back to normalcy. President Bush journeyed to New York City, to Ground Zero, where he stood atop the wreckage and spoke to rescuers using a bullhorn.

  Dan Bartlett, deputy communications director, White House: The real change in the president, in my opinion, didn’t actually happen until that Friday, when he traveled to New York. The situation on Tuesday, you really didn’t have time to reflect. In New York, the range of emotions that he went through—standing on the rubble, the bullhorn moment—but just as important, when he sat there in that room in private and met with those people who were still trying to learn the whereabouts of their loved ones, and hugging them.

  Robert Beckwith, retired firefighter, FDNY: We kept working, and all of a sudden we heard the president was coming. I saw a couple of guys put their shovels down, and go out to the street. So I went out to the street. I see this pumper that we found—it was 76 Engine—and nobody was standing on it, so I jumped up. Right across the street was the command post. It was a tent with microphones all set up in front of it.

  The president came right in front of me, and put his arm up. I grabbed his arm, I pulled him up—he’s only got a little spot, 12 inch by 12 inch—and I turned him around. I said, “You okay, Mr. President?” and he said, “Yeah.” Then he put his arm around my shoulder, and there he was with the megaphone, and he was talking, and talking to our right side. The guys on the other side, on the left side, were yelling, “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” Then they stopped, and they said, “We can’t hear you!” He turned and said, “Well, I can hear you. The whole world hears you, and when we find these people who knocked these buildings down, they’ll hear all of us soon.” Everybody melted.

  Lt. Col. Rob Grunewald, information management officer, U.S. Army, Pentagon: Friday, to me, was mental anguish. Our office was having a muster formation at the AMC movie theater nearby. We were going to get together and the senior leaders of the army were going to come talk to us. Everyone who was physically capable was going to go. To see all the wounded and injured people, it was horrible—people with their arms bandaged, people on crutches, people in wheelchairs, people with burns to their scalps. A friend of mine, Ann Parham, the army librarian, just had her head wrapped up, bandaged on her ears that had burned. It was a terrible, terrible thing to see.

  We got into the movie theater and what was left of the leadership—because the plane came in and took out the senior leaders of [the army personnel office, known as “G-1”], including General Maude. His wife, Teri Maude, got up and gave a speech. It was remarkable. We were all blabbering and blubbering idiots, and she was strong as strong could be.

  That was why that day was the hardest, because not only were you seeing all these badly burned and broken bodies, but every few minutes you would hear of another person who was unaccounted for, another person who was confirmed deceased, another person who was in the hospital, badly burned. It was very, very difficult to get your hands around what was going
on and the magnitude of this.

  Linda Krouner, senior vice president, Fiduciary Trust, South Tower: That Friday was my birthday. There’s a woman from my firm—Carmen Rivera—who was my trust officer on many accounts, and so I spoke to her a lot. She had a young family, and she was one of these beautiful younger women. She had the most engaging smile. My daughter wanted to give me a birthday present by locating Carmen Rivera and telling me that she was alive. She looked through different websites with her friends, but they searched and searched and they didn’t find her.

  Ali Millard, whose stepfather, Port Authority executive director Neil Levin, was killed in the attack: The Friday after September 11, there was a candlelight vigil, and a bunch of friends of mine were sitting on the sidewalk. My friend Lani said, “Ali, don’t think of it as you losing a person; think of it as you gaining an angel.” I don’t really believe in angels or the afterlife, but the way I interpreted what Lani said was that people are only put on earth for a certain amount of time, and you’re lucky to get to know them for as long as you do.

  SATURDAY

  Lisa Jefferson, Verizon Airfone supervisor: I was concerned because [United Flight 93 passenger Todd Beamer] wanted me to call his wife and relay the information to her. I didn’t know how to call her and how would I tell her this, being a stranger. It didn’t sound right by me to call her and say, “Hello, Lisa. This is Lisa. I spoke to your husband.” I talked to the FBI and they told me not to mention anything, not to contact her until they finished their investigation. I told them I wouldn’t. All the while, I was thinking, How would I contact her? What would I say?

  The FBI got back in touch with me on Friday and told me that I could call her. We contacted the United Airlines crisis team member who was in contact with Lisa Beamer and told him that when she was ready to talk, she could call me at home or at work.

  We faxed the letter over to United on Friday evening. My phone rang at about 10:00 a.m. Saturday morning. It was Lisa. She said, “I understand you spoke to my husband.” I totally froze. I didn’t expect her to call. I wasn’t thinking about it at that time. I said, “Yes,” and I said, “Are you ready to talk?” She said, “Yes.” We sat and we talked. I told her everything her husband told me to tell her.

  Lisa Beamer, wife of United Flight 93 passenger Todd Beamer: As much as obviously 9/11 was traumatic for people like myself, for someone like Lisa, it was also a life-changing event. We keep in touch periodically to catch up and see how we’re doing. We probably will continue to do that. The first couple of days after 9/11, not knowing the facts around what happened on that flight, not knowing what Todd’s role was, was difficult. Having all that concrete information from Lisa, as well as Todd’s final message to us was a great encouragement.

  Mary Dettloff, communications staff, Michigan legislature: I remember my partner and I watched nothing but CNN for days until I couldn’t take it anymore. I finally broke away on a Saturday and went for a walk in a nature area near Jackson, Michigan. I remember a plane flew overhead while I was out there and I just stopped and watched it. I did that for a long time after 9/11—watched the planes fly over our house.

  Adm. James Loy, commandant, U.S. Coast Guard: Maybe the fourth or fifth day, it dawned on me that the church at the end of Wall Street, Trinity Church, was within spitting distance of the Tower site and was part of the rest of the city that was deluged in debris. I sat in my office for a second and said, “Alexander Hamilton is buried in that cemetery.” He’s considered the founder of the modern-day Coast Guard because he established its predecessor, the Revenue Cutter Service. I couldn’t stand the notion that he and his headstone were probably inundated with debris.

  I called Master Chief Vince Patton into the office and I said, “Vince, I need you to get some senior enlisted folks from the captain of the Port of New York’s office. I know they’re up to their ass in alligators right now, but we’ve got to go fix that.” He got a senior chief in New York on the phone. They went and began the cleanup of the entire Trinity Church yard. The word got out to the Trade Center site, and people, after finishing their unbelievably difficult work for a 12-hour cycle, came over and joined with these Coast Guard people to finish the job. I was damned if I could go to sleep that night without doing something about it.

  SUNDAY

  Tracy Donahoo, transit officer, NYPD: The mayor had said for people to resume their lives, start shopping, and support New York City. The Sunday after, I remember working on Fulton Street again. People were coming down, and they said, “Oh, I wanna go shopping at Century 21 [department store].” I would say, “There is no Century 21 right now.” They said, “Oh, but the mayor said we can go shopping.” “There’s no Century 21 at this point. There’s no Brooks Brothers, there’s nothing at that area. He means go to 34th Street, shop there, and have a nice lunch.”

  On Sunday, September 16th, President Bush spoke to the press after a weekend war council meeting at Camp David. He noted the resiliency of the American spirit and that the New York Stock Exchange would reopen Monday after its first prolonged closure since the Great Depression.

  George W. Bush, president: The markets open tomorrow, people go back to work, and we’ll show the world.

  THE COMING WEEKS

  For nearly two weeks, the rescue effort at Ground Zero continued around the clock as firefighters, police officers, rescue workers, other first responders, and skilled tradesmen hunted for signs of the missing. Finally, on September 24, Mayor Giuliani announced there was no further hope of survivors.

  Capt. Joe Downey, Squad Company 18, FDNY, and son of Ray Downey, FDNY head of special operations: Chuck [Downey, my brother] and I, we didn’t leave the site for the first five or six days. We stayed there. We slept on the floors, we slept wherever we could find a bunk. We wanted to be there, in case we did find him.

  Lt. Mickey Kross, Engine 16, FDNY: September 15th or something like that was my first night here. When I saw the site, it was at night, I saw the red glow, the smoke, and it was pouring rain. It felt like I was going into hell. I said, “Oh, jeez, maybe I made a big mistake coming here.” After a few hours, it was a job again. We were looking for people, and I was back to work. From that point, I got better. I came back to reality.

  Det. David Brink, Emergency Service Unit, Truck 3, NYPD: We would go down there with either steel rakes, we’d go down with shovels. We had plastic, five-gallon buckets that we were using to remove some of the debris. We’d also have little shovels and hand picks because oftentimes the only body fragments that we’d find were very, very small.

  Lt. Mickey Kross: It was very long hours. It was cold. It was very demanding. When we first got here there was no setup for food or shelter. They didn’t even have coffee. We were out in the rain all night, soaking wet. Eventually, they got it together and became better and better. The Red Cross came. They opened up the big tent and they had cots, and St. Paul’s Church opened up and they had food.

  Joe Esposito, chief of department, NYPD: If you were on the outside, you were wearing a heavy coat. If you were handling the bucket brigade, we circulated people closer and closer. As you got closer and closer and closer to this pit that you were taking pails out full of debris, it got warmer and warmer. When you were ultimately the first guy in there, you were in your T-shirt because it was on fire. It was like you were in an oven.

  Sgt. Joe Alagna, aide to the chief, NYPD: You didn’t even realize how dangerous it was. They would dig down and there’d be a void and you could see the beams glowing. They were still on fire and we were standing on top of it. It was tedious, hard work, and nobody complained.

  Lt. Mickey Kross: They became my new family, the people that worked there: the firefighters, the police officers, the volunteers.

  Det. David Brink: The fire department would take a sector. The NYPD Emergency Service Unit would take another sector, along with Port Authority and the corrections emergency service units. We also had the construction trades that were down here—heavy equipment operators, the
operating engineers, the steel guys. I was very thankful for those guys because they had the heavy equipment that could help us do our jobs.

  Norma Hardy, officer, PATH Command, PAPD: It always seemed dark, even when it was daytime. You did whatever had to be done when you got there. Even though there were hundreds and hundreds of people, machines, people talking, and rescue dogs—it still seemed very quiet and very still a lot of nights that we were out there.

  Bill Spade, firefighter, Rescue 5, FDNY: Then the funerals started. You would go to a wake for either one or two days, and then the funeral. Everybody had a job, whether you were a pallbearer, gave a eulogy, or just stood in formation outside the church. It was very draining. With my injuries I could hardly stand, but I stood for every one out of respect.

  On days when I wasn’t going for guys in my firehouse, I was going for other firemen, whoever was on Staten Island being buried, go to their wake or funeral. I tried to do even two-a-days sometimes. That became my life—besides seeing the doctors on the other days—for three months. I remember looking over the list of the 343 firemen and realizing that I knew 85 of them by first name.

  Kenneth Escoffery, firefighter, Ladder 20, FDNY: It was a wake one day, a funeral the next day. Every week. Just for the 14 guys that responded from my house, that was more than enough. I would say that the average fireman probably went to 25, 30 funerals, not even counting the wakes. It got to the point where a lot of guys got burnt out. After a month or two, you had to shut down.

  Tracy Claus, wife of Cantor Fitzgerald survivor Matt Claus: There were days we went to four [funerals] and could have gone to six. Matt didn’t sleep for a long while, so I didn’t sleep. I had a two-and-a-half-year-old at the time. From the chaos that was in our house, my daughter started to stutter. She started having nightmares. She said Daddy works in buildings that fall down.