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NYPD Memorial and 9/11 Reminder
 
 
 
We
decided to begin our wander around the museum on the top floor. One half was
dedicated to fallen NYPD officers who have lost
their lives carrying out their daily work; beginning with Officer Thomas Lynch
in 1849. We picked the first officer and randomly picked another three from
different areas.
  
The
other end of this floor is dedicated to the police officers who lost their lives
in the 9-11 attack on the Twin Towers. This
September sees the 10th anniversary and since we have been in New York we have
frequently heard mention of the event, the memorial garden, the building of
Freedom Tower and some personal stories of people who lost a friend or family
member. As we drove past Wall Street on our down town bus tour our guide told of
his loss.
The
first thing we saw was a film showing on split screens in the far corner. Very
striking. The lady in the first column was the emergency service telephonist who
took th efirst call that morning. She said a lady rang and immediately told
her not to hang up and that she was not making a crank call. "Which service do
you need ma'am". "A plane has just crashed into one of the twin towers".
That got us thinking about the day itself and where we were when we heard. Bear
was in surgery as the news filtered through from patients and then staff. I was
driving back from Paignton, Miffy's 14th birthday cake on the back
seat, listening to the "Steve Wright in the Afternoon" show.
He announced that something had happened in New York and he would find out
more and let us know after the next record. The first reports were sketchy and
we assumed a tragic accident had happened until the second plane hit. As we all
arrived home that day we sat glued to the television; some time later we tried
to have a birthday tea, Miffy said we should postpone his birthday until the
next day so we could all go back to watching as the events of the
day unfolded. It was all we could do to feel as if we were
showing some kind of support.
At 8:46 a.m., American
Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower,
followed by United
Airlines Flight 175, which hit the South Tower at 9:03 a.m. The
south tower (2 WTC) fell at approximately 9:59 a.m., after burning for
56 minutes in a fire caused by the impact of United Airlines Flight 175.
The north tower (1 WTC) collapsed at 10:28 a.m., after burning for
approximately 102 minutes. When the north tower collapsed, debris fell on
the nearby 7
World Trade Center building (7 WTC) damaging it and starting
fires. These fires burned for hours and compromised the building's structural
integrity, which led to the crumbling of the east penthouse at 5:20 p.m.
and to the complete collapse of the building at 5:21 p.m or
10:21 p.m. our time.
The
display brought home details we had not ever considered, the fact that the
intense heat had turned concrete into molten lava and glass had melted in
minutes. The information on the blue card
reads:
Destruction.
The days and weeks following September 11, 2001, for many, was overwhelming. It
was difficult to watch television, read a newspaper, or gaze at Manhattan’s
altered skyline. The photos and video shown from Ground Zero made it
inconceivable to think that there was anything left, but amazingly remnants of
the World Trade Center, patrol cars, and equipment survived the devastating
collapse. It was through the dedicated recovery operations at the World Trade
Center site and Fresh Kills landfill, where debris from the site was
transported, that these and thousands of other items were recovered.
 
 
A
work cap, all that is left of a police car radio. A piece of
rock, not exceptional
- it has been formed from one of the buildings, more extraordinary is the
bit sticking up is a gun casing. Next to it is a siren
pack.
This
siren pack from police car 1672 is from Ground Zero and was recovered at Fresh
Kills landfill. It helps demonstrate how the NYPD responded from all over the
city on September 11, 2001. Car 1672 belonged to the 62nd Precinct, which covers
Bensonhurst in Brooklyn. We are beginning to get the feel of the brotherhood
that prevailed that terrible day.
  
During
the search and rescue operation, police officers gathered remnants of NYPD
property strewn amidst the wreckage. Finding such familiar objects in such
unfathomable devastation provided hope that all was not lost. Every item in the
pile was potential evidence or a form of identification of victims. More than
130 police cars had been crushed, but even their most inconsequential, intimate
parts held the promise of life. Nothing could be discarded. In
just 102 minutes on the morning of September 11, 2001, terrorists reduced the
110-story Twin Towers to a mound of smoldering wreckage ten stories high, The
world stared in shock at the remains of a site that for 31 years glimmered on
Manhattan’s skyline, and mourned those who were lost that day. The flag now more than ever represented American strength,
freedom, and unity.
 
Two days after the
terrorist attacks this solitary steel cross was found
protruding from the destruction at Six World Trade Centrr. Construction workers
pulled the steel crossbeam from the debris and mounted it as a shrine, where it
remained near ground Zero throughout the recovery efforts. The sight of it gave
many recovery workers a sense of meaning to their somber work. It continues to
stand near the site as a potent symbol of survival. Thermal image showing the
intense heat on the 20th of September through to the 23rd.
The
label reads: Unified Force. The
men and women of law enforcement agencies throughout the city suffered
staggering losses on September 11, 2001. Their sacrifices will never be
forgotten. The terrorist attacks claimed the lives of 37 Port Authority Police
Department officers and commanders, the largest loss of life by a police
department on a single day in U.S. history.
The next area had an
electronic picture frame that showed each of the officers that had lost their
lives. Very personal, very touching and so very sad.
  
  
  
Here are just some of the many tragic
losses.
Each of them was
posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
  
The
information card read: Heroes
to the end.
The heroic actions of the 23 police officers who perished on September 11, 2001,
are best demonstrated in these three miraculous photos. Not all of the 23 fallen
officers were captured on film performing their duties amid such horrific
conditions. But these three images of Police Officer
Moira A. Smith, Police Officer Robert Fazio (also above with his family), and
Police Officer Ramon Suarez will forever remind the world of the selfless
sacrifice of all NYPD officers. They carried civilians to safety. They found
emergency care for the injured. They comforted the suffering at their time of
greatest need. They saved the lives of thousands. They will never be
forgotten.
 
 
These
work items struck us the most, an officers work belt, bits and pieces, but
also a family picture held in the very same red plastic view box that most of us have had at one
time or another; the one you hold up to your eye to see the picture so much
larger than it actually is. The one straight and one bent number 13 from her
shirt. The other thing that brought a lump to the throat was Officer Smith's
name, shield and citation bars. She had a memorial bar to a fallen colleague
Officer Anthony Sanchez. Moira was a decorated officer but her bars are too
damaged to be able to see what she had been awarded for.
All the label said below was: Leather
Gun Belt with Holster and Attachments, Shield with Citation Bars and Name Plate,
Handcuffs and Keys. Police Officer Moira A. Smith, 13th Precinct.
On loan from the family.
We
stood and looked at these items for quite a time before moving
on....................
We
now had many questions, later, time to research. Twenty-three members of the
NYPD were killed on the 11th of September 2001. Since then, 38
officers and one civilian have been recognised as having died of illnesses
developed after work they performed at the World Trade Center site and Fresh
Kills landfill on Staten Island, where debris from the destruction was received
and processed.
The Fresh Kills Landfill - I thought what
a terrible name - however, Kill
is derived from an old Dutch word meaning stream, brook or channel. Fresh Kills,
specifically, appeared as a place name by 1750 - was a 2,200
acre landfill in the New
York City borough of Staten
Island. The name comes from
the landfill's location along the banks of the Fresh
Kills estuary in western Staten
Island. The landfill was opened in 1947 as a temporary landfill, but eventually
became New York City's principal landfill in the second half of the 20th
century, and it was once the largest landfill in the world.
After the 9/11, Fresh
Kills was temporarily in use as a sorting ground for roughly one third of the
rubble from Ground
Zero. More than 1,600
personal effects were retrieved during this time. About two million tons of
material obtained from Ground Zero was taken to the landfill for
sorting. Thousands of
detectives and forensic evidence specialists worked for over 1.7 million hours
at Fresh Kills Landfill to try to recover remnants of the people killed in the
attacks. The final count of 4,257 human remains were recovered and from those,
300 people were identified. A memorial is being built to honour those that were
not able to be identified in all of the debris from the
attack.
In October 2009,
reclamation of the site began on a multi-phase, 30 year, site development for
reuse as Fresh
Kills Park. The park will be
three times the size of Central
Park. It will consist of
a variety of public spaces and facilities for a multitude of activity types. The
site is large enough to support many sports and programs including nature
trails, horseback riding, mountain biking, community events, outdoor dining,
sports fields and canoeing. The West Park will be finished last and will include
a 9/11 memorial.
The Twin Towers before, during and
after
 
ALL IN ALL A DAY THAT
CHANGED THE WORLD
A DISTURBING REMINDER OF A TRAGIC EVENT THAT
ANSWERED MANY QUESTIONS
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