Breaking News
News

Heroes reflect on efforts at Ground Zero in memorial service held at South Williamsport Fire Department

By Mark Maroney 9 min read

Ground Zero bustling with the din of heavy equipment grabbing tons of debris at the hallowed ground suddenly went silent.

On the rubble pile where the World Trade Center twin towers had stood were members of the Susquehanna Valley Critical Incident Stress Management Team (CISM).

Thursday evening, Kathy Staje CISM; Steve Ishler, CISM; Lee Bernstein – NYPD retired and Al Morrison, CISM asked themselves a series of questions that led to a discussion of the shared experience of being on the site in lower Manhattan and for Bernstein also sifting through rubble debris and remains on conveyor belts at the Staten Island landfill 25 years ago.

These recollections were shared for a room filled with people attending the annual Patriot's Day 9/11 Memorial Service Thursday at the South Williamsport Fire Department.

Profound memories

Staje had an idea for the panel to ask itself questions. To end the service there was a prayer and the tradition of the 5-5-5-5 bell toll in remembrance of firefighters who died in the line of duty.

The first question set the tone of the night with each panelist having an answer with a common theme – respect.

What did you experience that has stuck with you after all these years, all this time?

"They ushered us off the pile, but what happened after that was what's the most amazing thing that I've ever seen in my life," Morrison said.

A picture in a book that was on the table in the room of the fire hall depicted precisely what Morrison referenced. Ground Zero was a massive 16-acre construction and crime scene site, with plenty of noise and constant activity.

"Everything stopped ... complete silence," Morrison said.

He recalled people on either side of the lay down of the pile and off to one side was an NYPD vehicle.

"When they brought a body in a Stokes basket, down through that line and off into the vehicle, it is stuck with me to this day," Morrison said.

Similar memories resonated for Ishler, Staje and Bernstein.

"For me, it was that we're in the largest city in the U.S. and you could hear a pin drop," Ishler said. Surrounded by heavy equipment such as cranes making all kinds of noise, it was like "somebody just shut it off," he said. "It sticks with me to this day, the respect shown."

There were hundreds of people working and "everybody went silent," Staje said.

"It just was an incredible experience," she said. "It kind of stuck with me for 25 years," she added.

"I mean, I'm not going to be crude, but what he said about the silence," Bernstein said, adding, was precisely what transpired time after time.

"I got to go home the next day," he said of the drive back to Queens. He said the day of the attacks, though, he got through to his wife telling her – "I"m okay."

On the second day, an entire city came to a respectful halt.

"Picture the Long Island Expressway with six to eight lanes going each way, service roads the whole thing ... the amount of horns is unbelievable, but the second day we did not hear one horn."

Bernstein paused as he spoke about a lasting impact from his police service because of 9/11. Like many others he has a chronic illness he continues to treat that has been attributed to inhaling contaminated air and being in such an unhealthy environment.

"I got sick even with that stupid hazmat suite on," he said.

Bernstein's wife, Diane, shared with the Sun-Gazette how her husband's clothing and hazmat carried an unmistakable acrid chemical smell.

"I can still remember the smell," she said.

Another question asked was what they were surprised by when they got there compared to what was seen on television.

"You look at that on TV, and it's not that big," Morrison said. "It was vast," he said. "It was way bigger than what you would think ... it was like walking into a bombed out area."

He recalled walking around looking at the World Financial Building and about 30 stories up there was a steel beam sticking out that came from the towers.

"That – you didn't get from watching it on TV," he said. The beam apparently came all the way across and impaled the building and hung there on an angle.

Ishler said he couldn't imagine the amount of concrete he saw at Ground Zero.

Staje said that Tuesday she was on vacation with her husband John, who had retired from the police. She lightheartedly explained how she had a "honey-do list" for him. That morning while watching TV the first airplane hit the North Tower.

"I was like, 'Oh my gosh, what an accident,'" she said. Next, her phone rang, and it was her father-in-law, and Staje said he knew right away that it was a terrorist act.

Once Staje got to Ground Zero she said what amazed her was how much they had "cleaned up the ash."

"It was incredible to me the destruction but at the same time, the things that were not damaged, such as Saint Paul's Church," which was used as a rescue center.

In fact, the late Father John Manno of Lycoming County fame, whose Harley Davidson motorcycle "Fred" is among the first in the 911 Memorial Ride, spent weeks in lower Manhattan to offer spiritual comfort to those at Ground Zero.

"She's right," Bernstein said of Staje's recollection of the silence when bodies were recovered.

After the second day barges from Baltimore and all around the world arrived at the East River.

"They had trucks non-stop dumping everything into the barges and everything went over to Staten Island at the landfill," Bernstein remarked.

That's where he and a crew, a whole police division, went on a daily basis. Bernstein said he went two or three times a week. At the gathering for Patriot's Day were photographs of the crews sifting through debris and remains of material recovered from Ground Zero on conveyor belts at the landfill.

Social service outpouring

Bernstein also marveled at scores of faith-based social service agencies such as the Salvation Army.

"They came from all over the world, they came from different countries and different states," he said.

"Every week they rotated and came back and they would feed us," he said. "They had the food and these big, pressurized tents, and they would feed us and what brings me back now is a crew from Texas," he said with a smile.

"They were outside of our tent in the dirt, the dust barbecuing, cooking us brisket in the middle of the Staten Island landfill, and I thought that was the silliest thing I ever saw," Bernstein said.

The speakers asked themselves what has changed after these events and how it has changed each of the panelists.

"I guess a better appreciation of life period because those folks all went to work in the morning and the next minute, they're not here," Morrison said.

"You can't take for granted that you're going to be here at the end of the day," he said.

For Staje, it was her initial naivety.

I think before 9/11 I was very naive," she said. "I was just stunned ... I really believed that we were all safe and that nothing of that magnitude could have ever happened in the United States," she said.

"Obviously I was wrong, but every day does matter," she noted. "It's important to tell the people you care about that they matter and to live your life to the best of your ability every day."

Ishler asked if the panel felt, overall, that a lot of society has forgotten these events?

Morrison said yes and added that he could relate to his parents' generation and the attack on Pearl Harbor.

"When I was growing up, we did a lot more things about memorials," he said, believing some of that national pride and patriotism has waned from a lack of attendance at parades, especially marking Sept. 11, going to cemeteries and on Veteran's Day.

He is fearful of Sept. 11 going the same way, but believes in offering some hope that events such as Patriot's Day are important to keep going as a constant reminder to never forget.

New York still has its memorial; as does the Pentagon, but Morrison said while the nation is inundated on TV about it this time of year, he wonders about how many see it come on and turn it off or switch the channel to something else.

He is hopeful that is not the case as he and his wife just talked about this resurgence of where there seems to be a lot more personal stories in the news and there's a lot more people talking about it.

"Hopefully, that will bring it back into the forefront, so we don't forget what happened and we don't try to whitewash what happened because it was a terrible thing that happened to our country and we need to remember that so it doesn't happen again," Morrison said.

"I do believe people stopped caring," Staje said of the initial fervor, fundraising and outpouring of support, to include blood donations.

"That first week, I made sure to see both my kids," she said. "My daughter was a freshman in college, and I went to see her just because I wanted to see her."

Staje agreed with Morrison that there isn't the attention paid to honor the past.

"I think it's unfortunate that there are people who are telling stories that they were there when they were not," she said.

"That is disrespectful to everyone including all those who died that day and their families who are impacted on a daily basis."

Starting at /week.