9/11 Section

AFTER THE FALLLooking forward and back a decade after 9/11

THE CITIZENS’ VOICE /Standard~Speaker

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2011

THE DECADE 10 years, andnot a dayRevisiting the places changed forever by 9/11:Ground Zero, Shanksville and the Pentagon, adecade after the attacks. Page 3

THE SURVIVOR When you can’t forgetFormer New York City police officer Lisa Cahillis still haunted by the memories of 9/11. At herdesign shop in Luzerne she pays tribute to thecolleagues who never made it home. Page 10

THE VICTIMS A lifewithout closureBoth of Phyllis Carlo’s firefighter sons respond-ed to Ground Zero. Only one came out alive. Adecade later, all she has of the late Michael Carlois a steel cross and a few mementos. Page 14

THE VICTIMS Kisses for grandpaLisa Valcarcel-Serrano lost her father on 9/11.She and her children pay tribute to him with amemorial in her Forty Fort living room, meals athis favorite restaurant in New York and kisseson a balloon bound for Heaven. Page 16

THE VICTIMS Inconceivable realityLeonard Snyder’s brother and sister still find ithard to believe he died on 9/11. His large, lov-ing family won’t let his memory fade. Page 18

THE REFUGEES Leaving, looking backFormer New Yorkers now living in NortheasternPennsylvania reflect on the attacks and how theyreshaped the city and their lives. Page 19

THE PATRIOTS Acall to serveA decade after the attacks, soldiers inspired toserve await the next battle line. Page 20

THE MEMORIES Forever ingrainedSept. 11 is etched into the memories of mil-lions of Americans. Local residents reflect onthe attacks and the changes since. Page 22

THE VOID Struggling tomove onSurrounded by memories, a Hazleton areawoman struggles to pick up the pieces of a lifeshattered by 9/11. Page 24

In the decade since terrorists hijacked jetlinersand crashed them into the north and south tow-ers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and— after being overtaken by a band of heroic pas-sengers — into a field in Shanksville, Americaand the world have grappled for perspective on atragedy that claimed nearly 3,000 lives.

The terrorists colluded to tear the fabric ofAmerica, but their cowardly actions only workedto make that bond stronger.

Not long after the hijackers slammed theircommandeered aircraft into those three build-ings and began to ruin so many defenselesslives, a renewed sense of patriotism and resolvebegin to mask the shock that Americans feltsince seeing the images of black smoke slowlyrising from the crippled north tower.

The terrorists who attacked America lookedto wound our nation and rob us of a free soci-ety where capitalism and liberty reign. Theywanted a major crush of chaos to reign instead.It did, for a few hours, or so it seemed.

The terrorists never won in hurting America.They hurt Americans. The country remains in-tact, but the families of the victims are brokenup, even now, 10 years later.

In trying to topple America, the terrorists whocarried out the attacks of 9/11 underestimatedits people. In trying to topple America, the hell-bound terrorists underestimated us all.

Today, in this special section, we reflect on9/11 and look forward: we revisit the sitesscarred by the attacks and the people most ac-cutely affected by them; we profile the localheroes compelled to military service after theattacks; and we profile the former New Yorkerswho, in the wake of the attacks, chose to callour area home.

Today is 10 years since 9/11. And not a day.

2001911 2011 TO OUR READERS

THE VICTIMS

The names of the 2,977 victims of the Sept. 11 attacks areprinted throughout this section, starting on Page 4. They arebased on a list compiled by the National September 11 Memo-rial & Museum and prepared by the Associated Press. Theyare grouped by where the victims were when they died, thehijacked flight they were on or, in the case of first responders,the agency they worked for.

Standard~SpeakerServing Luzerne, Carbon, Schuylkill, Columbia and Monroe counties since 1866 www.standardspeaker.com

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2001 HAZLETON, PENNSYLVANIA 50 Cents

The Horror

Terrorists hit Trade Center, PentagonBy DAVID CRARY and JERRY SCHWARTZAP National Writers

NEW YORK — In the most devastating ter-rorist onslaught ever waged against the Unit-ed States, knife-wielding hijackers crashed

were believed dead.In addition, a firefighters union official

said he feared an estimated 200 firefightershad died in rescue efforts at the trade center— where 50,000 people worked — anddozens of police officers were believed miss-

tions between bin Laden supporters dis-cussing the attacks on the World Trade Centerand Pentagon, according to Utah Sen. OrrinHatch, the top Republican on the SenateJudiciary Committee.

The people aboard planes who managedto make cell phone calls each described simi-lar circumstances: They indicated the hijack-ers were armed with knives, in some casesstabbing flight attendants. The hijackers thentook control of the planes

CHAO SOI CHEONG/Associated Press

Smoke billows from one of the towers of the World Trade Center and flames and debris explode from the second tower Tuesday. In one of the most horrifying attacks everagainst the United States, terrorists crashed two airliners into the World Trade Center in a deadly series of blows that brought down the twin 110-story towers.

In the worst attack on the United States since Pearl Harbor, hijackerscrash two airliners into the World Trade Center, toppling the twin towers.

Other planes slam into the Pentagon and a field in western Pennsylvania.

❏ Hazleton area natives caught in themiddle – Page 3❏ For local veterans, memories of PearlHarbor – Page 3

ON THE COVER THIS PAGE An aerial view of Ground Zero in New York, the for-An aerial view of Ground Zero in New York, the for-mer site of the World Trade Center. The National September 11Memorial and Museum opens there today. (Associated Press)

The Tribute in Light illuminates the sky over theThe Tribute in Light illuminates the sky over theBrooklyn Bridge and lower Manhattan, in New York, on Sept. 11,Brooklyn Bridge and lower Manhattan, in New York, on Sept. 11,2008. (Mark Lennihan / Associated Press)2008. (Mark Lennihan / Associated Press)

Sept. 12, 2001

S2 – THE CITIZENS' VOICE / STANDARD SPEAKER SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2011

10 years, andnot a day.By Christopher J. Kelly

We rolled into town about an hour behind the sun. MainStreet was empty. No traffic. No joggers. No dog walkers,dollar menus, free refills or old men on park benches shar-ing memories of a simpler, stronger, fairer America.

Besides us, the only sign of life was sparrows singingfrom power lines that would reduce them to ash if birdsweren’t such poor conductors of electricity. Copper is acrow’s only friend.

Behind the lunch counter at Ida’s Country Store at thecorner of Main Street and Stutzmantown Road, Tammywas wrapping ham and cheese sandwiches in advance ofwhat passes for the noontime rush in Shanksville, popu-lation 250.

The lifelong resident of this sleepy mountain towntucked in the Laurel Highlands of southwestern Penn-sylvania is happy to give directions, share a joke or dis-pense unsolicited advice to strangers, but she won’t giveup her last name.

And her age?“Old enough to know better,” she chirped, drawing a

cackle from Missy Brant, 38, who was shaving carrots

in the kitchen. Tammy talked to the media a lot in themonths after the “incident” that made Shanksville aninternational destination for pilgrims seeking to under-stand America by standing at the edge of one of its worstwounds. She has “Googled” herself a few times sinceand unhappily found that her name has been broadcastaround the world.

Folks around here value their privacy, Tammy ex-plained, and they are determined to preserve it even asbulldozers and mounds of federal and donated dollarsraise the monument that will make Shanksville a touristattraction rivaling Gettysburg. Swarms of tourists willsoon descend on her hometown, most who will neitherknow nor care what was there before tragedy put it onthe international roadmap.

As we watched the twin towers fall in Manhattan, thePentagon burn in Virginia and learned of the desperateheroism of 40 Americans who forced a plane down in aPennsylvania meadow rather than allow it to be crashedin the nation’s capitol, the rare global consensus was thatAmerica would be forever changed.

In the decade since nearly 3,000 innocent lives were tak-en on Sept. 11, 2001, America has sacrificed nearly 5,000

servicemen and women in a pair of wars that rage on,weathered a Wall Street collapse and a pair of recessions,killed Osama bin Laden, toppled Saddam and elected ablack president named Barack Hussein Obama.

Change is as relative as it is constant and forever is aconstruct of the human mind, not a reliable measure oftime. Visits to the three main sites of the attacks revealthat for all that is different about America, much remainsthe same. Distance demands that the farther away onegets from something, even an epic tragedy, the smallerit seems. When we look back on that terrible Tuesday 10years gone, it is only to remind ourselves why we mustkeep moving on.

•Shanksville’s only general store was founded in 1934 by

a widow named Ida Spangler. Known for her welcomingspirit and compassion for customers fallen on hard times,Ida passed away in 1973, when Nixon was president, thelast American soldier left Vietnam and Roe v. Wade madeabortion legal. Tammy, who grew up in town, has workedat Ida’s since she was 16. She doesn’t own the place, shecracked, “I just act like I do.”

“I’ve never wanted to live anywhere else,” she said. “I

Ground Zero, September 11, 2001 September 2011

Ground Zero, Shanksville, the Pentagon: Revisiting the places forever changed by 9/11

2001911 2011 THE DECADE

ASSOCIATED PRESS BUTCH COMEGYS / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

THE CITIZENS' VOICE / STANDARD SPEAKER SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2011 – S3

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can’t imagine living anywhere else.”Tammy said she has visited the Flight 93 memorial site

just once, to pick up her sister-in-law, who was volunteer-ing as a community ambassador. Since the 9/11 attacks,community members have been on hand to greet and guidevisitors to the crash site.

“I have no interest in it,” Tammy said. “I’m sorry it hap-pened and I wish it happened in someone else’s backyard.But I don’t feel intruded upon. It hasn’t changed life aroundhere all that much.”

Missy Brant agreed. Shanksville is still a sleepy moun-tain town and always will be, no matter how many outsid-ers pass through. That doesn’t mean nothing has changed.Tammy was out of town on 9/11, but Missy was home andfelt the impact of Flight 93 crashing to earth.

“Coal trucks travel my road, and I thought two coaltrucks had hit each other head-on,” she said. “I ran out myfront door and I saw the black smoke going up. Then myhusband’s monitor went off.”

Missy’s husband, Roger, was a member of the Shanks-ville Volunteer Fire Department on 9/11. Now, they are bothvolunteer firefighters.

“It made me want to get involved,” she said. “When I real-

ized what happened, I don’t know, I just needed to do some-thing. It’s hard to explain.”

And yet so easily understood, even to outsiders. Westopped at the Flight 93 Memorial before heading to Ida’sand found it closed. The site is under heavy construction,and the gate is maintained mostly by burly contractors whokeep their own hours and aren’t particularly worried aboutpublic inconvenience.

•A tour bus pulled out of line and we followed. Tour buses

are generally filled with tourists, and most often stop atplaces of interest. In Shanksville, there are few places moreinteresting than the United 93 Memorial Chapel at 1504Stutzmantown Road.

Roy Shaffer pulled the bus onto the grass at the side ofthe chapel and a small army of teenagers poured out. Theywere a church group from King of Prussia, he explained asthe teens circled the United Airlines memorial to the crewof Flight 93 and held hands for a prayer.

A 74-year-old retired industrial arts teacher from LowerProvidence, Montgomery County, Roy has found a secondcareer shuttling pilgrims to 9/11 sites.

“It’s a nice way to make a little extra money,” he said.

“And I get to meet a lot of nice people.”People like Patti Campbell of Lower Providence, one of

the church group chaperones.“I would encourage anyone, if they can, to come here,”

she said. “I think it’s especially important for kids. Theyneed to be reminded.”

Jonathan Riner, 28, wasn’t much older than the teens onRoy Shaffer’s bus when he enlisted in the Army in July2001. Because Army officials blocked recruits’ access tonews, he had no idea of the enormity of 9/11 until yearslater. After a year of fighting in Afghanistan, he took a jobwith the National Park Service. He now greets visitors tothe temporary Flight 93 Memorial and answers questionsabout the $60 million permanent shrine rising over the hillpast the chain-link fence.

“Since then I’ve been able to go to college and start myown consulting business. I wanted to be part of this. Inmany ways, I’ve come back to where it all started for me.I’ve come full circle,” the Florida native said as gravelpopped like corn under hot tires, pressed mostly by mini-vans carrying youth groups and road-weary families. Oneboy emerged from an SUV wearing a blue T-shirt that read,“Enough with the learning, already.”

Shanksville, September 11, 2001 September 2011

2001911 2011 THE DECADE

‘(9/11)mademewant to get involved.When I realized what happened, I don’t know,I just needed to do something. It’s hard to explain.’ —MISSY BRANT, SHANKSVILLE



Kids need to be reminded.When Roy Shaffer and his charges pulled up to the Unit-

ed 93 Memorial Chapel, its owner and cleric hadn’t arrivedfor the day. He was sorry to have missed them. Tour bustraffic has decreased dramatically over the past few years,a decline Bishop Alphonse Mascherino attributes to highgasoline prices.

•When we first met the bishop, 9/11 was only a year old

and he was 58. He is 67 now, and quit chainsmoking PallMalls four years ago, two years before he was diagnosedwith throat cancer.

“It’s been a long journey,” he said, sipping coffee from aFlight 93 memorial coffee mug, available for a $5 donation.Hats and T-shirts go for $10, a chapel cookbook for $20. Fora buck you can get a pocket copy of the Constitution orthree postcards with a special chapel postmark. The bishopdesigns a new one every year.

“I feel terrible,” he said with a grin as he welcomed us. “Istill have some chemo to go, but my doctor just told me I’mcancer-free, so I’m very thankful.”

A former Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Al-toona-Johnstown, Bishop Mascherino was between assign-

ments in 2002 when he reopened the former Mizpah Luther-an Church and transformed it into a nondenominationaltribute to the passengers and crew of Flight 93. When thediocese said he could not work at the chapel and remain “apriest in good standing,” he left the Church for his chapel.

Two years ago, he was installed as a bishop of the NorthAmerican Old Roman Catholic Church, Archdiocese ofCalifornia. Roman Catholic in its sacraments, the NAORCis “out of communion with Rome,” and describes itself as a“wayfarers’ church,” which seems a perfect fit for a bishopwho wears worn jeans and black, steel-toed cowboy bootsto work.

Bishop Mascherino put a downpayment on the chapelsix weeks after the attacks. Deeply moved by the heroismof the passengers and crew of Flight 93, he chose to devotethe rest of his life to honoring their sacrifice. Many familyand friends of those who died on the plane have visited thechurch, and the sanctuary houses many personal artifacts.

The rugby teams of Los Gatos High School and the Uni-versity of California, Berkley, the California alma matersof Flight 93 passenger Mark Bingham, 31, presented arugby ball to the chapel in 2009. The 6-foot-4 advertisingexecutive and former rugby player was among those who

charged the cockpit. The mother of LeRoy Homer Jr., firstofficer on Flight 93, donated the silver-plated shovel shewas presented at the groundbreaking of the National 9/11Monument under construction in Manhattan.

Bishop Mascherino and a group of investors incorporat-ed a foundation to build a new chapel on the StutzmantownRoad site and a new, $10 million facility closer to the crashsite. The current chapel will be moved into that facility.

“That way, we can preserve this place for 100 years,” hesaid. “If that’s my legacy, I’m a happy man.”

•The first soldier buried at Arlington National Cemetery

was a Pennsylvania boy felled by measles.A laborer from York, William Henry Christman was 21

when he enlisted with the 67th Pennsylvania Infantry onMarch 25, 1864. For signing up, he was paid $60 in cash andgiven a $300 promissory note payable by the federal govern-ment. His complexion is described as “florid” on his CivilWar veteran’s card in the Pennsylvania Archives. His eyeswere “grey,” his hair “sandy.” He stood 5 feet, 7½ inches talland never married.

In a letter dated April 3, 1864, the newly minted soldiertold his parents he was happy and healthy.

The Pentagon, September 11, 2001 September 2011

2001911 2011 THE DECADE

‘I would encourage anyone, if they can, to come here. I think it’s especially importantfor kids. They need to be reminded.’ — PATTI CAMPBELL, LOWER PROVIDENCE, PA.


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“I em well at the preasant time ant hope that my few lineswill find you the same,” he wrote. “I like it very good. Wehave enuph to eat and drink.”

Less than a month later, William Henry Christman diedof peritonitis at Lincoln General Hospital. He was laid torest on May 13, 1864. A freed slave named James Parks dughis grave.

His gravestone, which simply reads, “Wm. Christman,PA,” can be found in lot 19, section 27. James Parks is bur-ied in Section 15, the only soul buried at Arlington who wasalso born on the estate.

The estate was built by George Washington Parke Custis,an adopted son of George Washington. He handed the prop-erty down to his daughter, Mary Anne Randolph Custis,who married a young Army lieutenant named Robert E.Lee, who would go on to lead the Army of Northern Vir-ginia and become the greatest general of the Confederacy.

U.S. Army Quartermaster General Montgomery C.Meigs, a Georgia native who condemned southerners whobroke from the Union as traitors, chose the Lee estateas a military cemetery. He ordered gravesites to be closeenough to the mansion that it could never be lived in again.Twenty-six Union soldiers were buried in Mrs. Lee’s fabledrose garden, followed by 1,800 more from the Battle of BullRun. Gen. Meigs, his son and wife are buried at Arlington,within 100 yards of the main house.

•About two miles south of the cemetery squats the mas-

sive military complex where the policies that fill placeslike Arlington are fleshed out and locked in. Covering 6.5million square feet and housing 17½ miles of corridors,the five-sided behemoth cloaked in Indiana limestone is acity unto itself, with its own laws, police force and transitsystem. It has its own airspace, a shopping mall and six zipcodes.

In one of the great American ironies, ground was brokenfor the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 1941. Sixty years later to theday, hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into thewestern side of the building, killing 184 people and the fivemonsters who murdered them. The attack claimed 59 pas-sengers on the plane and another 125 who went to work thatmorning and never came home.

The memorial lies in the shadow of the fully repairedimpact site, the only remaining trace of the damage done. Itis the only place on the Pentagon reservation where photog-raphy is permitted, a rule strictly enforced by the PentagonPolice.

As a result, the memorial is as martial as it is moving. Be-cause the Pentagon is the seat of American military power,finding a balance between security and allowing civilianaccess is complicated. When it opened on Sept. 11, 2008, theNational Park Service estimated that the memorial woulddraw more than 2 million visitors per year. The annual av-erage has turned out to be between 225,000 and 250,000.

It was 105 degrees with 80 percent humidity on the after-

Bishop Alphonse Mascherino, Shanksville

2001911 2011 THE DECADE

BUTCH COMEGYS / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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noon we visited. We were alone most of the time, and thefew who wandered into the 1.93-acre plot declined to speakwith the dizzy, sweat-soaked columnist from Pennsylvania.I didn’t feel much like talking, either. Besides, the memorialspeaks for itself.

There are 184 illuminated benches, arranged accordingto the ages of the victims. Each bench bears the name ofsomeone lost that day. A wall surrounding the benchesbears the birthdates of each and rises from 3 inches to 71inches, accounting for the youngest and oldest victims. Pa-perbark maple trees are scattered between the benches. Thetrees are native to central China, and were introduced toNorth America in the early 1900s. They are prized for theirdefiant autumn colors and their bark, which peels but stub-bornly hangs on to the branches, challenging time and theelements to wear it away.

•The Pentagon memorial is a powerful tribute, but no-

where do the echoes of 9/11 ring more insistently thanin Section 60 at Arlington, reserved for servicemen andwomen killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Sec-tion 60, memorials placed on the graves are as fresh as thewounds that call fathers, mothers, spouses, children andfriends to kneel on tightly clipped grass and shed hot tearson cold stone.

Army Spc. Dale Kridlo, 33, a Hughestown native killed inAfghanistan, was laid to rest in Section 60 last November.At his funeral in Pittston before his flag-draped casket wasdriven to Virginia, the lone sound that pierced the raw, rain-spattered silence as the doors of the hearse were closed wasthe wailing of his twin 9-year-old daughters, Madelyne andZoe. It was a ragged hymn to a loss that will reverberate inthese little girls’ lives until the day they join their father.

From its founding, Arlington has been a national down-payment on debts that can never be satisfied, an elegant ac-knowledgement that a country that worships the almightydollar must keep a higher ledger in which we record sacri-fices money cannot buy or replace.

The stones of Arlington glow like polished bones in thelong morning light. Taps is carried on the abiding breezefrom dawn to dusk, lilting above a faint, mechanical snarlin the distance. Multiple funerals are performed there ev-ery day. Horse-drawn caissons deliver flag-draped caskets.Old men choke back tears as seven shooters fire threevolleys. Little girls in pastel sundresses fidget in the lapsof red-eyed mothers who desperately want to shield theirchildren from the cruelness of the world but need them tounderstand that Daddy gave his life so they could grow upin a simpler, stronger, fairer America.

War is the ultimate failure of humanity, but history isreplete with stories of civilizations that didn’t rise whenattacked and were wiped from the earth. A world withoutwar is something we should all strive for, but that is not theworld we live in. It never has been.

The fallen interred at Arlington and cemeteries across

Jonathan Riner, an Army veteran turned parkranger, stands guard at the Shanksville site.

2001911 2011 THE DECADE

BUTCH COMEGYS / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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the nation offer silent, irrefutable testimony that Americawill always rise so long as its people live up to the idealsthese patriots died for. We are heirs to a legacy begun by aPennsylvania soldier buried by a freed slave, and all respon-sible for its keeping. Any one of us who wants to understandduty, honor and sacrifice need only stroll the ghostly rows ofArlington. There you will find a spirit of valor, devotion andselflessness the cowards who engineered and cheered theSept. 11 attacks can never understand, let alone destroy.

If you walk long enough, you will also find the source ofthe snarl droning in the distance — bulldozers clearing spacefor more graves.

•They slept with their boots on, so no time would be wasted

when they were called back to the pit.Stretched out on the pews of the oldest church building in

Manhattan and warming themselves with blankets and let-ters from children all over the world, scores of New York Cityfirefighters found rest and refuge inside a stone-and-mortarmiracle.

How else to describe St. Paul’s Chapel at 209 Broadway inlower Manhattan? The tiny Episcopal church stands just afew hundred yards from Ground Zero, but when the twintowers tumbled, St. Paul’s survived. The church, built in 1766,has been making American history for nearly 250 years. Ithosted George Washington following his inauguration in1789 and was his church for the two years New York servedas the nation’s capital.

Washington’s pew is still there, but most of the othershave been removed to make way for tourists. In the days andweeks after the attacks, St. Paul’s was a rallying point for firstresponders and survivors desperately seeking word of miss-ing loved ones. The iron gates around the chapel propertywere blanketed with photographs of the missing and pre-sumed dead and messages of pain, shock, loss and support.These offerings were coated in dust. Some of that dust hadonce been people.

•The gates of St. Paul’s have been cleared and the chapel

is now a major tourist attraction, included as a “must-see”in guidebooks and bus-tour itineraries. A decade after theattacks, much of Lower Manhattan has the feel of a themepark, a sort of Disney World of National Tragedy. Streetvendors hawk falafel sandwiches and 9/11 snow globes. Thevisitors’ center for the 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero sellsT-shirts, coffee mugs, Christmas ornaments and books like“Falling Man,” “Women at Ground Zero” and “Hero Dogs ofSept. 11th.”

Even the panhandlers have bought in. A man polishing abronze memorial at the New York City Fire Department’sStation 10 — which faces Ground Zero and lost five firefight-ers in the attacks — shouted like a madman about how “9/11was an inside job” and passed around a bucket for donations.His voice was must softer and businesslike when he an-swered his cellphone.

2001911 2011 THE DECADE

A new tower rises at Ground Zero

ASSOCIATED PRESS

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Where heartbroken survivors once roamed blank-faced onthe walkways of St. Paul’s, smiling co-workers gab over lunchand families from all over the world clown for vacation snap-shots as if they were standing in front of the Grand Canyonor on the boardwalk at the Jersey Shore.

“Life goes on, but I think this is something my grandkidswill remember for the rest of their lives,” said Joel Carden, 58,an Orange County, Calif., retiree in New York on vacation withhis wife, two daughters and three grandchildren. He was bornthere, and had visited St. Paul’s four times before.

“Most people in my generation remember where they werewhen JFK was assassinated, or when Reagan was shot,” hesaid. “This will be the same kind of thing for them.”

Joel, whose oldest granddaughter, Macayla, 10, was born afew months before 9/11, said he will also remember where hewas when he heard the news that Osama bin Laden was dead.

“Mostly because of the reaction, the imagery,” he said. “Ican only speak for myself, but I was bothered by all the cel-ebration, because it reminded me of all those people we sawcheering in the streets of (Middle Eastern cities) after 9/11.We’re better than that, aren’t we? We all knew justice hadbeen done, but to cheer someone’s death, no matter how muchhe deserved it, I’m not sure that’s the best way to react.”

•Some reactions to 9/11 are more complicated than others.

Many native New Yorkers I know are disgusted by the com-mercialization of the tragedy, but I argue that it is a typicallyAmerican reaction. While some of us wish it weren’t so, weare a nation of capitalists, and capitalists find a way to capi-talize on anything.

That 9/11 has been developed into an industry is furtherevidence of how deeply the engineers of the attacks misun-derstood the dogged perseverance and entrepreneurial spiritthat helped lay the foundation of this nation. They struck inthe center of our financial might, but as devastating as theinitial shock was, it has been absorbed by the very system itwas intended to destroy. Never mind that most snow globesare made in China.

In the end, al Qaida was no match for Wall Street. If youreally want to take down the American economy, you needhedge fund managers and banksters with unparalleled greedand gall. For the more than 14 million Americans who are un-employed and the multiple millions of middle-class familiesstruggling to stay afloat 10 years after 9/11, fear is an everydayphenomenon.

“People are broke,” said Luis Rivera, a 23-year-old fromBrooklyn who works part-time in the tiny gift shop at St.

Paul’s. He said the number of tourists visiting the chapel hasdwindled the last few years, and even with the impending an-niversary, he didn’t expect that to change substantially.

“Things are bad,” he said, shrugging. “With the economythe way it is, people just don’t have the money to travel. The an-niversary is coming up, but it’s still the same people, the samebad economy. I don’t know what it’s going to take to fix it.”

Neither do I, which puts Luis and me in the same club asthe president and Congress, even though neither of us couldget through security at the door. Still, the throngs of touristsringing around Ground Zero suggest that a lot of falafel andsnow globes will be sold in Manhattan today.

The grand canyon of Manhattan has become an interna-tional landmark, and, like New York itself, it is ever changing,shedding the spent chrysalis of the past and avoiding eyecontact as it treads briskly toward whatever comes next. InNew York, even the butterflies are more about attitude thanaltitude. Wise crows steer clear of them.

•The memorial the president and others will visit today

is nearing completion, as is One World Trade Center, a $3.3billion, 1,776-foot middle finger extended to those who mistak-enly believed they could take down a nation by toppling a pairof towers. There were thousands of innocent people in thosetowers, and hundreds more who were claimed when theyrained down. There is no getting past that, nor should therebe. Today, we mourn their sacrifice and pray for the lovedones they left behind, but we also look forward, as Americanshave always done, because that is what we do best.

America is always becoming. What it is becoming is some-times a source of worry, but never doubt. Possibility is ouronly true national religion. In a world strewn with obstacles,we are a nation of opportunists. Also altruists, apologists, ego-tists and obstructionists and a million other “ists” in between.The idea of America works not in spite of these differences,but because of them, and that, perhaps more than anythingelse, is the lesson we should all take from 9/11.

Maybe on the 20th anniversary, Joel Carden’s granddaugh-ter will take her family to New York to show her kids whereGrandpa was born. Maybe they’ll take vacation pictures oftheir own from the top of One World Trade Center. Maybe shewill be standing next to Luis Rivera, a self-made millionaireand philanthropist who is only too happy to handle the cam-era so Macayla can be in the frame.

Maybe.

Kelly is a columnist for the Scranton Times-Tribune.

2001911 2011 THE DECADE

‘The anniversary is coming up, but it’s still the samepeople, the same bad economy. I don’t know whatit’s going to take to fix it.’—LUISRIVERA, BROOKLYN

Shanksville

Ground Zero

The Pentagon

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2001911 2011 THE SURVIVOR

WARREN RUDA / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Former New York City police Officer Lisa Cahill

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Whenyoucan’t forgetBy Elizabeth Skrapits

Lisa Hazamoon Cahill’s biggest fear is people will forgetSept. 11. The former New York City police officer will neverforget the day that changed her life — and American his-tory — forever.

At her Luzerne vintage clothing studio, Hazamoon Cre-ations, Cahill has displays of photographs and 9/11 memo-rabilia in honor of her friends and colleagues who lost theirlives in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

The Brooklyn, N.Y., native, who joined the force in 1991,is still haunted by nightmares of the falling towers and thevictims, still bears the emotional and physical scars fromher experiences at Ground Zero.

And yet, Cahill knows how lucky she was that day,when someone — whose name she’ll probably never know— saved her life.

NightmareThe morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Cahill was on duty in the

New York Police Department headquarters at One PolicePlaza, about six blocks away from the Twin Towers, man-ning the security X-ray machine. She worked for the unit

that secured police headquarters for Mayor Rudolph W.Giuliani and police Commissioner Bernard Kerik.

“From my post, you could see the two buildings there. Itwas a beautiful, beautiful scene,” Cahill said.

At about 8:40 a.m. her own building shook. A secretarysaid, “We’ve been bombed.”

Cahill left her post and asked what the noise was. Shesaid a sergeant on duty told her, “‘Officer, a commercial jetliner just slammed into the World Trade Center.’”

At first, everyone assumed it was an accident.“But my heart and soul told me we were under attack,”

Cahill said.She went back to her post.“When the second plane slammed into the second build-

ing, we knew. It was confirmed at that point for most, if notall of us,” she said. “We knew we were under attack, andwe heard there was a fourth plane that was headed for theWhite House. The Pentagon had been struck already.”

But the fourth plane never made it to Washington, D.C.Passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 wrested controlof the plane from the hijackers and it crashed in a field inShanksville, Pa.

In New York, the horrors were escalating.

After the first of the TwinTowers fell, Cahill said her ser-

geant told her to go outside and distribute masks. The solesof her boots melted from the extreme heat.

“No one expected the second building to come down asquickly as it did. I heard the metal on metal and looked overmy left shoulder. I saw the second building twisting,” shesaid. “It was twisting from the middle portion, and I knewI was going to die. And I remember when it finally camedown, people were running, and you saw the debris fallingon them. You can’t outrun this. You couldn’t outrun it. AndI knew my turn was coming.

“Somebody saved me that day. And this —” she points to aphotograph on the front of the sales counter “— this is thebooth, the checkpoint booth that saved my life. Somebodypicked me up by the back of my neck … threw me into thatsingle-man checkout booth, slammed the door and took off.”

She never found out who it was.“Granted, I sustained injuries from it, because I have

neck (problems), my hands bend all the way back now, Ihave to take all kinds of medication at night — but I wassaved. Somebody saved me that day,” Cahill said.

None of the police officers were allowed to go home that

A decade later, former NYPD Officer Lisa Cahill is still haunted by the memories of 9/11

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day. They were waiting for the rest of the

buildings to fall.

“It was just so bad to know that people

were jumping out. And you knew, because

you heard the bodies slamming,” Cahilll

said.

One of the memories Cahill said gives her

recurring nightmares was standing by help-

lessly, watching a mother holding her baby

out the window of the restaurant in the

World Trade Center, Windows on the World.

“And I wanted to catch that baby so badly,”

she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“I would gladly have given my life that day

to catch that baby.”

RecoveryMany police officers, including Cahill,

volunteered their time, even after 12-hour

shifts, to search for remains. After the build-

ings had fallen, the World Trade Center site

was a chaotic mess.

“I remember the papers, so many papers,”

Cahill said.

Everything was “crushed and ground

into nothing,” she said. She said the only

thing she found intact was the face plate of

a phone.

During the cleanup, the dead firefighters’

beepers — the locators with which they

were equipped — kept going off, Cahill said.

“They were coming from everywhere. You

didn’t know where to go first,” she said.

Several of Cahill’s friends and colleagues

were killed in the attack.

Officer James P. Leahy worked in the

Sixth Precinct, but was about to join her

unit. Cahill remembers finding Jimmy’s

remains.

Cahill’s workout partner, Officer John

W. Perry, came in on 9/11 to file paperwork

because he was retiring so he could study

law. When the attack happened, Cahill said

he didn’t even wait for the elevators, just put

down his paperwork and ran to the World

Trade Center.

“That was the last we saw of John,” Cahill

said. “He would have made a great lawyer.”

There was Officer Moira A. Smith, whose

husband was also a police officer.

“I held her 3-year-old baby girl in my

arms. She’s probably 13 now,” Cahill said.


Cahill displays photographs of fallen friends and colleagues on a wall at her shop in Luzerne.

CraigDamianLilore•ArnoldArboledaLim•DaryaLin•WeiRongLin•NickieL.Lindo•ThomasV.Linehan,Jr.•AlanPatrickLinton,Jr.•DianeTheresaLipari•KennethP.LiraArévalo•FranciscoAlbertoLiriano•LorraineLisi•PaulLisson•VincentM.Litto•Ming-HaoLiu•NancyLiz•HaroldLizcano•MartinLizzul•GeorgeA.Llanes•ElizabethC.Logler•CatherineLisaLoguidice•JérômeRobertLohez•MichaelWilliamLomax•LauraMariaLonging•SalvatoreP.Lopes•DanielLopez•GeorgeLopez•LuisManuelLopez•ManuelL.Lopez•JosephLostrangio•ChetDekLouie•StuartSeidLouis•JosephLovero•JennySeuKuengLowWong•MichaelW.Lowe•GarryW.Lozier•JohnP.Lozowsky•CharlesPeterLucania•EdwardHobbsLuckettII•MarkGavinLudvigsen•LeeCharlesLudwig•SeanThomasLugano•DanielLugo•MarieLukas•WilliamLum,Jr.•MichaelP.Lunden•ChristopherE.Lunder•AnthonyLuparello•GaryFrederickLutnick•LindaAnneLuzzicone•AlexanderLygin•FarrellPeterLynch•LouiseA.Lynch•MichaelCameronLynch•RichardD.Lynch,Jr.•SeanP.Lynch•SeanPatrickLynch•MonicaAnneLyons•RobertFrancisMace•JanMaciejewski•CatherineFairfaxMacRae•RichardBlaineMadden•SimonMaddison•NoellC.Maerz•JennieannMaffeo•JayRobertMagazine•BrianMagee•CharlesW.Magee•JosephV.Maggitti•RonaldMagnuson•DanielL.Maher•ThomasA.Mahon•JosephDanielMaio•LindaC.Mair-Grayling•TakashiMakimoto•AbduAliMalahi•DeboraI.Maldonado•MyrnaT.Maldonado-Agosto•AlfredRussellMaler•GregoryJamesMalone•EdwardFrancisMaloneyIII•GeneEdwardMaloy•ChristianH.Maltby•FranciscoMiguelMancini•JosephMangano•SaraElizabethManley•DebraM.Mannetta•MarionVictoriaManning•TerenceJohnManning•JamesMaounis•LauraA.Marchese•PeterEdwardMardikian•EdwardJosephMardovich•LesterV.Marino•VitaMarino•KevinD.Marlo•JoseJuanMarrero•JamesMartello•MichaelA.Marti•WilliamJ.Martin,Jr.•BrianE.Martineau•BetsyMartinez•EdwardJ.Martinez•JoseAngelMartinez,Jr.•RobertGabrielMartinez•LizieD.Martinez-Calderon•AnneMarieMartino-Cramer•BernardMascarenhas•StephenFrankMasi•NicholasGeorgeMassa•MichaelMassaroli•PhilipWilliamMastrandrea,Jr.•RudyMastrocinque•JosephMathai•CharlesWilliamMathers•WilliamA.Mathesen•MarcelloMatricciano•MargaretElaineMattic•RobertD.Mattson•WalterA.Matuza,Jr.•JillMaurer-Campbell•CharlesA.Mauro,Jr.•CharlesJ.Mauro•DorothyMauro•NancyT.Mauro•TyroneMay•RobertJ.Mayo•EdwardMazzella,Jr.•JenniferLynnMazzotta•KaariaMbaya•JamesJosephMcAlary,Jr.•PatriciaAnnMcAneney•ColinR.McArthur•KennethM.McBrayer•BrendanF.McCabe•MichaelMcCabe•JustinMcCarthy



And Officer Walter E. Weaver, who was

part of the emergency services unit.

Cahill said the Staten Island landfill had

been closed, but it was reopened “because we

had to truck in all the debris from the World

Trade Center and comb through everything

to find jewelry, wallets” and other personal

possessions to identify people.

“So many lives lost. Too many lives lost.

And all they did was come to work that day,”

she said.

Cahill opposes rebuilding the World Trade

Center site.

“We’re not supposed to build there,” she

said. “I know that in my heart. It’s hallowed

ground.”

AftermathIn the aftermath of that terrible time,

Cahill said she had four foot surgeries, was

hospitalized due to seizures, and suffers

from asthma.

“I know what we were breathing in that

day, and I know that we were lied to about

what was in the air. And it was proven years

afterward,” she said. “It doesn’t do anything

to help us now, though, it doesn’t. Our lungs

are coated.”

Cahill left the New York City police in

2004, about the time her son Patrick, now

7, was born. It hasn’t been easy: she had to

face Patrick’s autism diagnosis, a divorce

and a case of identity theft by “so-called

friends” while in the hospital with seizures.

“God has helped me through an awful

lot,” Cahill said.

She has her faith and her friends to lean

on. Kym Vest, Deanna Fisk and Greg Wil-

liams — who is featuring Cahill’s original

clothing designs in his shop, Studio 309

— stood by her side for moral support as she

told the story of her experiences on that fate-

ful September day.

“Now here I am 10 years later, in Pennsyl-

vania, divorced, but blessed, because God

sent me the people in my life. He gave me

a store, and a talent to sew, and a way that

I could honor God and honor my mom at

the same time, and I fully intend to do so,”

Cahill said.

“I’m going to make sure that my son knows

who he is, where he came from, and grows up

the way God wants him to grow up.

“And someday maybe I’ll talk to him about

the things that we went through.”

‘Here I am 10 years later, in Pennsylvania, divorced, but blessed,because God sent me the people in my life. He gave me a store,and a talent to sew, and a way that I could honor God and hon-or mymom at the same time, and I fully intend to do so.’

WARREN RUDA / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Thousands of emergency personnel, including Cahill, rushed to Ground Zero moments after the attacks.

KevinM.McCarthy•MichaelDesmondMcCarthy•RobertG.McCarthy•StanleyMcCaskill•KatieMarieMcCloskey•CharlesAustinMcCrann•TonyellF.McDay•MatthewT.McDermott•JosephP.McDonald•MichaelP.McDonnell•JohnF.McDowell,Jr.•EamonJ.McEneaney•JohnThomasMcErlean,Jr.•DanielFrancisMcGinley•MarkRyanMcGinly•ThomasHenryMcGinnis•MichaelGregoryMcGinty•AnnWalshMcGovern•ScottMartinMcGovern•StaceySennasMcGowan•FrancisNoelMcGuinn•PatrickJ.McGuire•ThomasM.McHale•KeithDavidMcHeffey•AnnM.McHugh•DenisJ.McHughIII•MichaelEdwardMcHugh,Jr.•RobertG.McIlvaine•StephanieMarieMcKenna•BarryJ.McKeon•EvelynC.McKinnedy•DarrylLeronMcKinney•GeorgePatrickMcLaughlin,Jr.•RobertC.McLaughlin,Jr.•GavinMcMahon•EdmundM.McNally•DanielWalkerMcNeal•ChristineSheilaMcNulty•SeanPeterMcNulty•RoccoA.Medaglia•AbigailMedina•AnaIrisMedina•DamianMeehan•WilliamJ.Meehan,Jr.•AlokKumarMehta•ManuelEmilioMejia•EskedarMelaku•AntonioMelendez•MaryP.Melendez•YelenaMelnichenko•StuartToddMeltzer•DiareliaJovanahMena•LizetteMendoza•ShevonneOliciaMentis•WesleyMercer•RalphJosephMercurio•AlanHarveyMerdinger•GeorgeL.Merino•YamelJosefinaMerino•GeorgeMerkouris•DeborahMerrick•RaymondJosephMetzIII•JillAnnMetzler•DavidRobertMeyer•NurulH.Miah•WilliamEdwardMicciulli•MartinPaulMichelstein•PeterTeagueMilano•GregoryMilanowycz•LukaszTomaszMilewski•SharonChristinaMillan•CoreyPeterMiller•CraigJ.Miller•JoelMiller•MichaelMatthewMiller•PhilipD.Miller•RobertAlanMiller•RobertCromwellMiller,Jr.•BennyMillman•CharlesM.Mills,Jr.•RonaldKeithMilstein•WilliamGeorgeMinardi•LouisJosephMinervino•WilbertMiraille•DomenickN.Mircovich•RajeshArjanMirpuri•JosephD.Mistrulli•SusanJ.Miszkowicz•RichardP.Miuccio•FrankV.Moccia,Sr.•BoyieMohammed•KleberRolandoMolina•ManuelDeJesusMolina•JustinJohnMolisani,Jr.•BrianPatrickMonaghan•FranklynMonahan•JohnGerardMonahan•KristenLeighMontanaro•CraigMontano•CherylAnnMonyak•SharonMoore•KrishnaV.Moorthy•AbnerMorales•CarlosManuelMorales•PaulaE.Morales•JohnChristopherMoran•KathleenMoran•LindsayStapletonMorehouse•GeorgeWilliamMorell•StevenP.Morello•YvetteNicoleMoreno•DorothyMorgan•RichardJ.Morgan•NancyMorgenstern•SanaeMori•BlancaRobertinaMorochoMorocho•LeonelGeronimoMorochoMorocho•DennisGerardMoroney•LynneIreneMorris•SethAllanMorris•SteveMorris•ChristopherMartelMorrison•WilliamDavidMoskal•MarcoMotroni•CynthiaMotus-Wilson•IouriA.Mouchinski•JudeJosephMoussa


No closure for grievingmother

PHOTOGRAPHS BY WARREN RUDA / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Phylis Carlo holds a steel cross made from World Trade Center debris. Her youngest son, Michael, a firefighter from Engine Co.230 in Brooklyn, lost his life while helping evacuate the South Tower. Phyllis wears a necklace bearing a photograph of Michael.

Carlo’s youngest son,

a firefighter, died in

the Sept. 11 attacks

By Bob Kalinowski

For Phyllis Carlo, there is no closure.Not 10 years later. Not because Osama

bin Laden was finally killed. Not ever.“I don’t think there’s ever closure,” Carlo

said recently. “My son won’t be cominghome.”

Carlo’s emotional wounds are still as rawas when she saw the World Trade Centertowers crash down while watching televi-sion at her Newport Township home themorning of Sept. 11.

“When I saw the towers fall, I fell,” Carlo,75, said. “I knew I lost him.”

Indeed, her worst fears came true. Heryoungest son, Michael Carlo, 34, a firefight-er from Engine Co. 230 in Brooklyn, N.Y.,was killed in the attacks.

“It’s as fresh as it was 10 years ago. Itdoesn’t change. It hasn’t changed for me,”Carlo said. “I’m still back 10 years ago. Iknow I’m older, but it seems like yesterday.”

Despite never recovering any of Mi-chael’s remains, two months after Sept.11, the family held a memorial service forhim in the Whitestone neighborhood ofQueens, N.Y., where he lived.

“We never found anything. We never gotanything. Nothing,” Carlo said.

As far as she’s concerned, rubble fromthe World Trade Center is her son’s re-mains. She keeps a piece of concrete, ashard of glass, and a piece of steel shapedlike a cross on a shrine dedicated to Mi-chael at her home.

“That’s where Michael is,” Carlo said.Carlo was born and raised in Newport

Township’s Wanamie section before mov-ing to New York City for work.

2001911 2011 THE VICTIMS

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She raised Michael and her other son,Robert, in the city while working for anairlines company. Upon retirement in1991, she moved back to Wanamie.

Robert, 48, joined the FDNY first, prompt-ing Michael to follow in his older brother’sfootsteps, Carlo said.

On Sept. 11, she said she worried aboutRobert first because his engine companywas based in Manhattan. Robert survived,but spent weeks scouring the rubble wherehis brother and colleagues lie.

Neither man was supposed to be workingthat day, Carlo says.

The brothers were leaving for vacationSept. 12 to the British Virgin Islands, wherethey hoped to earn their captain’s certifi-cates in sailing. They initially planned totake off work on Sept. 11, but decided towork and tack on the extra vacation day atthe end of their week off.

“I didn’t know if they had the day off,”Carlo recalled. “I saw it on television and Iimmediately called them. I was hoping theywent on vacation.”

Carlo was planning to go to New YorkCity for Sept. 11 to attend a Mass for vic-tims families at St. Patrick’s Cathedral andthen spend the day at Engine Co. 230 withMichael’s firefighter brethren.

But then she was invited to LuzerneCounty Community College for a Sept. 11remembrance ceremony at the Public SafetyTraining Center in Nanticoke. She willparticipate in a wreath presentation at theWalk of Honor, where a piece of steel fromthe World Trade Center will be unveiled.Nearly $20,000 from a victims compensationfund was directed to the college in Michael’sname to help with the launch of the trainingcenter. A monument etched with Michael’sphoto is located along the Walk of Honor.

“They dedicated it to Michael, in hismemory,” Carlo said.

A shrine to Michael Carlo is on display in the home of Phyllis Carlo in Wanamie, Newport Township.

‘I didn’t know if they had theday off. I saw it on televisionand I immediately called them.I was hoping they went onvacation.’—PHYLLISCARLO

‘I don’t think there’s ever closure. My son won’t be coming home,’ Phyllis Carlo said

about her son Michael. She wears a pendant with his photograph in his honor.

Michael Carlo followed his older brother,

Robert, into the fire department.


SalvatoreT.Papasso•VinodKumarParakat•VijayashankerParamsothy•NitinRameshParandkar•HardaiParbhu•DebraMarieParis•GeorgeParis•GyeHyongPark•PhilipLaceyParker•MichaelAlaineParkes•RobertE.Parks,Jr.•HashmukhC.Parmar•DianeMarieParsons•LeobardoLopezPascual•MichaelJ.Pascuma,Jr.•JerroldHughesPaskins•HoraceRobertPassananti•SuzanneH.Passaro•AvnishRamanbhaiPatel•DiptiPatel•ManishPatel•StevenBennettPaterson•JamesMatthewPatrick•ManuelD.Patrocino•BernardE.Patterson•CiraMariePatti•RobertE.Pattison•JamesRobertPaul•PatricePaz•VictorHugoPaz•StaceyLynnPeak•RichardAllenPearlman•ThomasPedicini•ToddDouglasPelino•MikeAdrianPelletier•AnthonyG.Peluso•AngelR.Pena•RichardAlPenny•SalvatoreF.Pepe•CarlAllenB.Peralta•RobertDavidPeraza•JonA.Perconti,Jr.•AlejoPerez•AngelPerez,Jr.•AngelaSusanPerez•AnthonyPerez•IvanAntonioPerez•NancyE.Perez•JosephJohnPerroncino•EdwardJ.Perrotta•EmeldaH.Perry•FranklinAllanPershep•DannyPesce•MichaelJohnPescherine•DavinN.Peterson•WilliamRussellPeterson•MarkJamesPetrocelli•KaleenElizabethPezzuti•Tu-AnhPham•SnehaAnnePhilip•EugeniaMcCannPiantieri•LudwigJohnPicarro•MatthewPicerno•JosephO.Pick•DennisJ.Pierce•BernardPietronico•NicholasP.Pietrunti•TheodorosPigis•SusanElizabethPinto•JosephPiskadlo•ChristopherToddPitman•JoshuaMichaelPiver•JosephPlumitallo•JohnM.Pocher•WilliamHowardPohlmann•LaurenceMichaelPolatsch•ThomasH.Polhemus•StevePollicino•SusanM.Pollio•JoshuaIosuaPoptean•GiovannaPorras•AnthonyPortillo•JamesEdwardPotorti•DaphnePouletsos•RichardN.Poulos•StephenEmanualPoulos•BrandonJeromePowell•AntonioDorseyPratt•GregoryM.Preziose•WandaIvelissePrince•EverettMartinProctorIII•CarrieBethProgen•DavidLeePruim•JohnFosterPuckett•RobertDavidPugliese•EdwardF.Pullis•PatriciaAnnPuma•HemanthKumarPuttur•EdwardR.Pykon•ChristopherQuackenbush•LarsPeterQualben•BethAnnQuigley•JamesFrancisQuinn•CarolMillicentRabalais•ChristopherPeterAnthonyRacaniello•LauraMarieRagonese-Snik•PeterFrankRaimondi•HarryA.Raines•EhteshamRaja•ValsaRaju•LukasRambousek•MariaRamirez•HarryRamos•VishnooRamsaroop•LorenzoE.Ramzey•AlfredToddRancke•JonathanC.Randall•ShreyasS.Ranganath•AnneT.Ransom•FainaRapoport•RobertA.Rasmussen•AmeniaRasool•R.MarkRasweiler•DavidAlanJamesRathkey•WilliamRalphRaub•GerardF.Rauzi•AlexeyRazuvaev•GregoryReda•SarahAnneRedheffer•MicheleMarieReed•JudithAnnReese•ThomasMichaelRegan•HowardReich•GreggReidy



By Andrew Staub

Even as the children’s artwork and family photos haveaccumulated on the walls of Lisa Valcarcel-Serrano’s FortyFort home, one corner of her living room has remained fro-zen in the years and moments before Sept. 11, 2001.

There, 36-year-old Lisa has created a memorial to herfather, William Valcarcel, the noted prankster, avid travelerand dedicated family man who over three decades workedhis way up from a field agent to a supervisor with the NewYork State Department of Taxation and Finance.

Two black-and-white photos show that career progres-sion from a young William at the desk he assumed aboutfour decades ago to another showing his view of the Brook-lyn Bridge from his office on the 87th floor of the WorldTrade Center. In between, William smiles in a color portraittaken about 10 years ago, just before he died when the towerhe worked in crashed to the ground. William, 54, was justtwo months shy of retirement, with plans to travel thecountry in a Winnebago.

On a recent evening, Lisa pointed to a gold butterfly shetucked behind the portrait. Telling the story behind it, Lisasaid her father used to tell his three children and theirmother that their family stuck together like the five fingersof a closed fist. It was, William said, a cocoon.

“He always said our family was the cocoon. Nothing couldever harm or hurt us. We were always together, united,” Lisasaid. “When my dad died, we said, ‘What happens when some-one dies? What happens when the cocoon has been broken?’”

Lisa’s family believes they know the answer after adecade of grieving that has included a frantic search fortheir father on Sept. 11, the death of the mastermindbehind the terrorist plot and the eventual realization Wil-liam would want them to enjoy life instead of constantlylamenting his fate.

“A butterfly is released,” Lisa said. “Our father left ourcocoon to become the beautiful butterfly that everybodyadmires so much.”

DAVE SCHERBENCO

KissesLisa Valcarcel-Serrano feelsher father’s spirit, a decadeafter his death on Sept. 11

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‘He came home’The healing began with a battered photo ID card William

Valcarcel wore around his neck for work.It arrived in December 2001, along with some credits cards

and cash William was carrying on Sept. 11. The packageincluded no information about who sent it.

“That was our Christmas present. He came home,” Lisasaid. “Receiving that, we were OK if we didn’t find anything,if his body was not recovered. We got a piece of him home.”

In June of 2002, police called Lisa to tell her they found twobone fragments belonging to William. After a memorial ser-vice, they buried part of William’s shoulder and his humerusat Saint Raymond’s Cemetery in the Bronx, N.Y. A few yearslater, authorities identified a leg bone belonging to William.

The burial marked a significant step in the family’s heal-ing process. They had been trying to find William since theywatched on television, horrified, as a United Airlines jetcrashed into the south tower of the World Trade Center justafter 9 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001. An hour later, the building col-lapsed, sending a plume of dust and smoke through the city.

Lisa’s father didn’t pick up his cell phone or answer hispager after that. Diagnosed with polio just after he turned 5years old, William walked with crutches and served as hisoffice’s fire marshal so he could usher everyone out safelyduring an emergency, then navigate the stairs after the rush.Lisa believes William was on the elevator, heading up to the87th floor, when the plane hit.

The family spent the following days calling and re-calling alist of hospitals in the tri-state area, asking if anybody hadseen a man matching William’s description. Like hundredsof other people, they posted fliers with William’s photothrough New York. And they scanned websites that compiledlogs of property found at Ground Zero.

For three days, nobody slept. When they ate, it was a fewbites between phone calls.

“Once we understood and realized that he didn’t survive,then it became, he didn’t survive, but how are we going tosurvive?” Lisa said.

‘Dad is still there’William loved to show off his grandchildren. When Lisa’s

first two daughters were born, William immediately took pho-tos, then left to show the world his newest family members.

“When my youngest daughter was born, the first thing I did

was look to see my dad, “ Lisa said. “Not seeing him there hurt.”Lisa can tell the story of her father stoically, laughing as she

remembers his jokes about her crooked nose and how he usedto take the voicebox from a toy clown and play its laugh whileordering food at the drive-through. But she cries when shetalks about what her father has missed -- the birth of her thirddaughter and her sister’s wedding among the milestones.

Since then, Lisa has tried to fill the void left by her father’sdeath, taking pictures of the birth of her nephews and spread-ing the word of their arrival.

Rather than mourn the loss of William, the family hastried to celebrate him. Last year, Lisa and 15 others went toDisney World in remembrance of William, who loved to trav-el. They’ve seen five Broadway shows. And they’ve often visit-ed William’s favorite restaurant, Pizza Beat in Yonkers, N.Y.Somebody always orders his favorite dish -- two thick, juicypork chops.

If they use some leftover insurance funds to pay for the out-ings, they joke that William picked up the check.

“Dad is still there,” Lisa said. “Dad is still being part of thefamily and allowing us to do those family things that he cher-ished and loved so much to do.”

‘Themost handsomeman on crutches’William called himself “the most handsome man on

crutches,” a moniker that’s etched onto his headstone.Though polio forced him to use crutches and sometimes

a wheelchair, William never let the disease limit his life,Lisa said. He flew glider planes, pitched during family soft-ball games and shoveled the snow from in front his home.Rather than seeing her father as different, Lisa said Wil-liam taught her to see what was common in people.

It’s a lesson she remembers every day. Lisa’s 10-year-olddaughter, Corina, was born with hydrocephalus, a conditionin which fluid builds up in the brain and causes swelling.

When doctors first diagnosed Corina, Lisa suffered fits ofdepression. She cried. She wondered how she could raise achild who doctors said might not walk until she was 5, whomight never speak clearly. But before William died, he toldLisa her attitude needed to change.

“How dare you have a parent that is disabled, and you livewith it without even a blink of an eye, and here it is youhave your own child, and you’re questioning if you can dealwith it. I am very disappointed in you,” Lisa recalled herfather saying.

“That hurt me to the core,” she said.But it also inspired her to push her daughter, and to real-

ize, that like William, Corina had no limits. Corina took herfirsts steps at age 2 1/2. She talks well enough to let her fam-ily know when she’s happy or sad. She can write her name,and she knows her colors.

And when Lisa begins to have doubts, the voice of the mosthandsome man on crutches always creeps back into her mind.

“I have not gone through this without him,” Lisa said.“Every step of the way he’s been here with me.”

‘Letting us know he’s around’Lisa attended a memorial at Ground Zero in October

2001, and she and her husband once coincidentally ven-tured close to the site of the Sept. 11 attacks early one morn-ing about six years ago while driving through Manhattan.

But Lisa won’t return to the site of her father’s death forthe 10th anniversary of 9/11. He wouldn’t want her to go sofar out of her normal family routine, Lisa said.

Instead, Lisa will make sure her 6-year-old daughterSavannah participates in her cheerleading competition.Then she’ll sit down and watch her favorite team, the Phila-delphia Eagles, open the NFL season.

And that night, just as her mother has done in New YorkCity every year, Lisa will light candles in front of her homefor her father and all the victims of Sept. 11, she said.

In the past decade, Lisa has lost her father, found him andburied him. She’s faced one of the 9/11 conspirators, Zacar-ias Moussaoui, when her family was asked to testify duringone of his court hearings.

And she’s seen Osama Bin Laden killed at the hands ofU.S. Navy SEALS. But most of all, she’s learned that herfather wouldn’t want her and her family to linger in thepain of Sept. 11. He would want her to focus on her family,to have fun and to celebrate his memory, Lisa said.

“Never forget, never forgive, but I have moved on,” Lisasaid. “I can’t let my life, I can’t let my family stay stuck inthat time. They can’t have fun if they do. My father wouldbe upset if we did.”

So she tells stories about her father, so much so that herchildren tell the same stories as if they knew him for theirentire lives -- even if her only her oldest daughter, 12-year-old Kiara, actually has tangible memories of him. And Lisaand her family travel, just like her father loved to do.

Sometimes, they visit William’s headstone in New YorkCity. The girls write a note to their grandfather, attach it to aballoon and let it float heavenward.

“They’ll put on lipstick to put a bunch of kisses on it andrelease it up,” Lisas aid. “And they go, ‘OK, that’ll go up toheaven and Grandpa will get all my kisses.’”

Other times, though, William will visit his family whenthey’re in the park or in the backyard, Lisa said.

“There’s always a butterfly that comes by, always comeskind of close,” she said. “We always say that’s him letting usknow he’s around.”

for grandpa

Anthony Segarra • Carlos Segarra • Jason M. Sekzer • Matthew Carmen Sellitto • Howard Selwyn • Larry John Senko • Arturo Angelo Sereno • Frankie Serrano • Alena Sesinova • Adele Christine Sessa • Sita Nermalla Sewnarine • Karen Lynn Seymour • Davis Grier Sezna, Jr. • Thomas Joseph Sgroi • Jayesh Shantilal Shah • Khalid M. Shahid • MohammedShajahan • Gary Shamay • Earl Richard Shanahan • Neil G. Shastri • Kathryn Anne Shatzoff • Barbara A. Shaw • Jeffrey James Shaw • Robert John Shay, Jr. • Daniel James Shea • Joseph Patrick Shea • Linda June Sheehan • Hagay Shefi • John Anthony Sherry • Atsushi Shiratori • Thomas Joseph Shubert • Mark Shulman • See Wong Shum • Allan AbrahamShwartzstein • Clarin Shellie Siegel-Schwartz • Johanna Sigmund • Dianne T. Signer and her unborn child • David Silver • Craig A. Silverstein • Nasima H. Simjee • Bruce Edward Simmons • Arthur Simon • Kenneth Alan Simon • Michael J. Simon • Paul Joseph Simon • Marianne Liquori Simone • Barry Simowitz • Jeff Lyal Simpson • Khamladai Khami Singh• Roshan Ramesh Singh • Thomas E. Sinton III • Peter A. Siracuse • Muriel F. Siskopoulos • Joseph Michael Sisolak • Francis Joseph Skidmore, Jr. • Toyena Corliss Skinner • Paul A. Skrzypek • Christopher Paul Slattery • Vincent Robert Slavin • Robert F. Sliwak • Paul Kenneth Sloan • Wendy L. Small • Catherine T. Smith • Daniel Laurence Smith • George EricSmith • James Gregory Smith • Jeffrey R. Smith • Joyce Patricia Smith • Karl T. Smith, Sr. • Rosemary A. Smith • Bonnie Shihadeh Smithwick • Rochelle Monique Snell • Leonard J. Snyder, Jr. • Astrid Elizabeth Sohan • Sushil S. Solanki • Rubén Solares • Naomi Leah Solomon • Daniel W. Song • Michael Charles Sorresse • Fabian Soto • Timothy Patrick Soulas• Gregory Thomas Spagnoletti • Donald F. Spampinato, Jr. • Thomas Sparacio • John Anthony Spataro • Maynard S. Spence, Jr. • George Edward Spencer III • Robert Andrew Spencer • Mary Rubina Sperando • Frank Spinelli • William E. Spitz • Klaus Johannes Sprockamp • Saranya Srinuan • Fitzroy St. Rose • Michael F. Stabile • Richard James Stadelberger •Eric Adam Stahlman • Alexandru Liviu Stan • Corina Stan • Mary Domenica Stanley • Anthony Starita • Derek James Statkevicus • Craig William Staub • William V. Steckman • Eric Thomas Steen • William R. Steiner • Alexander Robbins Steinman • Andrew Stergiopoulos • Andrew J. Stern • Martha Jane Stevens • Michael James Stewart • Richard H. Stewart, Jr.• Sanford M. Stoller • Lonny Jay Stone • Jimmy Nevill Storey • Timothy Stout • Thomas Strada • James J. Straine, Jr. • Edward W. Straub • George J. Strauch, Jr. • Steven R. Strauss • Steven F. Strobert • David Scott Suarez • Yoichi Sumiyama Sugiyama • William Christopher Sugra • David Marc Sullins • Patrick Sullivan • Thomas G. Sullivan • Hilario Soriano Sumaya, Jr.James Joseph Suozzo • Colleen M. Supinski • Robert Sutcliffe • Seline Sutter • Claudia Suzette Sutton • John Francis Swaine • Kristine M. Swearson • Kenneth J. Swenson • Thomas F. Swift • Derek Ogilvie Sword • Kevin Thomas Szocik • Gina Sztejnberg • Norbert P. Szurkowski • Harry Taback • Joann C. Tabeek • Norma C. Taddei • Michael Taddonio • Keiichiro Takahashi • Keiji


By Bob Kalinowski

It has always been difficult for Mary Cool-ican to grasp that her little brother was oneof the victims killed on Sept. 11, 2001, in theWorld Trade Center.

“It was inconceivable for me that mybrother from Wilkes-Barre, Pa., could bekilled in a bombing by a terrorist group inNew York City,” Coolican said recently. “Itwas incredibly devastating.”

Ten years later, she said it’s still some-times hard to believe her brother, LeonardSnyder, is gone. In many ways, that’sbecause their large, loving family won’t lethis memory fade, she said.

“He seems real to me. His memory isalways there,” the 45-year-old from Moosicsaid. “It lives on in his kids. It’s very naturalto talk about him.”

Snyder, 34, a Wilkes-Barre native and 1989King’s College graduate, died in the WorldTrade Center’s South Tower, where he workedon the 101st floor as an insurance broker for aworldwide consulting firm, Aon Consulting.From what the family has been told, Snyderand colleagues made it to the 76th floor, wherethey split up. Some crammed into elevators,while others, including Snyder, took the stairs.

“The group that took the stairs was neverseen again,” said Snyder’s brother DarrenSnyder, a Wilkes-Barre real estate broker.

Darren Snyder, 35, recalled Sept. 11 as a“roller coaster” of a day. When the first planehit the North Tower, his family worried. Hetold them he was familiar with the twin tow-ers, and Leonard was in the other tower.

“I tried to convince them he’s OK, it’s not

his building,” Darren Snyder recalled. “Whenthe second plane hit, it was a shot in the gut.”

Leonard’s five siblings, his parents, andhis wife all tried calling him. They had noluck. Hours and hours passed. Then days.Darren Snyder recalls visiting every hospi-tal in New York searching for his brother.After he failed to find Leonard at the final

hospital, hope was lost. After reality ofLeonard’s death set in, a memorial was heldin Wilkes-Barre, then another in Cranford,N.J., where he lived with his wife and threechildren. Six months later, authorities final-ly identified his remains.

“It was an open wound for so long,” Cooli-can said.

At the time of the Sept. 11 attacks, Coolicanand her siblings were already dealing withterrible news. Their mother, Marilyn Snyder,founder of Marilyn K. Snyder Real Estate inWilkes-Barre, was just diagnosed with pan-creatic cancer. About a week before Sept. 11,Coolican and Leonard spent time with theirfamilies on the Jersey Shore, lamenting thenews of their mother’s diagnosis.

“I remember Len and I were so shockedthis is what was happening to our motherwho was never sick a day in her life,” Cooli-can recalled.

Marilyn Snyder fought the disease untilher death 14 months after Sept. 11.

“She said the suffering she was goingthrough was nothing compared to the suf-fering of losing a child,” Coolican recalled.

In the years to follow, Coolican noted shewas weary about flying on airplanes or stay-ing on the higher floors of hotels.

“I was very fearful. If my brother could beso abruptly murdered, it could happen toanyone. You’re very much aware of the fra-gility of life,” she said. “It took a while to getpast that and embrace life.”

The family, already close, became closer,she said.

“Sometimes you take your siblings forgranted,” Darren Snyder said. “You honest-ly think your brothers and sisters are goingto be there forever.”

The family keeps in constant contact withLeonard’s widow, Janine, and their threechildren, Lauren, now 13, and twin 12-year-old sons, Jason and Matthew, they said.

Leonard Snyder’s family plans to gatherat a memorial in Cranford, N.J., to commem-orate the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11. Hischildren will be reading at the event.

“It was really important we be together asa family,” Coolican said. “Quite frankly, wedidn’t want to be in New York City.”

Coolican said she visited Ground Zero onetime years ago to pay her respects.

“Iwentonceand,”shesaidwithapause,“Icried.I justcried.”

An inconceivable reality

KRISTEN MULLEN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Darren Snyder and Mary Coolican’s brother Leonard Snyder was killed in the attacks.

Leonard Snyder, killed

in Twin Towers, lives

on in family memories


Takahashi • Phyllis Gail Talbot • Robert R. Talhami • Maurita Tam • Rachel Tamares • Hector Rogan Tamayo • Michael Andrew Tamuccio • Kenichiro Tanaka • Rhondelle Cherie Tankard • Michael Anthony Tanner • Dennis Gerard Taormina, Jr. • Kenneth Joseph Tarantino • Ronald Tartaro • Darryl Anthony Taylor • Donnie Brooks Taylor • Lorisa Ceylon Taylor • Michael Morgan Taylor• Yeshavant Moreshwar Tembe • Anthony Tempesta • Dorothy Pearl Temple • Stanley L. Temple • David Gustaf Peter Tengelin • Brian John Terrenzi • Lisa Marie Terry • Goumatie Thackurdeen • Harshad Sham Thatte • Thomas F. Theurkauf, Jr. • Lesley Anne Thomas • Brian Thomas Thompson • Clive Ian Thompson • Glenn Thompson • Nigel Bruce Thompson • Perry A. Thompson• Vanavah Alexei Thompson • William H. Thompson • Eric Raymond Thorpe • Nichola Angela Thorpe • Sal Edward Tieri, Jr. • Mary Ellen Tiesi • William Randolph Tieste • Stephen Edward Tighe • Scott Charles Timmes • Michael E. Tinley • Jennifer M. Tino • Robert Frank Tipaldi • David Tirado • Michelle Lee Titolo • John J. Tobin • Richard J. Todisco • Vladimir Tomasevic • StephenKevin Tompsett • Thomas Tong • Doris Torres • Luis Eduardo Torres • Amy Elizabeth Toyen • Christopher Michael Traina • Daniel Patrick Trant • Abdoul Karim Traore • Glenn J. Travers, Sr. • Walter Philip Travers • Felicia Yvette Traylor-Bass • Lisa L. Trerotola • Karamo Baba Trerra • Michael Angel Trinidad • Francis Joseph Trombino • Gregory James Trost • William P. Tselepis, Jr. •Zhanetta Valentinovna Tsoy • Michael Patrick Tucker • Lance Richard Tumulty • Ching Ping Tung • Simon James Turner • Donald Joseph Tuzio • Robert T. Twomey • Jennifer Lynn Tzemis • John G. Ueltzhoeffer • Tyler Victor Ugolyn • Michael A. Uliano • Jonathan J. Uman • Anil Shivhari Umarkar • Allen V. Upton • Diane Marie Urban • John Damien Vaccacio • Bradley Hodges Vadas •William Valcarcel • Felix Antonio Vale • Ivan Vale • Benito Valentin • Carlton Francis Valvo II • Erica H.Van Acker • Kenneth W.Van Auken • Daniel M.Van Laere • Edward Raymond Vanacore • Jon Charles Vandevander • Frederick T.Varacchi • Gopalakrishnan Varadhan • David Vargas • Scott C.Vasel • Azael Ismael Vasquez • Arcangel Vazquez • Santos Vazquez • Sankara Sastry Velamuri• Jorge Velazquez • Anthony Mark Ventura • David Vera • Loretta Ann Vero • Christopher James Vialonga • Matthew Gilbert Vianna • Robert Anthony Vicario • Celeste Torres Victoria • Joanna Vidal • Frank J.Vignola, Jr. • Joseph Barry Vilardo • Claribel Villalobos Hernandez • Chantal Vincelli • Melissa Renée Vincent • Francine Ann Virgilio • Joseph Gerard Visciano • Joshua S.Vitale •Maria Percoco Vola • Lynette D.Vosges • Garo H.Voskerijian • Alfred Anton Vukosa • Gregory Kamal Bruno Wachtler • Gabriela Silvina Waisman • Wendy Alice Rosario Wakeford • Courtney Wainsworth Walcott • Victor Wald • Benjamin James Walker • Glen Wall • Mitchel Scott Wallace • Peter Guyder Wallace • Roy Michael Wallace • Jeanmarie Wallendorf • Matthew Blake WallensJohn Wallice, Jr. • Barbara P. Walsh • Jim Walsh • Ching Wang • Weibin Wang • Stephen Gordon Ward • James A. Waring • Brian G. Warner • Derrick Christopher Washington • Charles Waters • James Thomas Waters, Jr. • Michael Henry Waye • Todd Christopher Weaver • Dinah Webster • Joanne Flora Weil • Steven Weinberg • Scott Jeffrey Weingard • Steven George Weinstein


By Jill Whalen

Ivelisse Tapia crinkles her nose when she remembers theodor that lingered in the air after the Twin Towers collapsed.

She can still smell it, the burning metal and plastic, thechemicals, and a sickening stench she can’t quite place.

Tapia’s memories of Sept. 11, 2001, are palpable. Her feel-ings still fresh. She lost friends. She lost co-workers. And apart of her felt violated, too.

“It was awful,” Tapia said. “Just awful.”It wasn’t enough, though, to drive her from her uptown

Manhattan home.“Oh, no!,” she said, stressing the word “no” when asked

whether the terrorist attacks prompted her move to Hazle-ton. None of her friends were scared away, either.

It’s like Ralph Hernandez, another New York City nativesaid recently: “New Yorkers are very resilient.”

Those who have relocated here from the city said itwasn’t fear of subsequent attacks or 9/11 memories thatchased them. Most followed families who were alreadyhere, came because the cost of living was lower or wanteda quieter life.

William Martinez moved to Hazleton last year after hetired of New York City’s high expenses.

He was working in East Brunswick, N.J., on the day theterrorists struck. He tried to return to the city that eveningand came close. But like others, he was turned away.

“As you got nearer to the city, all you could see was smokeand dust,” Martinez said.

In the days that followed, the city wasn’t the same. Thestreets, he said, were eerily quiet.

“It was lonely,” Martinez said. “The city was dark.”Those who were around, he said, thought of nothing otherthan what had happened.

“The people were talking about one thing only, saying,‘The terrorists hit it. The terrorists hit it,’” he said.

And no one felt safe.“People were scared to use the subway. They felt inse-

cure. They felt we didn’t have that much security,” Marti-nez recalled.

Hernandez, of Mountain Top, was chatting on the tele-phone on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. The person on the endof the line was working at the World Trade Center complex.

“I heard this loud noise when I was talking to her. Atthe time, we didn’t think much of it, because she was inan area where thousands of vehicles drive each day. I justthought one of them had banged into the railings,” he said.

The sound was American Airlines Flight 11 crashinginto the World Trade Center’s North Tower.

Hernandez’s friend made it out safely, though hewouldn’t hear from her for hours. Telephone service wasspotty at best.

He was able to speak to his two sisters. As luck wouldhave it, both decided to stay home from their New York

City jobs that day.And while many folks he knows lost someone they knew

in the attacks, Hernandez didn’t think it was enough tocause anyone to move away.

“That’s the way New Yorkers are,” he said.Tapia recalled the day like it was yesterday. She arrived at

her job in the research department at Prudential Financial.Wall Street’s bell had rung and employees were watching

the ticker of stocks on the department’s many televisions.And then the first plane hit.Tapia’s eyes turned to a window that overlooked the

Twin Towers.“I saw people with fire behind them throwing themselves

from the building,” she said. She had no idea what was goingon when she left work. Hours later, she arrived home, turnedon the news and learned what was causing the chaos.

With the stock market closed for days, Tapia didn’t re-turn to work until the following Monday.

On Tuesday, she walked to the site during her lunch break.“I felt like I was robbed. Like someone was in my house

and stole everything I had,” she said. “It was terrible.”One of the stock analysts from her department, Dean

Eberling, was among the dead, she said as her eyes welledwith tears. He had been inside one of the Twin Towers.

Tapia said she has no desire to re-visit Ground Zero. Butshe does watch memorial services now and again.

“I watch them just to see his name,” she said.

Leaving, and looking back

‘I saw people withfire behind themthrowing themselvesfrom the building.’

IVELISSE TAPIA,who saw the aftermath ofthe attack from her office

in a nearby building

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ERIC CONOVER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Simon Weiser • David Thomas Weiss • Vincent Michael Wells • Christian Hans Rudolf Wemmers • Ssu-Hui Wen • Oleh D. Wengerchuk • Peter M. West • Whitfield West, Jr. • Meredith Lynn Whalen • Adam S. White • James Patrick White • John Sylvester White • Kenneth Wilburn White, Jr. • Leonard An-thony White • Malissa Y. White • Wayne White • Leanne Marie Whiteside • Mary Lenz Wieman • Jeffrey David Wiener • William J. Wik • Alison Marie Wildman • John Charles Willett • Brian Patrick Williams • Crossley Richard Williams, Jr. • David J. Williams • Debbie L. Williams • Kevin Michael Williams• Louie Anthony Williams • Louis Calvin Williams III • Donna Ann Wilson • William Eben Wilson • David Harold Winton • Glenn J. Winuk • Thomas Francis Wise • Alan L. Wisniewski • Frank Paul Wisniewski • David Wiswall • Sigrid Charlotte Wiswe • Michael R. Wittenstein • Christopher W. Woden-shek • Martin Phillips Wohlforth • Katherine Susan Wolf • Jennifer Yen Wong • Siucheung Steve Wong • Yin Ping Wong • Yuk Ping Wong • Brent James Woodall • James John Woods • Patrick J. Woods • Richard Herron Woodwell • John Bentley Works • Martin Michael Wortley • Rodney JamesWotton • John W. Wright, Jr. • Neil Robin Wright • Sandra Lee Wright • Jupiter Yambem • Suresh Yanamadala • Matthew David Yarnell • Myrna Yaskulka • Shakila Yasmin • Olabisi Shadie Layeni Yee • Edward P. York • Kevin Patrick York • Suzanne Martha Youmans • Barrington Leroy Young, Jr. • Jacqueline Young•ElkinYuen•JosephC.Zaccoli•AdelAgaybyZakhary•ArkadyZaltsman•EdwinJ.Zambrana,Jr.•RobertAlanZampieri•MarkZangrilli•IraZaslow•KennethAlbertZelman•AbrahamJ.Zelmanowitz•MartinMoralesZempoaltecatl•ZheZeng•MarcScottZeplin•JieYaoJustinZhao•IvelinZiminski•MichaelJosephZinzi•CharlesAlanZion•JulieLynneZipper•SalvatoreJ.Zisa•ProkopiosPaulZois•JosephJ.Zuccala•AndrewStevenZucker•IgorZukelman•FDNY:JosephAgnello•BrianG.Ahearn•EricAllen•RichardDennisAllen•JamesM.Amato•CalixtoAnaya,Jr.•JosephAngelini,Sr.•JosephJohnAngelini,Jr.•FaustinoApostol,Jr.•DavidGregoryArce•LouisArena•CarlFrancisAsaro•GreggA.Atlas•GeraldThomasAtwood•GerardBaptisteGerardA.Barbara•MatthewBarnes•ArthurThaddeusBarry•StevenJosephBates•CarlJohnBedigian•StephenElliotBelson•JohnP.Bergin•PaulMichaelBeyer•PeterAlexanderBielfeld•BrianEugeneBilcher•CarlVincentBini•ChristopherJosephBlackwell•MichaelL.Bocchino•FrankJ.Bonomo•GaryR.Box•MichaelBoyle•KevinHughBracken•MichaelE.Brennan•PeterBrennan•DanielJ.Brethel•PatrickJohnBrown•AndrewBrunn•VincentEdwardBrunton•RonaldBucca•GregJ.Buck•WilliamFrancisBurke,Jr.•DonaldJ.Burns•JohnPatrickBurnside•ThomasM.Butler•PatrickDennisByrne•GeorgeC.Cain•SalvatoreB.Calabro•FrancisJosephCallahan•MichaelF.Cammarata•BrianCannizzaro•DennisM.Carey,Sr.

2001911 2011 THE REFUGEES

‘NewYorkers arevery resilient.’RALPHHERNANDEZ,a New York City native

who lives in Mountain Top

‘As you got nearerto the city all youcould see was smokeand dust.’WILLIAMMARTINEZ,describing approachingNew York immediatelyafter the 9/11 attacks


A call to serveBy Bob Kalinowski

Compelled by the terrorist attacks, Christopher Keenmarched into a military recruiter’s office in the days fol-lowing Sept. 11, 2001.

“I said my name is Christopher Keen. I am signing up. Idon’t need the sales pitch. Give me the papers,” Keenrecalls. “He said, ‘There’s a pretty good chance you’regoing overseas.’ I said, ‘Yeah, that’s the plan.’”

By Sept. 25, the Dallas Township man was a soldier inthe Pennsylvania Army National Guard, following therich military tradition of his family that included hisgrandfather in World War II and his father in Vietnam.

“They had done their service. I was physically able. Isaid, ‘Why not me?’ There was no reason for me not to domy part. I said. ‘It’s my turn,’” Keen, 31, recalls.

Since that time, Keen, a staff sergeant with the 109thField Artillery, has shipped off to war twice and is ready-ing for a third deployment early next year.

To Keen and many others, the attacks of Sept. 11 were aclarion call to join the military and wage war on the ter-rorists on their turf. But most new enlistees to the localNational Guard unit in Wilkes-Barre immediately afterSept. 11 were those with prior active duty experience whofelt a desire to return to the military and fight again,recruiters said.

“Initially, people had a fear of deploying,” said MasterSgt. Douglas Collins, who supervises National Guardrecruiting for several Northeastern Pennsylvania coun-ties. “Parents were in fear of their children joining. Theydidn’t want their teens going off to war.”

One of those former active duty soldiers who returnedto join the National Guard was Sgt. Rick Mulinaro, 49, ofMountain Top.

Mulinaro, a retired Army infantry soldier, was working

A decade after the attacks,soliders inspired to serveawait the next battle line

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARK MORAN / THE CITIZENS’ VOICE

A surge of new enlistees and former active duty soldiers joined the 109th Field Artillery following the 9/11 attacks.

2001911 2011 THE PATRIOTS

John A. Crisci • Dennis A. Cross • Thomas Patrick Cullen III • Robert Curatolo • Edward A. D’Atri • Michael D. D’Auria • Scott Matthew Davidson • Edward James Day • Thomas Patrick DeAngelis • Manuel Del Valle, Jr. • Martin N. DeMeo • David Paul DeRubbio • Andrew J. Desperito • Dennis Lawrence Devlin • Gerard P. Dewan • George DiPasquale • Kevin W. Don-nelly • Kevin Christopher Dowdell • Raymond Matthew Downey, Sr. • Gerard J. Duffy • Martin J. Egan, Jr. • Michael J. Elferis • Francis Esposito • Michael A. Esposito • Robert Edward Evans • John Joseph Fanning • Thomas James Farino • Terrence Patrick Farrell • Joseph D. Farrelly • William M. Feehan • Lee S. Fehling • Alan D. Feinberg • James Michael Gray • Joseph Grzelak •Jose A. Guadalupe • Geoffrey E. Guja • Joseph P. Gullickson • David Halderman • Vincent Gerard Halloran • Robert W. Hamilton • Sean S. Hanley • Thomas Paul Hannafin • Dana Rey Hannon • Daniel Edward Harlin • Harvey L. Harrell • Stephen G. Harrell • Thomas Theodore Haskell, Jr. • Timothy Shawn Haskell • Terence S. Hatton • Michael Helmut Haub • Philip T. Hayes, Ret. •Michael K. Healey • Ronnie Lee Henderson • Joseph Patrick Henry • William L. Henry, Jr. • Thomas J. Hetzel • Brian Christopher Hickey • Timothy Brian Higgins • John F. Heffernan • Jonathan R. Hohmann • Thomas P. Holohan • Joseph Gerard Hunter • Walter G. Hynes • Jonathan Lee Ielpi • Frederick J. Ill, Jr. • William R. Johnston • Andrew Brian Jordan, Sr. • Karl Henry Jo-seph • Anthony Jovic • Angel L. Juarbe, Jr. • Mychal F. Judge • Vincent D. Kane • Charles L. Kasper • Paul Hanlon Keating • Richard John Kelly, Jr. • Thomas Richard Kelly • Thomas W. Kelly • Thomas J. Kennedy • Ronald T. Kerwin • Michael Vernon Kiefer • Robert King, Jr. • Scott Michael Kopytko • William Edward Krukowski • Kenneth Bruce Kumpel • Thomas Joseph Kuvei-kis • David James LaForge • William David Lake • Robert T. Lane • Peter J. Langone • Scott Larsen • Joseph Gerard Leavey • Neil J. Leavy • Daniel F. Libretti • Carlos R. Lillo • Robert Thomas Linnane • Michael Francis Lynch • Michael Francis Lynch • Michael J. Lyons • Patrick John Lyons • Joseph Maffeo • William J. Mahoney • Joseph E. Maloney • Joseph Ross Marchbanks,Jr. • Charles Joseph Margiotta • Kenneth Joseph Marino • John Daniel Marshall • Peter C. Martin • Paul Richard Martini • Joseph A. Mascali • Keithroy Marcellus Maynard • Brian Gerard McAleese • John Kevin McAvoy • Thomas Joseph McCann • William E. McGinn • William J. McGovern • Dennis P. McHugh • Robert D. McMahon • Robert William McPadden • Terence A.McShane • Timothy Patrick McSweeney • Martin E. McWilliams • Raymond Meisenheimer • Charles R. Mendez • Steve John Mercado • Douglas C. Miller • Henry Alfred Miller, Jr. • Robert J. Minara • Thomas Mingione • Paul Thomas Mitchell • Louis Joseph Modafferi • Dennis Mojica • Manuel D. Mojica, Jr. • Carl Molinaro • Michael G. Montesi • Thomas Carlo Moody • John Michael Moran• Vincent S.Morello • Christopher Michael Mozzillo • Richard T.Muldowney, Jr. • Michael D.Mullan • Dennis Michael Mulligan • Raymond E.Murphy • Robert B.Nagel • John Philip Napolitano • PeterAllen Nelson • Gerard Terence Nevins • Dennis Patrick O’Berg • Daniel O’Callaghan • Thomas G.O’Hagan • Patrick J.O’Keefe •William O’Keefe • Kevin M.O’Rourke • Douglas E.Oelschlager


in New York City at a stock clearing firm about a blockaway from the World Trade Center when the attacksoccurred. While evacuating Lower Manhattan amid thechaos, he pondered a return to the military.

“Just about immediately, it crossed my mind,” Mulin-aro said.

He said he actually brought up the idea to a friend on aferry to Hoboken, N.J., while smoke billowed from the cityskyline.

Mulinaro soon quit his six-figure-a-year job and joinedthe 109th Field Artillery.

“I didn’t want to work in the city again. I went ahead andre-enlisted. I could make a lot of money like every otherstiff or I could make a difference somewhere,” said Mulin-aro, who subsequently completed a tour of duty in Iraq.“Obviously that day changed my life immensely.”

Over the past 10 years, recruiting trends have normalizedwith the Guard again attracting its normal-aged enlistee, 17to 20 years old, recruiters said.

Recruiting and retention have gone so well that sign-onbonuses, which hovered around $20,000 before and rightafter Sept. 11, have been eliminated and enlistment stan-dards have been increased, they said.

Between April and September in 2009, the entire Penn-sylvania National Guard even put a halt to recruiting dueto an overabundance of soldiers.

“In the old days, you joined to drill on the weekend andget that cash bonus and college,” Collins said. “Now, it’s forthe service.”

It wasn’t money, nor the Sept. 11 attacks, that inspired the109th’s latest recruit to join. Pvt. Edward Rudnesky, 19, ofAshley, said it was somewhat his destiny since he admiredhis grandfather’s service in the military.

“Ever since I was 8, I loved it,” Rudnesky said. “I’m anx-ious to (deploy). That’s what I signed up for.”

Sgt. Bob Lemanski, a recruiter for the 109th, said mostrecruits know wartime missions are a likelihood intoday’s National Guard and are still willing to step for-ward and serve.

“Now, when I get them, they ask ‘When can I deploy?”Lemanski said. “They know this unit is going to mobilize.That’s not a secret.”

Another major change for military members since Sept.11 is respect from the public, they said.

Even today, a soldier in uniform is frequently offered acoffee, a lunch or a handshake by strangers, they said.

Of all the kind gestures, Keen said he vividly recalls thehumbling feeling of coming home from combat in Iraq andarriving at the bustling Hartsfield-Jackson InternationalAirport in Atlanta, Ga.

“The entire airport stopped for us and clapped,” Keen said.TOP: Sgt. Bob Lemanska, Staff Sgt. Christopher Keen, Pvt. Edward Rudnesky and Master Sgt. Douglas Collinsare members of the 109th Field Artillery. ABOVE: Keen joined about two weeks after the terrorist attacks.

2001911 2011 THE PATRIOTS

Joseph J.Ogren • Samuel Oitice • EricTaube Olsen • Jeffrey James Olsen • Steven John Olson • Michael John Otten • Jeffrey Matthew Palazzo • Orio Joseph Palmer • FrankAnthony Palombo • Paul J.Pansini • John M.Paolillo • James Nicholas Pappageorge • Robert Parro • DurrellV.Pearsall,Jr. • Glenn C.Perry,Sr. • Philip Scott Petti • Kenneth John Phelan,Sr. • Christopher J.Pickford • Shawn Edward Powell • Kevin J.Pfeifer •VincentA.Princiotta • Kevin M.Prior • RichardA.Prunty • Lincoln Quappé • MichaelT.Quilty • Ricardo J.Quinn • Leonard J.Ragaglia • Michael Paul Ragusa • Edward J.Rall •Adam David Rand • Donald J.Regan • Robert M.Regan • Christian Michael Otto Regenhard • Kevin O.Reilly •VernonAllan • Richard Jimmy Riches • Joseph R.Rivelli, Jr. • Michael E.Roberts • Michael Edward Roberts •Anthony Rodriguez • Matthew Rogan • Nicho-las P.Rossomando • Paul G.Ruback • Stephen P.Russell • MichaelThomas Russo,Sr. • Matthew L.Ryan • Thomas E.Sabella • ChristopherA.Santora • JohnAugust Santore • GregoryThomas Saucedo • Dennis Scauso • JohnAlbert Schardt • Fred C.Scheffold, Jr. • Thomas G.Schoales • Gerard Patrick Schrang • Gregory Sikorsky • Stephen Gerard Siller • Stanley S.Smagala, Jr. • Kevin Joseph Smith • Leon Smith, Jr. • RobertW.Spear, Jr. • Joseph Patrick Spor, Jr. • LawrenceT.Stack • Timothy M.Stackpole • Gregory Stajk • Jeffrey Stark • Benjamin Suarez • Daniel Thomas Suhr • Christopher P.Sullivan • Brian Edward Sweeney • Sean PatrickTallon •AllanTarasiewicz • PaulA.Tegtmeier • John PatrickTierney • John JamesTipping II • Hector LuisTirado, Jr. • R.BruceVan Hine • PeterVega • Lawrence G.Veling • JohnT.Vigiano II • Sergio GabrielVillanueva• LawrenceVirgilio • Robert FrancisWallace • Jeffrey P.Walz • MichaelWarchola • Patrick J.Waters • KennethThomasWatson • MichaelT.Weinberg • David M.Weiss • Timothy MatthewWelty • Eugene MichaelWhelan • Edward JamesWhite III • Mark P.Whitford • Glenn E.Wilkinson • John P.Williamson • DavidTerenceWooley •WilliamWren,Ret. • Raymond R.York • NYPD: John G.Coughlin • Michael Sean Curtin • John D’Allara •Vincent G.Danz • Jerome Mark Patrick Dominguez • Stephen Patrick Driscoll • Mark Joseph Ellis • Robert Fazio, Jr. • Ronald Philip Kloepfer • Thomas Michael Langone • James Patrick Leahy • Brian Grady McDonnell • JohnWilliam Perry • Glen Kerrin Pettit • Claude Daniel Richards • TimothyAlan Roy,Sr. • MoiraAnn Smith • Ramon Suarez • PaulTalty • SantosValentin, Jr. • JosephVincentVigiano •Walter EdwardWeaver • Unit-

ed 11: Anna S.W.Allison • David LawrenceAngell • Mary Lynn EdwardsAngell • Seima DavidAoyama • Barbara JeanArestegui • Myra JoyAronson • Christine Johnna Barbuto • Carolyn Mayer Beug • KellyAnn Booms • Carol Marie Bouchard • NeilieAnne Heffernan Casey • Jeffrey Dwayne Collman • JeffreyW.Coombs •Tara Kathleen Creamer • Thelma Cuccinello • Patrick Joseph Currivan •Andrew Peter Charles Curry GreenBrian Paul Dale • Laura Lee Defazio Morabito • David DiMeglio • Donald Americo DiTullio • Alberto Dominguez • Paige Marie Farley-Hackel • Peter Paul Hashem • Robert Jay Hayes • Edward R. Hennessy, Jr. • John A. Hofer • Cora Hidalgo Holland • John Nicholas Humber, Jr. • Waleed Joseph Iskandar • John Charles Jenkins • Charles Edward Jones • Robin Lynne Kaplan • Barbara A. Keating • David P.Kovalcin • Judith Camilla Larocque • Natalie Janis Lasden • Daniel John Lee • Daniel M. Lewin • Sara Elizabeth Low • Susan A. Mackay • Karen Ann Martin • Thomas F. McGuinness, Jr. • Christopher D. Mello • Jeffrey Peter Mladenik • Carlos Alberto Montoya • Antonio De Jesus Montoya Valdes • Sonia Mercedes Morales Puopolo • Mildred Rose Naiman • Laurie Ann Neira • Renee Tetreault


2001911 2011 THE MEMORIES

Skinner ArmstrongRaupGallagher

Kevin Skinner recently developed a nag-ging cough, one that produces dark-coloredphlegm.

It could be allergies, Skinner said, but hesometimes wonders whether it is the resid-ual effect of the six days he spent cleaningdebris at the World Trade Center site.

“It kind of worries me a bit,” said Skin-ner, 57, of Hazleton.

Whether it is the cough or somethingelse, there isn’t a day that somethingdoesn’t remind Skinner of the cleanupefforts. It has been on his mind for the past10 years, he admitted.

Skinner, who operated Skinner BrothersConstruction in Drums, had planned tovisit Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001. Whenthe planes hit the Twin Towers, he spentthe rest of the day following news reports.

On Sept. 12, 2001, he was repairing aroof on his home and listening to the radiowhen he heard former New York City May-or Rudolph Giuliani issue a request forpeople with construction equipment tohelp clean-up efforts.

“The Lord spoke to me right then,” Skin-ner said. “He said, ‘Get your Bobcat (load-er), put it on the trailer, get up there and dowhat you can.”

He and his friend, Charles Marcinko, ofSugarloaf, were in New York City that eve-ning.

Skinner worked 14-hour days, filling tri-axle dump trucks with debris and scoopingup grime that had accumulated on streets.And while he’s never been to war, he com-pared what he saw to one.

When he returned home, he hosed offthe loader, and found a piece of hardenedgrime.

“I started chipping away at it. Inside Ifound a piece of quarter-inch plate glass, acorner of a New York state driver’s license,and a clump of hair,” he said. “I said,‘That’s enough. That’s enough.’”

Thankfully, medication is keeping thecleanup-related post-traumatic stress dis-order at bay.

“I wasn’t afraid” of subsequent terroristattacks, Skinner said. “The Lord sent me upthere and nobody could come against me.”

— Jill Whalen

‘The Lord spoke tome’

ForeverLinda Armstrong, founder and executive

director of Dress for Success Luzerne Coun-ty, was working for Prudential Securities inNew York a block away from the WorldTrade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

She was pushing her way off a crowdedbus, annoyed at being late to work becauseof heavy traffic, when the plane hit the tow-er. She went to her office to make sureeveryone was OK and let them know whathappened. When she saw the tower collapse,Armstrong recalled the horror she wit-nessed of people screaming and jumpingfrom the towers. The scene has replayed inher mind no less than 10 times a day sinceand has impacted the way she views life,she said. What used to be of utmost impor-tance now seems trite, she said.

She learned the best things in life aren’tthings, but people and family. The devastat-ing day made her realize the importance ofliving every day as fully as possible.

“Every day is a gift that I try to live outloud,” she said.

—Denise Allabaugh

Charlotte Raup can’t forget the images ofthe crying men and women who ran franti-cally through the dust-clogged streets ofNew York City on Sept. 11, 2001.

“Everybody just sat and watched TV andcried,” she said.

Raup awoke that morning in her Wilkes-Barre home to a phone call from a friendtelling her about the terrorist attacks thathappened a mere 125 miles away.

“I thought they were not telling me thetruth — I said, ‘C’mon, you’re kidding me,you’re kidding me.’ — until I turned on theTV,” Raup said. “Very, very hard to believe,and God bless the firefighters and policemenbecause when everyone was running away,they were running in.”

While the images from New York, espe-cially those of the missing victims, hauntedRaup, the longtime leader of the city CrimeWatch Coalition soon turned the grief intoaction. She helped implement a programteaching area residents to watch for suspi-cious activities they normally might over-look — such as a strange package, a car inex-plicably left running or odd behavior fromneighbors.

“It could happen in Wilkes-Barre,” Raupsaid. “It made the whole city mindful of oth-er things that we never thought about.”

—Andrew Staub

‘Survival mode’

‘Very, very hard to believe’

On top of the tremendous tragedy,Michael Gallagher remembers Sept. 11, 2001,for its economic impact.

The CFO of an Avoca-based charter airlineand brokering service, Aviation TechnologiesInc., Gallagher said the company was forcedto apply for a special disaster relief loan fromthe U.S. Small Business Administrationbecause of the terrorist attack.

“We lost an $8 million contract directlyrelated to 9/11,” Gallagher said.

The company was on the verge of sealingthe deal on a contract for flight services toNew York from the Scranton/Wilkes-BarreInternational Airport when the attacks, hesaid, completely changed the airline busi-ness and the company.

“We are in survival mode like most,” Gal-lagher said. “We are growing, but (the busi-ness) has certainly changed a lot since 9/11and with the recession and fuel costs.”

According to the small business adminis-tration, the company took out a nearly$150,000 loan to help cover the economic lossfrom Sept. 11.

—Patrick Sweet

RICHARD DREW / ASSOCIATED PRESS

A person falls headfirst from the north

tower of the World Trade Center.

MARK LENNIHAN / ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York City firefighters work amid

debris of the World Trade Center.

‘Every day is a gift’

‘... and God bless the

firefighters and police-

men because when every-

one was running away,

they were running in.’

Newell • KathleenAnn Nicosia • Jacqueline June Norton • Robert Grant Norton • JohnA.Ogonowski • BettyAnn Ong • Jane Marie Orth • Thomas Nicholas Pecorelli • Berry Berenson Perkins • David E.Retik • Jean Destrehan Rogér • Philip Martin Rosenzweig • Richard Barry Ross • Jessica Leigh Sachs • Rahma Salie and her unborn child • Heather Lee Smith • Dianne Bullis Snyder • Douglas Joel Stone • Dino XavierSuarez Ramirez • MadelineAmy Sweeney • MichaelTheodoridis • JamesAnthonyTrentini • Mary BarbaraTrentini • PendyalaVamsikrishna • MaryAliceWahlstrom • Kenneth E.Waldie • John JosephWenckus • Candace LeeWilliams • Christopher R.Zarba,Jr. • PortAuthority Police and First Responders: JosephAmatuccio • Christopher CharlesAmoroso • MauriceVincent Barry • JamesWilliam Barbella • EdwardCalderon • Liam Callahan • Robert D.Cirri, Sr. • Carlos S.da Costa • Clinton Davis,Sr. • FrancisAlbert De Martini • Kenneth George Grouzalis • Uhuru G.Houston • George Gerard Howard • Stephen Huczko, Jr. • Anthony P. Infante, Jr. • PaulWilliam Jurgens • Douglas Gene Karpiloff • Robert Michael Kaulfers • Paul Laszczynski • David Prudencio Lemagne • John Joseph Lennon, Jr. • John Dennis Levi • James FrancisLynch • Robert Henry Lynch, Jr. • Kathy N.Mazza • Donald James McIntyre •WalterArthur McNeil • FerdinandV.Morrone • Joseph M.Navas • Pete Negron • JamesA.Nelson •Alfonse Joseph Niedermeyer • David Ortiz • JamesWendell Parham • DominickA.Pezzulo • Eugene J.Raggio • BruceAlbert Reynolds • Francis Saverio Riccardelli • Antonio José Rodrigues • Richard Rodriguez • JamesA.Romito • John P.Skala• Edward Thomas Strauss •WalwynWellington Stuart, Jr. • Kenneth Tietjen • NathanielWebb • Michael T.Wholey • United 175: GarnetAce Bailey • Mark Lawrence Bavis • GrahamAndrew Berkeley • Touri Hamzavi Bolourchi • Klaus Bothe • Daniel Raymond Brandhorst • David Reed Gamboa Brandhorst • John Brett Cahill • Christoffer Mikael Carstanjen • John J.Corcoran III • DorothyAlma deAraujo • Ana GloriaPocasangre Debarrera • Robert John Fangman • Francis Edward Grogan • Carl Max Hammond,Jr. • Christine Lee Hanson • Peter Burton Hanson • Sue Kim Hanson • Gerald Francis Hardacre • Eric Hartono • James Edward Hayden • HerbertWilson Homer • Michael Robert Horrocks • RobertAdrien Jalbert •Amy Nicole Jarret • Ralph Francis Kershaw • Heinrich Kimmig •Amy R.King • Brian K.Kinney • Kathryn L.LaBorieRobert G. LeBlanc • Maclovio Lopez, Jr. • Marianne MacFarlane • Alfred Gilles Padre Joseph Marchand • Louis Neil Mariani • Juliana Valentine McCourt • Ruth Magdaline McCourt • Wolfgang Peter Menzel • Shawn M. Nassaney • Marie Pappalardo • Patrick J. Quigley IV • Frederick Charles Rimmele III • James Michael Roux • Jesus Sanchez • Victor J. Saracini •• Kathleen Shearer • Robert M. Shearer • Jane Louise Simpkin • Brian David Sweeney • Michael C. Tarrou • Deborah Tavolarella • Alicia Nicole Titus • Timothy Ray Ward • William Michael Weems • United 93: Christian Adams • Lorraine G. Bay • Todd M. Beamer • Alan Anthony Beaven • Mark Bingham • Deora Frances Bodley • Sandy Waugh Bradshaw • Marion R. Britton •Thomas E. Burnett, Jr. • William Joseph Cashman • Georgine Rose Corrigan • Patricia Cushing • Jason M. Dahl • Joseph DeLuca • Patrick Joseph Driscoll • Edward P. Felt • Wanda Anita Green • Donald Freeman Greene • Linda Gronlund • Richard J. Guadagno • LeRoy W. Homer, Jr. • Toshiya Kuge • CeeCee Lyles • Hilda Marcin • Waleska Martinez • Nicole Carol Miller • Louis J. Nacke II • Donald Arthur Peterson


ingrained

Luzerne County Commissioner StephenA. Urban learned about the Sept. 11, 2001,attack on the World Trade Center duringa meeting at the East Mountain Inn inPlains Township. He was meeting withschool district superintendents to discussreassessing property values.

The Wilkes-Barre resident said he left thatmeeting to meet with then-President JudgeJoseph M. Augello at the county courthouse,and they decided to keep the courthouse open.

“We did not want to give in to the terror-ists,” Urban said. “We needed people here.Government can’t abandon its post.”

Some county employees wanted to gohome because their children were senthome from school, and they were allowedto take leave time, Urban said.

He added that the wife of his friend,retired Army Col. Oscar White Jr., wasworking at the Pentagon and was killedwhen a hijacked jet hit the building.

Urban was lieutenant colonel in the Armyand worked at the Pentagon from 1992 to1996 for the Office of the Deputy Chief ofStaff for Intelligence, Foreign IntelligenceDirectorate.

—Michael P. Buffer

Urban Dugan Degenhart

Area restaurants and bars saw a signifi-cant drop in business after the events of9/11 as many residents took to their homesinstead of looking for entertainment, theowner of Dugan’s Pub in Luzerne said.

“It was a pretty emotional thing as acountry,” Charlie Dugan said, adding therearen’t many events in American history asgalvanizing. “In general, people were down,and people were down for quite a white.”

On that day, an early-morning phone callfrom his niece alerted him to the beginningsof the day’s tragedies. A plane had crashedinto the World Trade Center; at first, he as-sumed it was an isolated incident involvinga small aircraft. It wasn’t until later that helearned the full extent of the day’s tragedies.

While people were talking about theevents in the days that followed, Dugan andother restaurant owners noticed peoplestopped coming out, perhaps because of theterror the attacks inspired.

“I think (the attackers) scared peoplewhen they realized they were all over theplace,” Dugan said, referring to the crashesin New York City, Washington D.C. andShanksville. “And of course, that’s what theterrorists were trying to do.”

—Kristen Gaydos

Not long after terrorists attacked theWorld Trade Center in New York City onSept. 11, 2001, Dr. John Degenhart of Hazle-ton volunteered his chiropractic services tothe emergency people who joined the mas-sive cleanup and recovery effort.

“We were just adjusting backs and necksof the firefighters while they sat or stretchedout on big thick cushions in the pews of St.Ann’s Church near Ground Zero,” whereash still hung in the air days after the twintowers collapsed, Degenhart said.

“Most of the emergency workers hadheadaches and neck pain from the strain oflifting the debris at the site,” he said.

Like millions of Americans, Sept. 11changed the Degenhart family.

“I think it makes us realize how thankfulwe are for our freedom in this country. Myone brother works on Wall Street and I re-member him crying for those who lost theirlives that he knew worked in the two build-ings,” Degenhart said.

He still envisions how it could have beenanyone of us on those planes that were hi-jacked that day.

“American is just a great country and myhat is off to the people who protect us on adaily basis. It’s amazing that something ofthat magnitude hasn’t occurred in the past10 years,” Degenhart said.

– TomRagan

Peggy Gormley had only an hour to waitfor her American Airlines flight to departfor Toronto, Canada.

She passed time by preparing paperworkinside New York City’s LaGuardia Airport.

“There was a guy next to me who startedsaying something to himself, somethingabout how a plane hit the Word TradeCenter,” recalled Gormley, 61, a Hazletonnative. “I am a bit of a nervous flyer, so Ithought, ‘I’m going to get away from him.He’s crazy.’”

He wasn’t.At another gate, travelers were talking

about the plane, too. Many gathered arounda television. And within a few minutes, theSouth Tower had been hit.

Gormley turned her gaze to an airportwindow and saw black smoke clouding thesky.

When the airport was evacuated, Gorm-ley considered riding a bus to her Brooklynhome, but lines were long and she figuredshe could catch a cab.

Gormley walked for miles without seeingone and when she did, the driver drove afew blocks and refused to go any farther.

Back on the streets, she met a firefighterwho told her the buildings had fallen.

“I assumed he meant the tops had comeoff,” she said.

A few blocks later, she met a man coveredin ash, who told her the buildings had com-pletely collapsed.

“I literally stopped walking,” she said. “Iwas in shock.”

That afternoon, a relieved Gormley ar-rived home.

While she didn’t know anyone employedin the World Trade Center complex, thefilm production company for which shewas working was five blocks away fromGround Zero. She would see ambulancesdriving from the site for months, trans-porting remains of the deceased. She alsosmelled the smoldering odor months later.

Reminders are apparent in her newneighborhood of Rockaway Park.

“A lot of firemen and policemen livehere,” she said. “About 30 of them died.Living here, we’re sort of surrounded by alot of memorials.”

– Jill Whalen

‘I was in shock’

‘We did not want to give in’

‘Emotional’

‘Thankful’

‘I think it makes usrealize how thankfulwe are for our free-dom in this country.’

ERNESTO MORA / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Two women hold each other and watch

the twin skyscrapers burn in New York.

RON EDMONDS / ASSOCIATED PRESS

A military helicopter ascends after drop-

ping off personnel at the Pentagon.

2001911 2011 THE MEMORIES

Jean Hoadley Peterson • Mark David Rothenberg • Christine Ann Snyder • John Talignani • Honor Elizabeth Wainio • Deborah Jacobs Welsh • Pentagon: Craig Scott Amundson • Melissa Rose Barnes • Max J. Beilke • Kris Romeo Bishundat • Carrie Rosetta Blagburn • Canfield D. Boone • Donna M. Bowen • Allen P. Boyle • Christopher L. Burford • Daniel M. Caballero • Jose O. Calderon-Olmedo •Angelene C. Carter • Sharon Ann Carver • John J. Chada • Rosa Maria Chapa • Julian T. Cooper • Eric A. Cranford • Ada M. Davis • Gerald F. DeConto • Jerry D. Dickerson • Johnnie Doctor, Jr. • Robert E. Dolan, Jr. • William H. Donovan • Patrick Dunn • Edward T. Earhart • Robert R. Elseth • Jamie L. Fallon • Diane Hale-McKinzy • Carolyn B. Halmon • Sheila M.S. Hein • Ronald John Hemenway • WallaceCole Hogan, Jr. • Jimmie I. Holley • Angela M. Houtz • Brady Kay Howell • Peggie M. Hurt • Stephen N. Hyland, Jr. • Robert J. Hymel • Lacey Bernard Ivory • Dennis M. Johnson • Judith Lawter Jones • Brenda Kegler • Michael S. Lamana • David W. Laychak • Samantha L. Lightbourn-Allen • Stephen V. Long • James T. Lynch, Jr. • Terence M. Lynch • Nehamon Lyons IV • Shelley A. Marshall • Teresa M. Martin• Ada L. Mason-Acker • Dean E. Mattson • Timothy J. Maude • Robert J. Maxwell • Molly L. McKenzie • Patricia E. Mickley • Ronald D. Milam • Gerard P. Moran, Jr. • Odessa V. Morris • Brian A. Moss • Teddington H. Moy • Patrick Jude Murphy • Khang Ngoc Nguyen • Michael A. Noeth • Diana B. Padro • Jonas Martin Panik • Clifford L. Patterson, Jr. • Darin H. Pontell • Scott Alan Powell • Jack D. Punches •Joseph J. Pycior, Jr. • Deborah A. Ramsaur • Rhonda Sue Rasmussen • Marsha D. Ratchford • Martha M. Reszke • CeCelia E. Richard • Edward V. Rowenhorst • Judy Rowlett • Robert E. Russell • William R. Ruth • Marjorie C. Salamone • David M. Scales • Robert A. Schlegel • Janice M. Scott • Michael L. Selves • Marian H. Serva • Dan F. Shanower • Antionette M. Sherman • Donald D. Simmons • CheryleD. Sincock • Gregg H. Smallwood • Gary F. Smith • Patricia J. Statz • Edna L. Stephens • Larry L. Strickland • Kip P. Taylor • Sandra C. Taylor • Karl W. Teepe Tamara C. Thurman • Otis V. Tolbert • Willie Q. Troy • Ronald J. Vauk • Karen J. Wagner • Meta L. Waller • Chin Sun Pak Wells • Maudlyn A. White • Sandra L. White • Ernest M. Willcher • David Lucian Williams • Dwayne Williams • Marvin Roger Woods• Kevin W. Yokum • Donald McArthur Young • Edmond G. Young, Jr. • Lisa L. Young • American 77: Paul W. Ambrose • Yeneneh Betru • Mary Jane Booth • Bernard C. Brown II • Charles F. Burlingame III • Suzanne M. Calley • William E. Caswell • David M. Charlebois • Sara M. Clark • Asia S. Cottom • James D. Debeuneure • Rodney Dickens • Eddie A. Dillard • Charles A. Droz III • Barbara G. Edwards• Charles S. Falkenberg • Dana Falkenberg • Zoe Falkenberg • J. Joseph Ferguson • Stanley R. Hall • Michele M. Heidenberger • Bryan C. Jack • Steven D. Jacoby • Ann C. Judge • Chandler Raymond Keller • Yvonne E. Kennedy • Norma Cruz Khan • Karen Ann Kincaid • Dong Chul Lee • Jennifer Lewis • Kenneth E. Lewis • Renée A. May and her unborn child • Dora Marie Menchaca • Christopher C.Newton • Barbara K. Olson • Ruben S. Ornedo • Robert Penninger • Robert R. Ploger III • Zandra F. Ploger • Lisa J. Raines • Todd H. Reuben • John P. Sammartino • Diane M. Simmons • George W. Simmons • Mari-Rae Sopper • Robert Speisman • Norma Lang Steuerle • Hilda E. Taylor • Leonard E. Taylor • Sandra Dawn Teague • Leslie A.Whittington • John D. Yamnicky, Sr. • Shuyin Yang • Yuguang Zheng


If there are things we don’t want to happenbut have to accept, things we don’t want toknow but have to learn, and people we can’tlive without but have to let go, then, as thepoet Kenji Miyazawa said, we must embracethe pain and burn it as fuel for the journey.

•The cry for help came

from a home in the EagleRock section of EastUnion Township.

T he widow of aretired New York Cityfirefighter was in seri-ous trouble. She wasdying of grief.

Vivian and her hus-band, Kevin, moved to

Eagle Rock after he retiredfrom a 19-year career with the New YorkCity Fire Department. They lived quietly inGreater Hazleton’s backyard for a few yearswhile Kevin slowly died of the lung diseasehe developed from breathing in the toxic airat Ground Zero.

Vivian’s family reached out to the Stan-dard-Speaker earlier this year for help ingetting federal benefits offered to families of9/11 victims. A story in the newspaperwould help her cause, they thought.

However, Vivian’s family soon realized apublic airing of her pain would be too muchfor her to bear. Kevin’s death was still tooreal, too fresh in her fragile mind.

•Kevin was on duty with the FDNY on Sept. 11, 2001. He

responded to the World Trade Center after the two hijackedairliners crashed into the towers. Because his company —Engine 43, Ladder 59 in the Bronx — was a second responderon that fateful day, Kevin was not inside the building whenthe towers collapsed. He was one of the many firefighterswho worked for days at Ground Zero searching for survivorswho were never found.

Dr. David Prezant, the fire department’s chief medical offi-cer, said in a report published in The New York Post earlierthis year that firefighters who dug for victims at the WorldTrade Center are getting cancer at higher rates than before9/11 — and some types of cancer are “bizarrely off thecharts,” say sources briefed on the federally funded study.

Within six months of working at Ground Zero, Kevinbegan having a hard time breathing.

Dr. Kerry Kelly, chief medical officer with the FDNY Bureauof Health Services, recommended retirement for the 47-year-old firefighter due to “progressive reduction in (breathing)compared to pre-World Trade Center values,” according toKevin’s medical records. When the doctor told Kevin to retire,the couple left New York City and moved into their Eagle Rock

retirement home. They lived on Kevin’s disability incomewhile Vivian cared for her husband full time. They cashed in alife insurance policy to help cover medical expenses.

By 2005, Kevin was wheelchair-bound.On Jan. 11, 2011, Kevin died at the age of 56, eight months

shy of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.•

Kevin was about to kick back and enjoy some vacationtime away from the fire station on the morning of Sept. 11,2001. Vivian left for work and Kevin turned on the televisionto see breaking news that a commercial airliner crashed intothe north tower of the World Trade Center.

“He was five minutes into his vacation when the first planehit,” Vivian recalled.

He scrambled to get to the fire station and called Vivian.“You’re going now? Is this goodbye? Say you’ll see me lat-

er,” she remembers pleading with her husband on the phone,choking back the panic that threatened to crack her voice.

Kevin was on scene when the second plane hit.“I didn’t see him then for three weeks,” Vivian said, remi-

niscing over photographs of Kevin working at the lowerManhattan ruins, his clothes covered in dust and soot.

•In the decade since the attack, the death toll has been ris-

ing steadily among emergency responders such as Kevin.

On Jan. 2, 2011 — just nine days beforeKevin died — President Barack Obamasigned the James L. Zadroga 9/11 Health &Compensation Act into law, authorizingfunding to expand death benefits to GroundZero workers who die from cancer or respi-ratory diseases due to exposure duringrecovery efforts.

Government officials are still workingout the details on how victims and theirfamilies can apply for the benefits. Claimprocessing may begin in October.

•On the fireplace mantle in their Eagle

Rock home, Kevin’s cremated remains rest-ed in a wooden box emblazoned with a fire-fighter’s coat of arms. His helmet sat on thehearth flanked with a prayer candle and anAmerican flag. The walls were decoratedwith photographs and mementos includinga plaque Kevin received from PresidentGeorge W. Bush in gratitude to the emergen-cy responders.

Surrounded by memories that cry outfrom every wall and mantle, Vivian woreKevin’s wedding ring and fire departmentmedal on a chain around her neck as shestruggled to pick up the pieces of her shat-tered life, grappling with depleted financesand bureaucratic red tape.

Medical expenses drained their bankaccount, and if help is coming from the Zad-roga Act, it’s still months away.

Near the end of her emotional and financial rope, Viviangave up.

She stopped eating.She started dying.An Eagle Rock neighbor noticed Vivian’s distress and

phoned one of her relatives in Minnesota.Vivian’s sister-in-law hurried from the Midwest to Eagle

Rock where she found Vivian in dire straights.Initially, Vivian’s sister-in-law contacted the Standard-

Speaker in the hope that shining public light on the difficultythe widow was having would motivate legislators to movequickly on the Zadroga Act. But, within a few short days, thesister-in-law realized Vivian’s soul was suffering from a mor-tal wound. She had no fight left. It seemed Vivian was wel-coming death as a peaceful option for her weary heart.

To save Vivian’s life, they turned her home over to a realestate agent, packed her possessions in cardboard boxes andfound a trucking company in the nearby Humboldt Industri-al Park that agreed to truck the boxes to Minnesota.

By the end of the week, Vivian and her sister-in-law weregone, to start a new life in the Midwest.

Light is a reporter for the Hazleton Standard-Speaker.

Ten years and counting, we struggle tomove on2001911 2011 THE VOID

Kevin’s helmet sat on a fireplace in his Luzerne County home.

ELLEN O’CONNELL / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Surrounded bymemories that cry out from every wall andmantle,Vivian wore Kevin’s wedding ring and fire departmentmedal on achain around her neck as she struggled to pick up the pieces of hershattered life, grapplingwith depleted finances and bureaucraticred tape. Near the end of her emotional and financial rope, Viviangave up. She stopped eating. She started dying.

MIALIGHT


Documents

9/11 Section