Responders

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Two 110-floor towers collapsed into ruin, killing every person inside them, after two hijacked planes hit them in NYC. Other buildings were likewise destroyed. You may have seen the videos of New Yorkers running from them that morning, running for their lives.

But some ran toward the disaster. Those "first responders" chose selfless courage to try to give assistance to thousands of victims. Many came from a distance, while FDNY (New York's fire department) rushed in massively. They lost 343 of their people.

Just days after 9/11, a writer walked through the area and gave a report here: firefighters from out of town working 12-hour shifts to sort through the rubble - which included human remains. "I filled 25 bags with parts," said one of them.

There were long lines of people filling out identification surveys with details about their missing loved ones, like dental x-rays and what sort of mustache they wore. 

Years and years of terrible effects followed the terrible day.

from "South Toward Hell After September 11"