we remember 9-11-01

Sunday, September 11, 2011 | www.NewBritainHerald.com | $1.75

AN EDITION OF THE HERALD PRESSSUNDAY

salutes the citizens and rescue workers who gave their lives in theattacks on 9/11, and the brave men and women who have sincemade the ultimate sacrifice in fighting terrorism around the world.

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Honoring those who were lost and paying tributeto the heroism of the first responders on 9.11.01.

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We Remember9/11/01

Area residents share theirrecollections of Sept.11,2001

2 | Sunday, September 11, 2011 The Herald Press9/11 A DECADE LATER

By LISA BACKUSand SUSAN CORICASTAFF WRITERS

The events of Sept. 11, 2001, stillresonate today, largely because theimages from that day have proven soindelible that they continue to startle.A vast majority of Americans knowwhere they were and what they weredoing when the events unfolded. It’sbecome a shared experience, and whatfollows are the accounts of people inCentral Connecticut who discuss how9/11 affected them and what they’velearned.

In faceofhardship,everprepared

Chester Plawski’s flight was sup-posed to land in Poland on Sept.11, 2001.That morning his wifeTeresa had

turned on the TV at their NewBritain home and saw the secondplane strike theWorldTrade Center.She called familymembers inPolandand was frightened to hear her hus-band hadn’t arrived.“They said they went to the air-

port and waited but he didn’t come.Isaid. ‘Oh my God what happened?’”she recalled.

It turned out his flight had beendelayed for four hours at KennedyAirport in New York the nightbefore, so he arrived late but safe.Plawski stayed in Poland for twoweeks before returning to NewBritain.The Plawskis, who had survived

many hardships during World WarII, said they never expected anythinglike the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Butthat day didn’t change their feelingof safety in the U.S.Teresa Plawski said she doesn’t

mind the enhanced airport securitymeasures. “I know it’s not pleasantbut you have to do it to protectpeople.”Most Americans have never real-

ly experienced hardship, they said.Chester Plawski said people aren’tprepared even for a serious naturaldisaster that could leave them with-out power and supplies for days orweeks.“They have no food at home, they

have no water, they have no place tocook. People always say bad thingshappen but never to them. But wecould live approximately one monthin this house and not even go to thestore,”he said.

Aday that turned extraordinary

For Courtney Perchiano, Sept.11, 2001, started as an ordinary dayat Bristol Central High School.“I remember that I was in

Spanish class and they made anannouncement that the (first)plane crash had happened. Theysaid that anybody who has parentsor family members who fly forbusiness or whatever, if they wantto make phone calls they can,”she said.“It was just crazy,” she recalled.

“I called my mom, because myfather was a photographer and henormally flies a lot.Thank God hewasn’t on any plane.”Perchiano never imagined that

in a few years she would be mar-ried to a man who witnessedfirsthand the planes striking theWorld Trade Center. Her hus-band Jamie Perchiano saw thedestruction from Staten Island.His best friend was a firefighterwho was killed when the towersfell. Courtney Perchiano said sheand her husband have attended9/11 ceremonies on Staten Islandand lately they have held their ownsmall ceremony in Bristol wherethey light candles and release whiteballoons.He has taken her to New York

to visit Ground Zero and othersites associated with the tragedy.It’s strange being there, she said.“Itwas all so horrible, so sad.”

Apersonalconnection

For Jamie Perchiano, Sept. 11wasn’t just a shocking story he sawon the news, it was a personal trag-edy. A native New Yorker, he was onthe Staten Island ferry that morninggoing to meet friends who worked atthe World Trade Center. The ferrywas halfway to Manhattan when thefirst plane hit.“Next thingyouknowtheystopped

the ferry rightby theStatueofLiberty,then they turned us around and wehad to go back to Staten Island,”he said. “Everyone was freaking out.I was on my phone trying to callpeople. First there was a busy signal,then it went to voice mail, then therewas just nothing.”He knew several people who were

killed that day but chief among themwas his best friend, Robert Cordice,who had recently become a firefighterstationed at Squad 1 in Brooklyn.“He was only 24. He was like a

brother tome,”he said.“It’s incrediblethat this had to happen to innocentpeople, just going to work to make aliving for their families. It took a longtime for me to recover from it.”He has attended memorials at a

Staten Island site known as Angels’Circle and hopes to bring his youngsons there someday when they’reolder.“I’ve been changed permanently by

it,but you have tomove on and thinkin positive ways, and that’s what I’vebeen trying to do,” he said.

Locals share their recollections of September 11,2001

Chester Plawski, left, and his wife, Teresa.

Mike Orazzi | Staff

Jamie PerchianoMike Orazzi | Staff

Courtney Perchiano

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Sunday, September 11, 2011 | 3The Herald Press WE REMEMBER

To find the way, ‘just look up’

When Eric Steiner saw theWorld Trade Center crumble onTV 10 years ago, he felt a shock ofrecognition. He knew the layoutof the towers because he had beendelivering cash to ATMs there justa year before.

“I couldn’t possibly imaginethem coming down. I was hopingthe people we used to deal withthere were OK. I knew it wouldtake at least 10 minutes just to getout of there,” he said.

Steiner had spent much of 2000working for an armored car com-pany, driving a large territory thatincluded New York City.

“We used to do JFK andLaGuardiaairports,Bloomingdale’sand Saks Fifth Avenue, the busstations, so I got to see all thefamous spots in New York,” herecalled.

The first time he and his crewdrove to the towers, they stoppedto ask directions. “People said, ‘Justlook up, you’ll find it.’

We looked up, there they were— the two tallest buildings in NewYork. We felt so stupid,” he said.

He would usually arrive at thetowers around noon, when thou-sands of people were walkingabout during lunch.

He would carry the ATM car-tridges loaded with cash to theground floor reception area tocheck in with security.Then some-one from the bank would come outto accompany him to the ATM.

Steiner, a Bristol resident, saidhe knew someone who worked

in New York who always felt thetowers were a target, ever since theterrorist bombing happened therein 1993.

However, he was never afraid ofgoing there. “Driving an armoredtruck is a dangerous job anyway,”he said. “I’m always cautious inNew York anyway. I feel we’re stillgetting threatened by al-Qaeda,but any place could be a target.”

Social outing takesominous turn

Pat Ward of Bristol had justarrived at Grand Central Stationfor a day in New York City withher sister and two friends whenthe first plane hit the World TradeCenter’s North Tower.

They were on their way toBattery Park, which is near theWTC complex.

“We were going to see theStatue of Liberty, perhaps havelunch at Windows on the World,but none of that came to be,”Ward recalled.

They were told they couldn’tgo on the subway because therehad been “an incident.” So theywatched on a TV in a store as thesecond plane hit the South Tower.

“We decided we better leaveNew York. We bought our tickets,then they told us the trains weren’trunning. So we just walked aroundoutside, because all the buildingswere evacuated by then and thestores closed. There was a sea ofpeople and policemen on horses.”

No one really knew what wasgoing on, people were standingoutside the NBC building reading

the headline ticker, she said.Finally at 1 p.m.,the four women

were able to get on one of the firsttrains heading out of the city. Noone asked them for tickets.

By 4 p.m. they got off inNaugatuck and were able to makephone calls to let people knowthey were OK.

That’s when they realized thefull extent of what had happened.

Ward said her feelings aboutgoing to New York haven’tchanged; she and her social groupstill go there several times a year.She also takes today’s heightenedsecurity measures in stride.

“If I’m on a plane I want to besafe. If they have to take an extrahalf hour of my day to ensure that,I don’t really have a problem withit,” she said.

Turn toward one another,not away

Fran Poeta was watching“Good Morning, America” in aConnecticut hospital while recov-ering from surgery when thescreen flashed with breaking newsthat a plane had struck one of theTwin Towers in New York City.

“I thought to myself, thatdidn’t look like an accident,” the61-year-old New Britain residentsaid. In the following hours, theNew Britain resident remembersfeeling proud of the firefighterswho tried to rescue others andshocked at the amount of smokeand debris.

But what she said lingeredwas the feeling that people need

to better understand opposingviews.

“It was propaganda,” she said.“The American governmentdemonized the muslims, andOsama (bin Laden) demonizedAmericans to his people. We haveto be able to talk. People have tounderstand each other to stop thisfrom happening again.”

Alessononmortality

Jessica Lewis was at work at BethIsrael Hospital in Manhattan whena co-worker pointed out that theWorld Trade Center was smoking.She and her boyfriend were livingin the area at the time. He askedher to marry him two weeks afterthe attacks. “I think people realizedwe aren’t going to be here forever,”she said.

When the second plane hit, itoccurred to her that it wasn’t anaccident. “I looked out the windowand could see only one tower there,”the 46-year-old said.

“When the news came of thePentagon, it was like a nuclear holo-caust,” said Lewis, who since movedto New Britain. “I was waiting to beblown up.”

The day changed the country’sview on terrorism. Her father, whoworked for American Airlines inthe 1970s, once thought “home-land security” meant going througha purse at the airport.

“Now people are being wand-ed and taking off their shoes,” shesaid, adding that she’s had sporadicnightmares about the attacks overthe years. A few months ago herthoughts were drawn back to thatday when she saw a plane flying overthe East Hartford skyline. “It reallydoes make you realize you aren’tgoing to live forever,” she said.

‘We did not fold’

Robert Graveline wrote hisfirst poem in 1967 as a way ofaddressing his frustration at workas a computer programmer. It wasonly natural, said the 79-year-oldRocky Hill resident, that he penhis feelings after the World TradeCenter attacks.

“I felt really bad about the peo-ple dying and I was also angry thatsomeone could do this to us,” hesaid.

The result was “SeptemberEleven Two Thousand One,” apoem that Graveline will readduring Rocky Hill’s 9/11 memo-rial service today at 2 p.m. in theMemorial Garden on Old MainStreet.

The piece was also read intothe Congressional Record in 2002after being submitted by U.S. Rep.John Larson.

Graveline recalls he was in hisgarage on 9/11 when a Rocky Hilltown highway crew called out tohim to ask if he heard what hap-pened. He wrote the poem about amonth later after learning that theterrorists had been taking flyinglessons and no one had noticed.

In the piece, he gives credit tothose who lost their lives tryingto save others and points out thatthe country “just bent, we did notfold.”

He concludes that we “bondedwith each other” in the aftermath.“I think we owe a debt of gratitudeto those who put their life on theline,” Graveline said. “I think wetake it for granted.”

Mike Orazzi | Staff

Eric Steiner

Mike Orazzi | Staff

Pat Ward.

Rob Heyl | Staff

Fran Poeta

Rob Heyl | Staff

Jessica Lewis

Rob Heyl | Staff

Robert Graveline

4 | Sunday, September 11, 2011 LOCAL The Herald Press9/11 A DECADE LATER

Against complacency

DanGoodkofsky had just finishedofficer training in Quantico, Va.,as a Marine Corps cadet when heand his fellow students learned thatthe World Trade Center had beenattacked.“We just started watching what

was going on in New York and thenwe received a report that there wassmoke coming from the capital,” the34-year-old New Britain firefightersaid. “They closed the base immedi-ately and we spent the day setting upsecurity check points. People weren’tsure if we were a target. It seemedlike it was beginning of some sortof war.”Twoyears later hewouldbe among

the Marines staging the invasion ofIraq, one of his two tours of duty inthat country.“I think it’s better that Americans

are getting attacked while wearinga flak jacket than while driving on(Interstate) 91 and getting hit by abomb,”he said.Last year he painted a flag on a

front window of his home with thewords “Never Forget” to commemo-rate the anniversary of 9/11.This yearhe expects to do the same. “I thinka lot of people get complacent anddon’t really appreciate the sacrificethat people are making every day,”he said.“Ithinkwe’redoingtherightthing,”

he said of the country’s decision toremain in Iraq and Afghanistan.“That’s where it all started.”

Using paint to honor fallen

After nearly two decades of paint-ing firefighters, it was only naturalthat New Britain fire Capt. PaulWalshwouldmemorialize his friendsin Squad 41 in the South Bronx,nearly all of whom were killed whileworking to rescue others from theWorldTrade Center.“It’s terrible enough to lose one

firefighter but to lose entire compa-nies in one day, that leaves a mark,”said the 26-year veteran of the NewBritain department.Walsh was at a hardware store

when he received the first text mes-sages that theWTC had been hit bya plane. It would take him anothercouple of hours to contact his brotherJay, a lieutenant with the New YorkFire Department who wasn’t on dutythat day. In the days that followed,the lieutenant updated his brother onthe dead and missing. Walsh knewmany of the men who died throughhis brother.He often hung out at Squad 41.

One of his close friends, BobbyHamilton, is depicted in a paintinghe did for the Bronx station and thefamilies of those who died. In all, 343New York firefighters died that day.He attended as many of the funeralsas he could.Walsh’s work is displayed at the

Connecticut Firefighter’s Museumin South Windsor and in the FireMuseum run by the ConnecticutFiremen’s Historical Society inManchester.“The undertaking of what the

New York Fire Department did thatday was unbelievable,”Walsh said. “Itwas the biggest rescue ever made.”

A hunch based on experience

When Lou Caouette heardon the radio that a plane had hitthe World Trade Center, he wasshocked but not surprised.At first it was reported that it was

a light plane, then later broadcasterssaid it was a jet, he recalled. “I didn’tthink anything of it at the time, butwhen they said that another planehad hit the other tower, I knew we

were under attack.”“It was bad enough when the

Twin Towers were being attackedbut when I heard that the Pentagonwas under attack I said, ‘That’s it,we’re at war.’ It was like anotherPearl Harbor,” he said.Ever since the 1993 truck bomb-

ing at the towers, Caouette said hesuspected terrorists would attackthere again, though he didn’t expectthey would use hijacked planes.A Vietnam veteran who served

in the U.S. Navy, Caouette saidhe had been concerned about ter-rorism before that, starting withthe bombings in 1998 of the U.S.embassies in Kenya and Tanzaniaand in 2000 of the naval destroyerthe USS Cole in Yemen.“Theywere going after American

targets, so I wasn’t really shockedabout what happened on 9/11. Imean it was shocking to watchwhat was going on, especially whenthe people jumped from the towers,that was horrible, and when thetowers fell. I never thought theywould fall,” said Caouette, a Bristolresident.He worries more attacks may be

coming. “One thing I can’t under-stand is why it took so long to get(Osama) bin Laden, but they gothim and I was happy,” he said.

Rob Heyl | Staff

Dan Goodkofsky

Rob Heyl | Staff

Lt. Pat Walsh.

Lou Caouette

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‘All those firemen!’

At Manchester Memorial Hospital onSept. 11, 2001, Nancy Cosgrove wentdown to the cafeteria with some co-work-ers. “We came back and the girl in the nextoffice said, ‘Something’s happened in NewYork City.’”They turned on a TV and watched as

the second plane struck the World TradeCenter.“I sat there completely stunned. What

I really remember is watching the firemengo up into the towers, then watching thosetowers collapse. I said right out loud, ‘Ohmy God, all those firemen!’”Her immediate concern was for her son,

Bobby Sanville, who had just started as afreshman at Western Connecticut StateUniversity in Danbury, which she worriedwas close enough to New York City that itmight be targeted.“I couldn’t get in touch with him. No

one knew what was happening and Ijust wanted him home,” she said. TheSouthington resident also had to alert herhusband Charles to contact his daughterin Washington, D.C. to make sure she wasOK.Adding to Cosgrove’s concern, at the

hospital where she worked as a respiratorytherapist/sleep technologist the staff wasput on alert and not allowed to leave.Later, she made a point of getting a cell

phone so she could always be in touch withfamily members.“Sept. 11 changed my sense of safety,”

she said. “I don’t take anything for grantedanymore. I appreciate the emergency work-ers who put themselves at risk on a dailybasis.”

First shock, then perspective

Driving to work in New Haven fromSouthington, Charles Cosgrove got a pan-icked call from his wife Nancy on themorning of Sept. 11, 2001. “She said, ‘Doyou know what flight Kellie is on going toEurope?’”Cosgrove’s daughter was supposed to leave

that day on a flight from Dulles Airport inWashington, D.C. to Paris for her job as alawyer for the Federal Trade Commission.“I said, ‘No, why are you asking?’ Nancy

said we’ve been attacked by terrorists,” hesaid. “I knew nothing about what was goingon.”He soon learned Dulles was where

American Airlines Flight 77 departed,beforebeing hijacked and flown into the Pentagon.Cosgrove had spoken to his daughter the

night before. “She does a lot of internationaltravel, so it never dawned on me to ask whather flight number was,” he said.Finally he was able to learn that his daugh-

ter’s flight was cancelled and he reached herat her Washington office.“Her office was locked down. For a couple

of hours not being able to get in touch withher, we were holding our breath, it was soterrifying.”Looking back, Cosgrove said he appreci-

ated the feeling of people coming togetherafter the tragedy.“I believe there are elementsof that still with us today. I think peopleare more in tune with not getting mad overtrivial things,” he said.Almost 3,000 people lost their lives that

day, he said. “So if life gets to be a bit of astruggle you can think about those peoplethat are never coming home again, and try tokeep a perspective on things.”

Nancy Cosgrove Charles Cosgrove


Awake-up call thatwent unheeded

The night before the terroristattacks, Tony Sileo and his wifeJennie flew home from his Armyreunion in St. Louis. They haddecided not to take a side trip toBranson,Mo.,with friend from thereunion.Later they heard that their

friends ended up stuck in Missourifor several days when all flightswere grounded.They couldn’t get hotel rooms

anywhere, Sileo said. “Buses andtrains were out of the question then.All the car rentals were gone. Someof them ended up buying used carsto get home.”As for the Sileos, a Bristol couple,

they had a nice flight into BradleyAirport and the next morning theywere too busy straightening upafter their trip to pay attention tothe news. Then their daughter told

them to turn on the TV.“As we looked the second plane

crashed,” he said. “After that wewere glued to the TV.”Much later he learned that one

of his old Army buddies lost hisdaughter and son-in-law, whowere passengers on the plane thatcrashed into the Pentagon. Afterthat the formerly jovial man cut offall social ties and moved with hiswife to a town where no one knewthem, he said.Sileo believes the 1993 World

Trade Center bombing should havebeen a wakeup call for the U.S. gov-ernment about the terrorism threat.Like Pearl Harbor, he said, Sept. 11should never have happened.“The world has changed for the

worst since then,” he said, notingthat national security has become abit of an obsession for him.

Sileo also said he doesn’t under-stand the Iraq and Afghanistanwars.They have no clear objectives,unlike when he fought with theArmy’s 10th Mountain Division inWorld War II, he said.

Honeymoon turns chaotic

Heading toAruba for their honey-moonwas the last carefree flightGaryand Jill Klemyk would experience.“We had two fun days there,” said

Gary. Then as he was checking hise-mail on the hotel computer, he sawa short news item about an airplanecrash at theWorldTrade Center.“Are you Americans?” a hotel

housekeeper asked. “You need to goin the conference room.”“There must have been 60

Americans already in there, just gluedto theTVs,”he said.They watched asthe second plane hit. “That’s when itgot really quiet.”WithU.S.flightshalted,Americans

were left stranded, running out ofmoney. Telephones and ATMSweren’t working. Jill said the hotelswere opening their conference roomsand putting out food for people.The Klemyks, of Bristol, were

scheduled to leave Sept. 16. “Wewere on the first flight that left for thestates,”Jill said.Even then there were problems.

Airport security was chaotic, she said.“They were saying no electronics, sopeople were throwing cameras andcamcorders in the garbage.”The plane took a roundabout

route to avoid Caribbean countriesthat would no longer allow flyoversfor U.S. flights. At Bradley Airport,the plane was diverted to a remoteairfield.“At first they wouldn’t let anybody

off, they brought dogs on to sniff thecargo area.Then we got on buses andthey checked us physically as we gotback to the airport,”Gary said.The journey that should have last-

ed five hours took 14. “That’s whenit really started to set in. Life haschanged for us,”he said.

Toomany knee-jerk reactions

The lumber delivery mancame into the carpentry shopwhere Matt Malley was workingand said, “Can you believe whatthey’re doing in New York?”“We didn’t have the radio or

anything going, we had no clue.Then he began to explain it tous,” Malley said.The shock of the towers

crumbling was compounded forMalley by the loss of one of hisfavorite places — Windows onthe World, the famed restaurantatop the North Tower.He reminisced about taking

his extended family there soonafter it opened back in 1976and later taking members ofthe Plymouth Historical Societythere.“It was just phenomenal. The

view was very nice, the staff wasliterally from all over the world,and the wine cellar was one ofthe best in New York,” he said.“They had a jacket requirement,so if you didn’t have a jacket theyproduced one for you that wasroyal blue with the Windows onthe World logo on it.”His grandmother saved the

menu from the family trip.Malley enjoys looking over it,pointing out the gourmet dishesavailable at 1970s prices.Not everyone enjoyed the tow-

er’s noticeable sway so high up,but those things never botheredhim. “I have very high confi-dence in engineering,” he said.Malley recognizes Sept. 11’s

aftermath as more serious thanthe loss of a restaurant.“I think about the things we

used to be able to do before 9/11that today could land you in jail.Like in high school I made acannon in metal shop,” said theBristol resident.“We panicked and made knee-

jerk reactions after 9/11,” hesaid. “Eventually some of thosereactions are going to have to belooked at and revised.”

Tony Sileo

Jill and Gary Klemyk

Matt Malley

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Alicenseplategrabsattention

The license plate on Ed Luczkow’s car is“0911.”On Sept. 11 he was taking a morningbreak at his factory job when a passing driverstopped to comment.“He said, ‘Hang onto that plate because that

date will be remembered forever, like Dec. 7,”Luczkow said, recalling how he first heardabout the terrorist attacks. “Shortly thereafterwe were all called into a meeting and they saidanybody that wants can go home,” he said. “Idon’t think anybody did. We were in denialabout how bad it was at first.”An EMT, Luczkow went on to become

chairperson/coordinator of Bristol’s LocalEmergency Planning Committee for severalyears.Emergency planning became a top prior-ity, so early in 2002 he got approval to updatethe city’s emergency radio system at a cost of$4.5 million. “It was a huge upgrade, but it waslong overdue,” he said. “Today Bristol has thebest radio system in the state of Connecticut,bar none.”As a licensed private pilot,Luczkow is acute-

ly aware of how the Sept. 11 attacks affectedaviation.It used to be the governmentwasmoretolerant if a small aircraft accidentally flew intoa temporarily restricted space, he said. “Today,you could be shot down or rammed, or havesomeone fly jet exhaust right into your faceto get you get out of there immediately.” Theheightened security that awaits people beforeboarding commercial flights is necessary, hebelieves.“Your safety is worth it.These terroristsare people that want to do us harm.”

Outrage followedbyapathy

The terrorist attacks arrived “on a bright,beautifulmorning like a screeching and flamingdestroyer-ship emerging out of the waters ofrelative stability and calm,” Scott MacDonaldwrote about Sept. 11. He was a freshman in

English class at Bristol Central High Schoolthat day when the news came over the inter-com. As the day progressed, teachers set uptelevisions so students and staff could watchthe disaster unfold. People had different emo-tions and reactions,he recalled.“I saw some sadstudents bury their heads to hide their tears,while other students laughed at the falling bod-ies as though they were watching a bad actionmovie.”MacDonald said he was reminded that day

“of the importance of keeping family andfriends close by,of understanding that the viewsof a group of extremists does not reflect thevalues of an entire population.”Now a studentat Central Connecticut StateUniversity,he saidSept. 11 was what really got him interested infollowing the news and politics,butmany of hispeers don’t share that interest.“Formy generation 9/11 was by far themost

horrifying event we’ve seen, but if I were to askpeople about it, some would have a lot to saybut themajoritywould just say it’s a tragedy andthat’s about it.”

Terryville’s link toTheTowers

Gordon Chabot of Southington was athome watching “Imus in theMorning”onTV.He recalled that when the first plane crashedinto theWorld Trade Center the program wassuspended and one of the cameramen in theNew York studio trained the camera out thewindow at the towers nearby.“They were quite close and I watched as the

second tower was hit. You could see the planeswooping in and—Bang!— it hit,”he said. “Iwas thinking we got some trouble.”Chabot is a veteran of the U.S. Army Air

Corps who was in pilot training in 1945 whenJapan surrendered.He remembersPearlHarborbutwasn’tworried that the terrorist attackswerea repeat of that event.He was moved by the collapse of theWorld

Trade Center to create a poster showing anobscure link between the landmark financial/commercial complex in lower Manhattan andthe little LockMuseum of America, located inTerryville. A retired artist, Chabot enlarged aphoto of the towers taken by a friend lookingnorth from the top of a building inManhattan’sBattery ParkCity.Then he positioned next to ita smaller photo of the LockMuseum building.The museum’s curator, Bristol resident

Thomas Hennessy, years ago perfected themaster key system for all the locks in theWorldTrade Center, according to Chabot, who saidhe might consider presenting the poster to theLockMuseum.

Mike Orazzi | Staff

Ed Luczkow

Rob Heyl | Staff

Scott MacDonald

Mike Orazzi | Staff

Gordon Chabot

WE WILL NEVER FORGET

On September 11, 2001, 3,388 people died as a result of

terrorist attacks. On the tenth anniversary of that tragedy, on

Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011, we are honoring each of them by

lighting 3,388 luminaries on the grounds of our Newington

Memorial Funeral Home, 20 Bonair Ave., Newington. You

are invited to stop by from 6: 30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and reflect,

remember and honor all who died on that day and those who

have sacrificed so much for our freedom. Anytime during

these two hours, drive by, walk by, or spend some time here

to pay tribute in your own personal way. Newington Boy

Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Newington Volunteer Firefighters will

be present and are supporting our family and staff to make

this evening so special. In case of rain, this tribute will not

take place.

We hope you will join us,

à{x Wâ~át YtÅ|Äç

Commemorating the 10th Anniversary of 9-11

860-666-0600


By LISA BACKUSSTAFF WRITER

On the morning of the NewYorkCitymayoral primary onSept.11, 2001, city Detective BrendanMulvey had been assigned to elec-tion duty at aQueens public school.Within hours he was standingon the roof watching the WorldTrade Center burn and waiting forinstructions on what to do next.“My wife was also a New York

City officer and she jokinglysaid, ‘I’ll see you in about threemonths,’” said the 49-year-oldMulvey, who has since become aBristol police officer, a positionhe’s held for eight years. “She waspretty accurate.”As part of the NYPD’s Auto

Crime Unit, Mulvey was assignedto the Staten Island dump wherehe would spend roughly a yearidentifying 1,600 burned andmangled vehicles that had beenparked around and in the garage atthe World Trade Center when thebuildings came down.During his first night on the

detail, he recalls debating withother detectives about the modeland make of a chunk of twistedsteel that had been brought in foridentification.“I thought it was a Ford, one

of the other guys said no, it was aLexus,” he said. “It turned out thatit was a Ford ambulance that hadbeen melded to a Lexus.”The emergency vehicles were

easily recognizable by their colorand markings. Some fire trucksbore names,handwritten by friendsand co-workers, of the firefighterswho set out that morning to rescuethousands but never made it out.In most cases, “I never knew if they

lived or died,” Mulvey said. “I fig-ured they all just didn’t make it.”As part of his job he’d venture

into the heavily damaged parkinggarage at the World Trade Centerto inspect vehicles trapped inside.Some floors of the structure wereintact, with the cars in pristinecondition and simply covered indust.Other floors had been crushed,

taking vehicles and portions ofconcrete and twisted metal down-ward to land on top of the slabsbelow.Often the openings left behind

were filled with ash — the com-bined remnants of material thatincluded desks,work stations,walls,doors and office equipment thathad once filled the Twin Towers.The ash was seven stories high insome places, he said.He lost friends that day, includ-

ing his wife’s former partner, andwent to countless funerals in theweeks that followed. Each day,however, he noticed that peoplefrom around the country, and theworld, had pulled together to con-tend with the aftermath of theattacks.German and Japanese police

officers would be directing trafficon street corners, and membersof the American Red Cross andSalvation Army stayed for monthsoffering food and bedding tothe workers and surviving familymembers.“Probably for about six months

after it occurred the only roadin was lined with thousands andthousands of people who werestanding there thanking you,” herecalls. “It was just incredible. Iwish we could see more of thattoday.”

Areaofficer taskedwith identifying cars from the rubble

Mike Orazzi | Staff

Bristol police officer Brendan Mulvey in September 2011.

Mike Orazzi | Staff

NYPD detective Brendan Mulvey, now a Bristol police officer, in front of a line of mangled vehicles he would laterhelp to identify. The vehicles were parked in the area of the World Trade Center when Tower One and Two camedown on 9/11.

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It was a task that police Sgt.Charles Smedick and othermembers of the Plainville PoliceDepartment took on willinglyin the days that followed the9/11 attacks on the World TradeCenter.Each day for several weeks,

Smedick and his fellow officerstook turns escorting clergy toGround Zero to give the last ritesto human remains discovered asemergency workers painstakinglysifted through the rubble.Sometimes the remains were

small bits of bone or a piece ofscalp. On at least one occasionSmedick and another Plainvilleofficer wound up as part of abucket brigade looking for anytrace of a Port Authority policeofficer after a portion of his gunwas found on a pile.“They were hoping his body was

nearby but they never found any-thing,” Smedick said. “We werewearing our full uniform becauseof the job we were assigned to do.We came back covered in dustthat day.”Smedick, a member of the

Plainville force for nearly 30 years,said he came to realize that most

people didn’t have an accurateperception of what the site lookedlike. He expected large chunksof building material, much likewhat might be found following abomb blast, but what he saw weresteel beams still glowing from theflames with just about everythingelse pulverized into dust.“It was a sobering experience,”

Smedick said. “For most officersit probably will be the one thingin their career that will stand outthe most.”

Indays after 9/11,Plainvilleofficers tookon a solemn task

Rob Heyl | Staff

Sgt. Charles Smedick of thePlainville Police Department.


A decade ago New York Cityfirefighter Tim Brown survived thehowling winds and roar of concreteand steel collapsing as the WorldTrade Center crashed to the groundaround him.Brown, a 49-year-old Newington

native and former New Britain fire-fighter,was with the NYFD’s Officeof EmergencyManagement the daythe city erupted into chaos as twoplanes ripped into theTwinTowers.As Brown sprinted from tower to

tower trying to help others and orga-nize the emergency response,he sawan elevator pit ablaze from jet fuel.The people inside were “cooking” ashe tried to secure fire extinguishersto put out the blaze, he later told aWTCtask force.Andhewould laterhear theroar.Brownfoundhimself inthe area of theWTCMarriot whenthe first tower started to collapse andhung on to a column. He and the

other emergency responders knewwhat the ominous sound meant —and they all understood that the pileof rubble that followed would likelybe their final resting place.“I was trying to live,” he said. “At

that moment I guessed the windswere about 75 miles per hour ... ascientist did a study and determinedit was closer to 185 miles per hour.I was holding on to the columntrying not to get blown out into thestreet because I knew the falling steelwould have killed me. I really didthink I was done.”It was unfair, he thought to him-

self, that he’d never get a chance tohold his brother one more time,Brown said.“In the end, it’s the onesyou love that you’re thinking about.I am one of the lucky ones who hasbeen able to hold his brother for thepast 10 years.”He lost 93 friends and co-workers

that day. The story of his grief andhope,playedoutovernineyears,isfea-tured in the documentary “Rebirth,”

which opened in late August. Heretired from the NYFD in 2004after a short stint with the federalgovernment working on homelandsecurity matters.He said he was thrust into an

advocacy role about three years agowhen families of 9/11 victims askedthat he become involved in the fightagainst holding the trials of five sus-pected organizers of the terroristattacks inManhattan.“I see it as my duty to defend the

honor and the sanctity of that placewhere something this awful hap-pened,” he said. “Eleven hundredfamilies never got any DNA back,for them that’s the burial ground fortheir loved ones. For people to playaround with it, that’s offensive.”

Oneman’s fight for survival

Newington native and former NewBritain firefighter Tim Brown.

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As a cardiologist tending to a manin his 40s who was swiftly dying ofa degenerative heart condition, Dr.Reza Mansoor admits he struggledon 9/11 to contendwith theimmediacy of his patient’scondition and the shockthat was spreading acrossthe country.He also says that within

hours of the terrorist attackshe heard derogatory com-ments about his Muslimfaith, such as “We shouldblow up all the mosques”and “Blow upMecca.”“It was hurtful,” he said.

“These are spiritual sites for us. Acrazy lunatic used our religion.Thesewere terrorists who used religion tocarry out their awful deed.”Mansoor, a West Hartford resi-

dent, was instrumental in foundingtheMuslimCoalition ofConnecticutin 2004 and is now on the board ofthe organization and on the board

of the Islamic Association of GreaterHartford, which operates a mosquein Berlin.For the past decade he has been

involved in helping others under-stand his religion and in showingMuslim teenagers that they can have

an Islamic-American identity.The organizations volunteer at

soup kitchens once a month andbuild houses with other faiths forHabitat for Humanity.They sponsor“A Taste of Ramadan” at NewingtonHigh School each year and teachhigh school students about the reasonfor fasting during the sacred holiday.

They also speak at churches andsynagogues.Most Americans have miscon-

ceptions about Islam and Muslims,he explained. “There is nothing inour Islamic-American identity thatdoesn’t comply with American law,”

Mansoor said. “Wewanted to show peoplethat the Islam identityis one that people didn’tneed to fear. We havea structured and family-oriented life that includesgiving to the poor.”He calls Osama bin

Laden a “crazy man”who used religion forpolitical gain and mediapopularity. “There is a

differentiation between using religionand what that religion actually is,”hesaid. He later adds, “Religion shouldalways be a healing force.We shouldbe able to differentiate religion froma person who does an act of terror,whether it’s a Muslim or someonein Norway who uses Christianity tokill people.”

LocalMuslimmoved tomake a change inperception

Rob Heyl | Staff

Dr. Reza Mansoor at the mosque in Berlin operated by the Islamic Associa-tion of Greater Hartford.

For the past decade he hasbeen involved in helpingothers understand his religionand in showing Muslimteenagers that they can havean Islamic-American identity.

Area doctor creates Muslim Coalition of Connecticut to teachAmericans about Islam and young Muslims about American culture

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By MITCH STACYASSOCIATED PRESS

SARASOTA, Fla. — The16 children who shared mod-ern America’s darkest momentwith President George W. Bushare high school seniors now —football players, ROTC members,track athletes, wrestlers andsingers.They remember going over an

eight-paragraph story so it wouldbe perfect when they read it to thepresident on Sept. 11, 2001. Theyremember how Bush’s face sud-denly clouded as his chief of staff,Andrew Card, bent down andwhispered to him that the U.S.had been attacked. They remem-ber how Bush pressed on with thereading as best he could beforesharing the devastating news withthe nation.“It was like a blank stare. Like

he knew something was goingon but he didn’t want to make ittoo bad for us to notice by look-ing different,” said Lenard Rivers,now a 17-year-old football playerat Sarasota High.What the students can’t say for

sure is how that moment changedthem. They were just second-graders. Their memories wereonly beginning.“I think we all matured maybe a

little bit,” said Chantal Guerrero,now a 17-year-old senior at

Sarasota Military Academy. “...But since we were only 7, I’mnot sure what kind of impact ithad, because we didn’t know howthings were before.”Lazaro Dubrocq, now a

17-year-old senior and captain ofthe wrestling team at Sarasota’sRiverview High School, said itwouldn’t be until middle schoolwhen he started seriously ponder-ing his place in the chaotic eventsof Sept. 11.“I was too young and naive to

fully understand the gravity of thesituation,” said Dubrocq, who isheaded to Columbia Universityto study chemical engineering

next year. “As I began to ageand mature, it helped me gain anew perspective of the world andit helped me mature faster as Ibegan to understand that there arepolitics and wars and genocidesthat occur daily throughout theworld. It helped me come to arealization that the world is not aperfect place.”Sept. 11, 2001, was a steamy

Tuesday in southwest Florida.The children were sitting in twoneat rows in room 301 of EmmaE. Booker Elementary School.Bush planned to sit in the class-room with them before moving tothe media center to talk about anational reading initiative.Booker Elementary, in a low-

income area of Sarasota, waschosen for the Bush visit becausePrincipal Gwen Tose’-Rigell hadturned it into a high-performingschool. As presidential trips go, itwas routine, mundane even. Thechildren were chosen because theywere some of the best readers.Tose’-Rigell, who died of can-

cer in 2007, told The AssociatedPress in 2002 that Bush knewwhen he arrived at the schoolthat some kind of plane had hitone of the World Trade Centertowers in New York. But the newswas sketchy, and the decision wasmade to proceed with the pro-gram at Booker.The moment when Card

whispered to the president aboutthe terrorist attack came whenthe children were reaching undertheir desks for a book calledReading Mastery II. On Page 153was “The Pet Goat,” the storythe children read aloud as thepresident followed along with hisown copy.As they began the story, some

of the children sensed somethingwas different about the president.“One kid described his face

as (like) he had to use the bath-room,”Guerrero said. “That’s howwe saw it in second grade. He justlooked like he got the worst newsin the world.”

Just behind him, visible in mostof the photos and video footageof the speech, stood StevensonTose’-Rigell, the principal’s son.He was a fifth-grader whose classwas chosen to be on the riser withthe president during the speechabout the reading initiative.Now a 20-year-old college stu-

dent, Tose’-Rigell said his motherhad staunchly defended Bushagainst criticism that he didn’tget up and act quickly enoughafter being told of the attacks.Filmmaker Michael Moore usedthe classroom footage in 2004documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11,”showing Bush continuing to sitafter getting the news from Card.“She knows kids, obviously, and

she knows how kids react, andBush did the best that he couldby remaining calm, not going hys-terical or anything like that andreally just making a smooth tran-sition,”Tose’-Rigell said. “Overall,she was pretty much content withthe way things happened.”The rest of the day at Booker

was a flurry of activity. Franticparents came and scooped uptheir children, thinking theschool might be a target for anattack because Bush had beenthere. Daniels, the teacher, madethe remaining second-graders sitdown and watch news coverageof the attacks and tried to explainwhat had happened.

KidswithBushon9/11 sawchange sweepoverhim

AP

Mariah Williams is now 17.

AP

Stevenson Tose-Rigell is now 20.

By BETH FOUHYASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK (AP) — He wasthe living symbol of the Sept. 11,2001, terror attacks, a hero to atraumatized nation seeking lead-ership in a time of crisis. Walkingmiles through the streets ofManhattan,Mayor Rudy Giulianiurged New York and the world tobe calm, said the city would sur-vive. With empathy and restraint,he said the number of 9/11 deadwould be “more than any of uscan bear.”“It was the worst experience

of my life. It was the most dev-astating experience for the city Iwas responsible for,” Giuliani toldThe Associated Press in a wide-ranging interview.A decade later, the man most

connected with 9/11 — earn-ing the enduring moniker of“America’s Mayor” — parlayed

his experience into a lucrativesecurity consulting career. But heproved a flop as a presidential

contender in 2008, when theheroics of 9/11 didn’t translateinto a plausible strategy for win-ning the Republican nomination.And he says he’s bothered by sug-gestions that he profited from his9/11 fame.Giuliani says he’s considering

another presidential bid in 2012.But he’s found it hard to reclaimthe mantle of greatness he earnedon the city’s darkest day.His most searing memory was

watching a man fall from the sky.Giuliani arrived at the World

Trade Center themorning of Sept.11 minutes after a second planeslammed into the south tower.Hewas headed for the command postbeneath the burning north towerwhen police asked him to lookskyward to avoid falling debris.“I kept looking up and I saw

a man, on the 101st floor, puthimself right in the window andhe just flung himself right out,”Giuliani told the AP. “I saw thefire behind him. I just froze andwatched him because it was soincomprehensible.”There was no time to stop and

absorb what he had seen. Hestrode through lower Manhattan,flanked by his administration,directing security and rescueefforts, visiting hospitals and try-ing to prevent the city’s operationsfrom falling into more chaos.“We’d handled everything —

airline crashes, building collapses,fires, hostage situations, other ter-rorist threats,” Giuliani says now.“But this was so far beyond whatwe’d contemplated, there musthave been a moment where Ithought, we can’t handle this.”

RudyGiuliani:OnSept 11,2001 he became ‘America’sMayor’

AP

New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, center, leads New York Gov. GeorgePataki, left, and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., on a tour of the site ofthe World Trade Center disaster Sept 12, 2001.

12 | Sunday, September 11, 2011 LOCAL The Herald Press

salutes the citizens and rescue workers who gave their lives in theattacks on 9/11, and the brave men and women who have sincemade the ultimate sacrifice in fighting terrorism around the world.

Area residents share theirrecollections of Sept.11,2001

we remember 9-11-01

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