good afternoon everyone it is truly lovely to and I'm just going to quickly introduce myself and then introduce you to these two people next to me they both have extraordinary stories to tell you so my name is Judith Pucci and I am a tribute center walking tour guide so this afternoon you are going to hear stories from two of my fellow guides as you'll hear these stories go beyond the historic events of September 11th and instead they explore the personal costs of that day so next to me are Maureen cielito and Vinny Doherty Vinny was a captain with the New York City Fire Department he served the city for 25 years and he spent most of that time in Special Operations which is a division of highly trained firefighters I think I asked you once to quickly just define it for me and he said think of it this way when you meaning all of us need help we call the fire department when the fire department needs help they call special operations Lorene son Matthew weren't for Cantor Fitzgerald a bond trading firm Matthew worked near the top of the North Tower that was the first building to be attacked that morning so we're going to begin with the vini though and I'm going to take another moment to quickly set the scene for you for the fire department that the attacks begin when the night shift is ending and the day shift is beginning it's because of this overlap that there were a hundreds of firefighters down here at the Trade Center so quickly that morning because if they were in a firehouse they were down here whether they were on duty or off and if any was one of them oh thank you all for just giving us a little bit of your time to listen to our stories the firefighter that was up there Jonathan ALP he came from my firehouse where special operations firehouse two units special operations they were on the first call as soon as the towers got hit as a matter of fact one of my firefighters was standing outside of the firehouse Maspeth Queens on a sort of a plateau they could see over into the city he sorted go in and as soon as he came in he beat through the Queen's dispatcher from dispatch to us he gave us a you know called the along and we were out they were out of the firehouse on that day I was not working I was actually working in another Paulo city I was going out of town on department business ah now you saw urban search-and-rescue as soon as I saw it hit I was at the LaGuardia Airport and I knew we had to leave myself and another captain immediately ran out commandeered a van got across the Triborough bridge and I was the logistics chief or a deputy logistics chief for our urban search and rescue equipment highly trained personnel there were 400 us and special ops highly trained on this equipment that is sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency from the government and we were supposed to respond 29 teams respond across the country we responded in to Oklahoma City we responded to hurricanes we responded to all sorts of disasters never ones that I think I'd be using that equipment for us in New York City there are 12,000 of us 40,000 police officers we have enough capability was I wrong I got the equipment down there I've got over to Queens where the equipment is stored quickly realized my men had already started loading it we had two tractor-trailer loads of it and my guy said we have no tractors Isis knowing the area being a Probie you in that area commercial area in Queens I immediately got into my battalion car went to the nearest diner saw two big rigs out there got into the door and I said I'm in uniform now I opened the door and it's all hardcore truckers and I go yo who owns those trucks out there two guys immediately turned around like who is that and I said we do I said what are you doing we're stuck here we have no place to go we can't get out of the city I said how would you like to come work for the city nope no benefits I need to get equipment downtown they said they couldn't get up out of the seats fast enough they dropped their loads came back hooked up and we were down in the beam down in I operated down there saw a lot no one person should see what we saw down there but I want to give you one further story about miracles as bad and is as chaotic and as catastrophic as that day was 343 firefighters 60 law enforcement 37 of them from Port Authority Police Department 23 of them from New York City Police Department all were murdered that day we have 12,000 people in the fire fire department 400 special operations 104 of that 343 were from special operations so they wouldn't let me stay down there too long I was able to stay down operating rescue recovery for two weeks straight I finally got home they tossed me home because I had to start training up new people to fill the gap when I got home where I live a civil service ghetto that's how I can explain just outside the city a village firemen cops blue-collar workers Main Street USA everybody knows everybody I'm outside my house my neighborhood four doors down comes out sees me yo Vinny have I got a story for you you will never believe it this is Ralph we tied Nassau County cop he's got two daughters his oldest daughter married five year old child live up in Connecticut with her husband her husband worked for Cantor Fitzgerald Cantor Fitzgerald 300 employees three floors North Tower Ground Zero of the first plane to hit the north to hit instantly like that her husband was one of them at the same time a young firefighter eight months on the job worked-up assigned to an engine company northern manhattan on the west side didn't get down there for the first two after the second tower fell south after the North Tower fell the second tower all hands on deck you mediate recall twelve thousand five fighters come back in he responded down he was put to work on the west side his officer after about an hour of working said let's take a break let's hydrate it's warm out we're gonna be here for a long time as soon as he sat down somewhere just west of the buildings a piece of paper comes out of this guy he doesn't know where it came from he can't explain it but it rolled down right to his feet he picked that piece of paper up he recognized the name on that piece of paper that piece of paper was the canceled check that Ralph's daughter's husband had just bought their fifth anniversary flowers with he took that check and he brought that home to Ralph now I'm getting this third third person two weeks later I didn't know anything about this he brought that up to his daughter I can't explain that just like a lot of miracles I can't explain and I hope he has the picture that I have do you have the picture okay okay you could take down this is a story that happened to me this 911 my son is on the job came on right after 911 he's got 14 years on the job now his house I specifically put him down into the middle of Brooklyn Brownsville area gonna learn the job gonna learn right a lot of duty his house was an impact on 911 because they were too far away but they did operate there so what they do on 911 is they come into the city they have a breakfast they rent out a bus and all his guys are off duty or in dressed uniforms they come down to support ten and ten right across street here my firehouse we were heavily impacted nineteen guys we stay in our firehouse we don't want anything to do with the politicians so he's coming down here he's right in front of ten and ten right across Street here if you look outside on Liberty Street he looks up best place you could see the tower tower one he looks up he says wow I gotta get a picture of this so you've all seen that hopefully you came down Liberty Street and you saw the tower he takes his iPhone and goes up and looks at and he's got his guys all around them he looks down just wow Hey look at this way this this is the picture he saw on 9/11 that's on his phone and that's this 911 I can't explain that and I haven't seen anybody else or heard anybody else that have seen that picture this place sacred hallow this place is a cemetery for us for the families and what we do at the tribute Center what we do as the guides not only helps you and helps out guys to be remembered it also helps us to talk about and to keep their memories alive thank you if any mentioned again Cantor Fitzgerald was a bond trading firm and it was located near the top of the North Tower when rescue workers and really that morning it was predominantly going way up into the building as far as they could go were firefighters and in the North Tower that first building they were confronted with an insurmountable obstacle which is that the plane had severed access to all stairways and elevators meaning that if you were sufficiently below the impact zone you could still use a stairway if you were above that's it it was severed so Cantor Fitzgerald was where as I mentioned to you before Laurene son Matthew once worked and therefore Cantor was above the point of impact that meant that Matthew and over 1300 others simply had no way out Maureen thank you I had left my home very early that morning was the first couple of days of school I am an educator but back at her home the phone went off just as my husband was leaving for his office it was just before nine o'clock in the morning mom dad this is your son Matthew my husband raced in he picked up the phone Matthew continued a plane hit the World Trade Center I'm stuck here I can't get out Matt said what are you doing just hang up the phone and get out of the building now dad you can't understand you don't understand excuse me I'm trapped I'm just calling to tell you that I love you and the phone went dead Matthew was 23 years old he had just graduated from the University of Vermont with a major in economics he had had many other job offers I can share with you that by the at the time he was a freshman in high school he wanted to be a trader and he wanted to be on Wall Street and even though he was offered other positions like so many of the other people were down here at the towers once he walked in that building he felt he was on top of the world and he just loved every moment every single moment we never thought any of us that they were gone so Tuesday and Wednesday and even Thursday it was a search and recovery on Thursday evening the president of Cantor Fitzgerald reached out to the approximately 700 people in his organization that they knew were in the building's confirmed in the buildings the phone call came in that night and they told us or he told us Howard Lutnick that there was no way that any of them in the building could have survived and that we had to understand that they were gone it was very difficult even hearing those words because you have to understand there were no remains you know you get a call that your loved one is gone and you take other appropriate steps we had none of that and it was still almost deep inside of me as a mom saying somewhere somehow they're going to come home we're gonna find them somewhere the first time I left my house was early that Friday morning I live in a very small town in rural New Jersey and we're only about 400 families was early in the morning I left my street and I went on to the main thoroughfare and I had to stop driving it was an amazing experience in one I think that I know I will never forget in front of me were lines and lines of America flags they were on every building they were on every office face they were on homes and all down the street were placards united we stand god Bless America were with you we will never forget you god bless the victims and I had to pull over I couldn't drive you see at that point I was a mother and I was looking for my son I then realized that I'm an American and my country was attacked and that all of us had lost these people it was a very very very meaningful moment for me and it really did make me understand that somehow I had to find a new normal that the 911 community especially the 9/11 families had to find a new normal and to learn to exist not just as a parent or a family member that had a terrible loss of a loved one but that I was a 9/11 family member and I lost my son because of an attack new normal became for me something that happened I guess if I think back around it was January 14th 2002 there was a knock on the door and it was about 10 o'clock at night and it was our pastor and our police captain they came in and told us that Matthew had been recovered new normal for me was when I was told that I had no they had no further information to give me you see 9/11 was a federal crime scene and the government had control out of everything so I did not know where my son's remains were how I would get them who to contact nothing was available to us at that moment again new normal new normal became discussing with other family members how they were going to bury remains what are we going to do if there's a conflict things that I never in a million years thought that I would ever be processing but new normal like fitty I had to really learn how to heal and to make a life and one of the things that I'm most proud of is our MCS foundation was established in my son's name and since 2002 we have given on over 90 awards to deserving young people based on academics financial need and community service we also do a lot training here with tribute center in the hopes that we could help educators develop programs not only to teach 911 what happened and why it happened but we're also taking a look at terrorism tolerance different areas where we can help teachers make a difference in very very sensitive topics I can say that I am very proud also that we've tried to help young people realize that they can make a difference that we can all make a difference in Washington not based on our politics but about caring about our country and that we have a say the other thing we did was we went to Washington I try to tell people that it wasn't because I was anyone special if you think back to the 9/11 families most of them were very young they had young children they were young traders there were a group of us that had adult children and/or were spouses with children that were out of the home and we went to Washington in the hopes that we could lobby for an investigation it was there that I saw Washington in the in operation for all that is good and all that is challenging but I will tell you that I've served on the 9/11 steering commission family committee we had 42 recommendations 24 of them were put into effect right away the canoe the committee still does meet and still regulates what is going on in this country and my husband who was here with me today and I have continued to be involved in those areas in a non-partisan way that have to do with the security of our country and the intelligence I have to let you know that as of this day there are 1,100 families that have not received any notification the process is still ongoing I know that on February 15th 2015 another Matthew from New Jersey was brought home to his parents Matthew you are now was identified after 14 years and speaking on behalf of his mother and a news conference she said at least it was some closure for her people ask me all the time why I do this how I can get up here and speak first of all I do it to honor the other committees that are the other areas of the 911 community to the firemen and the first responders to everyone that has been there and held us on in the palm of their hands I can't tell you what that means to me I also know that anybody that is connected here whether it's the staff that's running the museum whether it's all of us in the 911 community I find that there are three hours that are always connected with this hallowed space that is the remembrance the rebuilding and the renewal and if you can leave here today seeing all those three I think that your visit will be a positive one I want to thank you for coming I want you to know how much I appreciate you letting me tell my story and letting me talk about Matthew thank you we always leave some time at the end and we do it for you you now get to ask questions so I'm going to urge you all not to be shy okay I'll give you a moment to collect your thoughts that's it who is going to be first oh wonderful good yes I am 2006 yeah injuries they put me out of the job 25 years in 58 25 years 58 days not that calm I live it for my son then anyone else yes where are all the remnants of this horrible day where what is left is still being researched to possibly find things where are we doing well the remains are housed here in the museum and I can tell you that anytime there is a new DNA test just as what happened with Matthew in 2015 though that scientific knowledge is taken by the New York coroner's office and the testing is done even though most of those remains were recovered early on it's just that the testing wasn't sophisticated enough to do an ID it was a federal crime scene but the New York coroner's office is in charge of handling the remains and any notification that family get is from the New York coroner's office so the search for remains at this point is officially completed if in some way remains happy to be come across they will of course try to identify them but the actual collecting of remains is a completed project remains now they're held very respectfully downstairs okay and we have a room that's not open to the public you might have known that it was controversial within the families but when you have 3,000 of anybody there's always going to be difference of opinions about where those I unidentified remains should have been housed and it was decided that they would be part of the museum you do not see them when you go downstairs is a beautiful art piece with a with a quotation and that actually behind there just so you know when you go downstairs the remains of the victims unidentified are there and it was someone else right over here please I could address some of that anyway well 50,000 is water it was built for after the 93 Bonnie or a lot of people who didn't come back so I think the official word is some way down around 25,000 somewhere in that is a good number and also there's all the factors involved 93 took us over 8 hours to evacuate both towers in 2001 self evacuation mostly because it's complicated towel towel is complicated they have what that's called sky lobbies and it's Port Authority New York New Jersey meaning bi-state agency they do not have to comply with New York City code and they didn't in 93 after the bombing in 93 we made them and they agreed and I believe they have made a contribution about five hundred million dollars to that effort to make a safety valve or bring safety into the towers and I point to one specific thing with everything they did with lighting floor floor fire wardens things like that to comply with our codes for the safety throughout the city of high-rises they had to mandatory drills fire drills what did that do when we come in do a fire drill we shut the elevators off you've got to make your way out these people now knew how to get out in 93 all they knew where elevators okay and the stairs are under you know that it's not the code but they did the best and I put that one thing fire drills as a very important part of the puzzle for why almost 25,000 people made it out of those buildings also because of the time of day the computers were about 1/3 occupied so that contributed to one last question please the building's themselves in a construction in the security and the materials used the towel towel one now they have a cement that is I mean it's supposed to be the best you know this first time they ever used it but it supposed to be the strength of it I don't think anything knocked down this building its way the original towers were built also and I can go and I can give you a two-hour discussion on that but we don't have the time but there are two reports out of you if you wanted to know about them and they're from NIST National Institute of Science and standards and standards and technology and they put out the report you could go online look at all you get hot color or you could get CDs or DVDs and I have them I use them in my research constantly great reports and it tells you the whole story you missed also NIS T National Institute of Standards and Technology if you're interested in a very specific explanation of why the towers fell that's where you go and they make it very clear I would love for us to continue but if you do have additional questions they will be right outside that exit door so please do not be shy about approaching them and talking with them before we go I just would like to thank you all not only for choosing to spend some of your time with us but also because you are truly essential to our storytelling it is with you that we take a piece of a brutal and obscene day and by doing what we have just done by sharing it we turn it into something of a life-affirming experience so for that we thank you very much [Applause]
