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Survivors Tell Stories During Tours
Professor Bruce Powers tells a "simple escape tale" about the Pentagon, and the seven miles he walked on the day no public transportation ran in Washington, D.C. 9/11 Survivors They are survivors and victims' family members from Sept. 11, 2001, and they have found peace in their stories. They tell them again, and again, and again, talking from the perimeter of Ground Zero, shouting at times to be heard over the construction. Sometimes they change a small detail in a story; sometimes they add a name not mentioned before. Some days there are things they don't say, and other times the telling comes easy.
A Volunteer Army The Tribute Center officially opened in September at 120 Liberty St., but it's been giving tours of the World Trade Center site perimeter for nearly two years. They're led by 160 volunteer docents like Mr. Powers, Ms. Lugano-Duffell and Mr. Johann - public employees, uniformed responders, and anyone with a first-person connection to the event. Lynn Tierney, president of the Tribute WTC Center, said the group is looking to increase the number of municipal employees among its volunteer guides. "We need more firefighters, more police, and we'd like to hear from transit workers, people from Corrections, Teachers - we want to hear their narrative from that day," she said. "There are so many perspectives to be told. We want to include them all and we really want to hear from public employees." Unfiltered Stories The Tribute Center has five galleries showing 9/11 mementoes, items sent in by family members to commemorate loved ones, and old pictures and videos depicting the Twin Towers in happier times. "It's really important that people understand what took place that day in an unfiltered way," said Ms. Tierney. She has her own story to tell, too. Ms. Tierney was a press officer for the Port Authority when a bomb rocked the Twin Towers in 1993. She left that job in 1996 to join the Fire Department as a Deputy Commissioner. On Sept. 11, 2001, she came to the Twin Towers just behind the firefighters in Rescue 2. In the segment of the Jules and Gedeon Naudet documentary "9/11" that plays continuously in the Tribute WTC gallery, Ms. Tierney's image flashes across the screen. She's moving swiftly through one of the tower lobbies, a radio in her hand, speaking to commanders in white hats, among then former Chief of Department Peter Hayden. Ms. Tierney doesn't often lead tours, however. Instead she focuses on the gallery exhibits, mingling with visitors from places like Ireland, England and Spain - countries that have had their own experiences with terrorism. 'Understand Human Loss' "Having a first-person narrative is really vital and we have to get that while it's available. Obviously it's very important to me that the uniformed forces be remembered," said Ms. Tierney. "But even more important is that people understand the randomness of that day - it was a random act that took the lives of people doing ordinary things like showing up for work. The human loss needs to be understood." For that, the Tribute WTC Center needs stories like the one that Eileen Lugano-Duffell tells. It's made up mostly of facts: 110 floors, 2,752 victims, 102 minutes. The names of the airlines, the building locations, the subway entrances, the architect - Minoru Yamasaki - who designed the Twin Towers' observation deck with a slip-proof barricade to counter his own fear of heights. Then she talks of Sean, the 28-year-old son she lost somewhere in the upper reaches of Tower Two as he started his day's work as a stockbroker. "I tell this to everybody: I could not believe that he couldn't get out. He was such a disciplined person, he always rose to a challenge," she said. "He was a really good guy who played rugby, football, wrestled and swam in high school and college. He ran marathons. He had a total love of life. He was all about friends and family." Making It Personal Ms. Lugano-Duffell can say the words with ease now, even when she looks at the picture of Sean that she carries with her. The guides all carry various WTC photos to show the visitors traipsing around the endless construction what the site used to look like, but some also bring pictures of loved ones. "I was secure about doing this when I came forward," said Ms. Lugano-Duffell, "but yes, I think it helps to tell it again and again. One problem is that the people you know, once they hear your story, they don't always want to hear it again. But this allows me to tell it as much as I want." She said that she rarely sees New Yorkers on the tours. "I would like to see more - every New Yorker has a story because we live here," she commented. "But it's hard. The New Yorkers who do come usually cry the whole time." Retired Lieutenant Johann delves even deeper into details during his tour. As he leads his group down Liberty Street, past the Engine 10/Ladder 10 firehouse and past the bronze FDNY memorial triptych put in place this summer, he preps them for the story that is to come. 'A Beautifully Clear Day' In firefighter parlance, he explains, while bringing the tour into the World Financial Center across from Ground Zero, a Lieutenant is called "Lou." Firefighters work in shifts, and he worked the overnight shift that started the day before 9/11. That morning, "a beautifully clear day," he said, he was eating breakfast with the incoming crew. "So what do you have for breakfast in a New York firehouse? Coffee and bagels," he related. "I was eating coffee and bagels with my Captain, Billy Burke, when we heard something like an explosion. It shook the place." Lieutenant Johann grabbed four off-duty firefighters and they followed Rescue 21 down to Ground Zero. They had parked their car next to the red building "that you see right there," he said, pointing for the group. As he pulled on his bunker gear and slapped on a helmet, the second plane hit. "I got more than 20 years on the job, and I was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. The other guys who were with me, between the four of them, had four years on the job. They were scared. They looked at me and said, 'Lou, what do we do?''' Lieutenant Johann told the transfixed crowd. 'Stay Together' "I said to them, 'You two stay together and don't part. And you two stay together and don't part. Whatever you do, don't part.''' With that, he led them into the South Tower, toward the 23rd floor, and they began evacuating people. Much later, he found his group of four, "exhausted, grimy, and overwhelmed." He told them to go outside and get some water. Not long after - for no particular reason, he told the tour group - he followed them. He walked out and got "about to where that blue fence is there," and the building started to collapse. He took off running, he told his listeners, but was brought down by a big piece of debris. He fell awkwardly, twisting his knee. Unable to stand, he pulled his collar up high around his ears, and prepared to die. 'Someone Pulled Me Up' "I just hoped it was going to be quick and easy, and that it wouldn't hurt too much," he said. "But then I felt a pair of hands grab the jacket. Someone pulled me up and pushed me - I could feel their hands pushing me - around the corner behind the Federal building you see there." When he turned to see who helped him, the person was gone. "I went to counseling after 9/11, and someone suggested to me that maybe I just thought someone was there pushing me, but I don't believe it," said Lieutenant Johann. "It could have been another firefighter, could have been a cop, a worker, a person running by, I don't know. I never saw them, and I never got to thank them, but they saved my life for sure." He didn't make it back to the Rescue 21 firehouse until the next day. All the men were there, except one. 'Where's the Captain?' "I got in and I said, 'Where's the Captain? Is he upstairs?' And they tell me that he's missing. Nobody knows where he is," recounted Lieutenant Johann. As he spoke, he pulled his jacket back and pointed to the patch over his left breast. "So we got these shirts made up, they're not FDNY regulation, but right here you can see, 'Captain Billy Burke, Rescue 21.' He was a good man," the Lieutenant said. "I helped with the rescue operations. We found body parts, legs with boots on, really terrible things. I've seen a lot of things, but never destruction like that." The Lieutenant credits his ability to speak frankly about 9/11 to the counseling he received from the FDNY. He still goes to regular sessions with a close friend - a fellow firefighter who survived 9/11 in Stairwell B of the Twin Towers - every week. He urged other firefighters to seek counseling as well, and continues to advocate its benefits even after reluctantly retiring in November 2002, a victim of the knee injury he suffered on 9/11. "I had some guys who were having a rough time and they were even sometimes being harsh with their wives and their kids, and I would say to them, 'It's okay to be angry - hell, I'm still angry - but that isn't the way to deal with it,''' he said. Puts It in Perspective He also found relief in the tours he gives at Ground Zero. Shaping the day's events over and over has helped him, to some degree, make sense of a senseless act. It has given him a narrator's distance, which has led to a feeling of peace. "Guys should come down here and just take a few tours, look around, listen to some stories. Any workers who want to; they don't have to be firefighters," he said. "Come in gradually and see how it goes. It can be very powerful." It's strong enough to bring Pentagon survivor Bruce Powers to the city for a few days every month. He's preparing to become a guide currently and accompanies lead docents on tours. He tells his story in a few short words, holding up a picture of the shredded building that he walked out of on 9/11. Walking to Communicate "I was at my desk, doing my work, when the plane crashed. Ironically, I knew more of the people who died on the plane than who died in the Pentagon. I was able to get out to the center court, where we usually ate lunch, and we counted noses," said Mr. Powers. "No buses were running, of course, so I walked seven miles to my house. And now every year on 9/11, I walk those seven miles home again. It's my way of commemorating those who were lost."
The guides agreed that there was no right or wrong way to
tell a story. They said that a moment had come during their training when they
just felt ready to talk. They hoped that by sharing their experiences, more
people affected by 9/11 would step forward with theirs. | ||||||
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