Henry McDonald, a retired battalion chief, spent his last six years with the Fire Department as executive officer (assistant) to First Deputy Commissioner Bill Feehan, He had retired nine months before September 11th and on that day was scheduled to meet Feehan for lunch. The lunch never happened. On September 11th, McDonald saw the attack on the WTC on TV. Regardless of his … [Read more...] about Henry McDonald: Firefighter
Charles E. Coughlin: Commander
When American Airlines Flight 77 plowed into the of the Pentagon on September 11, Commander Charles E. Coughlin, like hundreds of other Pentagon employees, started to evacuate. "But then I began to think of my wife and four children," he recalls. "And I would hope if they were in a situation like this someone would go back to help them." So go back he did, and you'd be hard … [Read more...] about Charles E. Coughlin: Commander
Mike Regan: Hands-On Guy
Mike Regan had quit the Fire Department, but when September 11 happened, he was back on the job immediately. Down at Ground Zero, he helped to recover the bodies of his comrades, including Fire Chiefs William Feehan and Pete Ganci. Then, with the FDNY gutted of leadership, Regan took on the role of First Deputy Commissioner, and for three awful months worked seven days a week … [Read more...] about Mike Regan: Hands-On Guy
Joe Sexton:
The New York Times
After the attacks of September 11, the public turned to newspapers in a fever reliable information on a situation that was changing by the hour. At The New York Times, Joe Sexton, deputy metropolitan editor, distinguished himself by overseeing much of the paper's acclaimed local investigative and enterprise efforts. In the early days, when estimates of casualties ran as high as … [Read more...] about Joe Sexton:
The New York Times
Kevin E. Gallagher: Union Man
Kevin E. Gallagher, President of The Uniformed Firefighters Association was in the thick of things when the Giuliani administration made the decision to remove firefighters from recovery duty at the World Trade Center site, when so many of their brother firefighters and thousands of civilians were still missing. Infuriated firefighters and family members of the missing joined … [Read more...] about Kevin E. Gallagher: Union Man