When the dust settled on September 11, one of the 343 firefighters listed as missing, later pronounced dead, was Chief Bill Feehan. A firefighter to his core, Feehan was loved by the men and women in the FDNY. Bill Feehan loved eggs over easy. Every day for the last 20 years at least he stopped at the Northern Cross Diner in Queens and read the Daily News as he had his usual … [Read more...] about The Heart of a Firefighter
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Out of Albany
William Kennedy, known as the author who captured Albany, New York, talks to Tom Deignan. ℘℘℘ William Kennedy is telling a story about his father that could very well be a haunting moment from any one of his seven "Albany cycle" novels. "My father's father came from Tipperary," the novelist, 74, says over an Irish breakfast in Fitzpatrick's mid-town Manhattan hotel. Kennedy's … [Read more...] about Out of Albany
The Ironworkers
September 12, 2001: After a 26-hour shift Brendan McCormack emerges exhausted out of the darkness and into another day. A Donegal man, who has lived in the U.S. for 17 years, McCormack is an ironworker. Minutes after the collapse of the Twin Towers, he and other ironworkers from all over the city dropped their tools and leapt into action, crusading down to the effort at Ground … [Read more...] about The Ironworkers
Fire in the Morning
In a strange twist of fate, Ron Clifford escaped the WTC unaware that his sister and niece were on the plane that crashed into the North Tower. ℘℘℘ United Flight 175, a Boeing 767 non-stop from Boston's Logan Airport to Los Angeles with seven flight attendants and 56 passengers on board, rolled back from Gate 19 shortly after 7:45 a.m. on September 11th. The captain was … [Read more...] about Fire in the Morning
A Warm Irish Welcome in Newfoundland
Gander, Newfoundland: Hannah O'Rourke and Sandra O'Reilly Taylor, women from two different worlds who were tossed together in the turbulent wake of September 11, now share one of those bonds made of awful tragedy. Hannah and husband Dennis of Lawrence, N.Y., a Long Island suburb of New York City, were on Aer Lingus 105, a flight bound from Dublin to New York that was diverted … [Read more...] about A Warm Irish Welcome in Newfoundland