| It smelled the same as war. It looked the
| |
| | T-shirts at cost with no labor for the
|
| same as war. Grant Coates, the vice
| |
| | printing that would identify them as
|
| president of VVA's New York State
| |
| | sheriff's deputies. A drug manufacturing
|
| Council, thought the memory of it might
| |
| | company gave $4,000 in supplies, masks,
|
| have been one of the good things he
| |
| | and other equipment. Kaye's co-workers
|
| brought back from Vietnam. "Been there,
| |
| | made cookies for the deputies to share
|
| done that," he thought.
| |
| | onboard the ship on which they would be
|
| He knew the physics of war's destruction,
| |
| | bivouacked.
|
| recognized its immutable laws. He'd been
| |
| | "One of the ladies who made apple
|
| in combat with the Army Rangers. He'd
| |
| | brownies lost her son in the Beirut
|
| been a tracker, working with a Labrador
| |
| | Marine barracks attack," Kaye wrote to
|
| retriever to find theenemy when contact
| |
| | The VVA Veteran editor Mokie Porter. "He
|
| broke off. He built a civilian career as
| |
| | was her only son. She said `God bless
|
| a police officer and worked K-9 there,
| |
| | them for helping.' Another lady I work
|
| too. Now he was retired and working
| |
| | with, her 10-year-old son is having a
|
| part-time for the Delaware County, New
| |
| | tough time. She said he built a tower
|
| York, sheriff, himself a Vietnam veteran
| |
| | from building blocks the other day and
|
| who was in-country about the same time
| |
| | then flew a plane around it. He kept
|
| Coates was.
| |
| | trying to figure out how it happened.
|
| Coates had been around death and violence
| |
| | When she asked him to help her make the
|
| all his adult life. The professions he
| |
| | cookies, he wanted to help the deputies
|
| chose made it unavoidable. When the call
| |
| | find the people. Pretty special stuff."
|
| came on September 11, instinct and
| |
| | The Delaware deputies had not been
|
| experience fell into place, and he knew
| |
| | summoned to search for survivors.
|
| another mission had come. He knew what to
| |
| | Recovery had replaced rescue as the
|
| expect and how to prepare. He knew it
| |
| | mission. They looked instead for
|
| would be nasty. He knew there would be
| |
| | evidence, combing the great mass of
|
| the smell of death in the air.
| |
| | rubble brought to the Staten Island
|
| He'd been there and done that, 32 years
| |
| | landfill. They worked in a cold rain,
|
| ago in another war.
| |
| | sifting the pile for the airplanes' black
|
| But the World Trade Center had to be
| |
| | boxes and other aircraft parts; looking
|
| assessed on a heretofore unknown scale. A
| |
| | for body parts, personal effects,
|
| mountain of rubble, 1.2 million tons of
| |
| | firefighter's hats, police shields, IDs,
|
| it, thick steel beams twisted like
| |
| | credit cards--anything identifiable.
|
| pretzels, thousands of dead and missing,
| |
| | "Two areas, football fields, surrounded
|
| a range of destruction that dwarfed those
| |
| | by generator lights," Coates said. "Each
|
| who approached it.
| |
| | item was logged in."
|
| "When you're talking about something of
| |
| | Everywhere they went, the outpouring of
|
| this magnitude, I don't think they have a
| |
| | aid from civilians amazed them. Cops had
|
| think tank to consider all the
| |
| | much experience with abuse and little
|
| logistics," he said.
| |
| | with pats on the back. Crowds were always
|
| The first night, as they walked toward
| |
| | trouble--until September 11, when they
|
| Ground Zero, the civilians on the
| |
| | became something different.
|
| sidewalks watching them go by checkpoints
| |
| | "A complete 180," he said. "We train for
|
| looked like zombies. Two blocks away, he
| |
| | the worst; we don't train mentally for
|
| saw the pile of rubble where the two
| |
| | people being nice. The care that total
|
| great buildings once stood.
| |
| | strangers gave us, it's not something
|
| "You could see the cranes with these
| |
| | we're used to in law enforcement."
|
| gigantic claws taking the rubble out," he
| |
| | People sent soap, food, toiletries,
|
| said. "I have a picture of three workers
| |
| | toothpaste, clothes, boots, shower
|
| walking past a claw, and this claw, you
| |
| | sandals, gloves, helmets, batteries, and
|
| could probably put around a dump truck.
| |
| | miner's lights for the helmets. They sent
|
| But from where we were, the claws looked
| |
| | so much the workers on the ground
|
| like Tonka toys on a beach. Unless you
| |
| | couldn't hand it out fast enough.
|
| were up close, and you could see the size
| |
| | "Everybody was standing up to help
|
| of the claw and the size of the pile the
| |
| | somebody else," Coates said.
|
| claw was working on, you didn't get the
| |
| | Everywhere they went, it never
|
| perspective of how big the pile was."
| |
| | changed--thanks for the help, God bless
|
| He had been working a private security
| |
| | you--and especially so at the Jesuit
|
| job for United Way on September 11 and
| |
| | retreat where they stayed and met Father
|
| had just checked into a motel when
| |
| | Ryan, who gave them not only food and
|
| television news showed the black smoke
| |
| | shelter but healthy doses of wit.
|
| billowing from the first tower.
| |
| | "It was like out of M*A*S*H," Coates
|
| Coates grew up in Manhattan, on the West
| |
| | said. "The first time I saw him, he was
|
| Side. He looked at the burning building,
| |
| | wearing a t-shirt and he had a cigar in
|
| and the first thing he thought of was the
| |
| | his mouth. He'd pop up at all hours of
|
| World War II bomber that crashed into the
| |
| | the night just to see if we were okay.
|
| Empire State Building long ago. He
| |
| | He'd say, 'Don't forget the kitchen is
|
| wondered how something like that could
| |
| | always open. No locks on the doors. If
|
| happen with today's aviation equipment.
| |
| | you see something you want, take it.' He
|
| Then the second plane came.
| |
| | had a salad bar and said, `Now that will
|
| "I knew right away we'd be going," he
| |
| | always be full of ice and it will have
|
| said. "They were going to need our help."
| |
| | juices and water and beer and carafes of
|
| A message went out from New York State
| |
| | wine, and every now and then I'll come
|
| Emergency Services to the sheriff's
| |
| | out with a non-denominational bottle of
|
| office, the message Coates anticipated
| |
| | scotch for you.'"
|
| after he saw the second plane explode
| |
| | Then it was back into the streets--a
|
| inside the World Trade Center tower. The
| |
| | gray, haunted landscape filled with
|
| sheriff turned over the operation's
| |
| | aching backs, skinned knuckles, and
|
| planning to Coates.
| |
| | exhausted men and women on a mission.
|
| He made calls, interviewed prospective
| |
| | "We were walking to a Salvation Army
|
| team members, and in four hours had
| |
| | feeding point about 7:30 one night," he
|
| assembled an eleven-man squad, many of
| |
| | said. "We noticed everything was dead
|
| them part-timers who took time from their
| |
| | silent. Nobody was talking. The reason
|
| regular jobs to go.
| |
| | was because about a hundred
|
| His wife, Kaye, was on the phone, too. In
| |
| | search-and-rescue people were coming down
|
| two hours, they had rounded up $4,500 in
| |
| | the street with their dogs, heading into
|
| equipment. A clothing company sold
| |
| | Ground Zero. They were all volunteers.
|
