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