By Laura Warfel
American Red Cross

September 11 is Chris Harmon’s birthday. In 2001, he had taken the day off from his new job as a casework specialist with the American Red Cross in Springfield, Missouri.

“I got a phone call from my boss,” he recalls. “He said, ‘Turn on the news. I’ll see you in the office in a little bit.’”

When Chris arrived at the office, the phone calls had already begun.

“Our volunteers wanted to go to New York City and help,” he says. “We began making a list, and the list just kept getting bigger. We couldn’t keep up with the phone calls and voicemails.”

Outside the office, people were lining up to give every kind of donation imaginable. Inside, Chris and the team were quickly setting up a system for processing donations and training volunteers — especially mental health workers — to deploy.

For four months, Chris coordinated relief efforts from the Springfield office. He scheduled and trained volunteers, and then arranged their deployments to New York City. In January 2002, he received his assignment to deploy.

“I was very nervous about going there,” he says. “This was my first ever disaster relief operation.”

Chris worked at a Red Cross respite center, just a few blocks from Ground Zero, for three weeks. He provided casework services to those affected by the disaster.

Many of the people Chris helped were full-time shoe shiners. They had their own stands and worked around the World Trade Center buildings.

“Each client interview took about two hours,” he recalled. “They needed to talk about what they had been through. I did a lot of listening. At the end of each day, I felt completely drained. But I wanted to make sure we took good care of our clients.”

Chris remembers one shoe shiner who hugged him during the client interview. Later, the man came back into the office and gave Chris some fruit as a token of his thanks.

After returning to Springfield, Chris stayed connected with the 9/11 tragedy. People continued to line up to help, and phone calls continued to come in. Their office deployed volunteers to New York City through 2002.

“What I did to help the survivors of 9/11 was one small part of the major operation led by the Red Cross and many other agencies,” he says. “The way Americans stood up to take care of their own was overwhelming.”

In 2002, Chris was driving a Red Cross truck to a meeting in Springfield and noticed a man driving behind him trying to get his attention.

 “I pulled over at a gas station. He got out and came up to my window. He said, ‘I just want to thank you for what you did in New York City. I have family members there’,” Chris said.

Chris has been with the Red Cross for 20 years. His 9/11 experience continues to help him deal with clients. He tells his team to listen to people’s stories and genuinely care for them at the worst times in their lives.

The 9/11 disaster stopped the world. The Red Cross symbol and the workers behind it became a beacon of help and a light of hope for millions.

“The Red Cross symbol is powerful when people see it,” says Chris. “That still amazes me.” 

By Mark Maginn
American Red Cross

After 37½ years, Larry Payne retired from the Missouri National Guard in 2003 but the flame of service never diminished in him.

In the mid-90s, Larry, who through his service years saw the way the Red Cross helped many of his fellow soldiers, thought it was his time to do his part. 

With that thought in mind, Larry decided in 1995 that it was time to begin his American Red Cross training, knowing he could be helpful in disaster areas with his years of experience in the National Guard. 

Larry began to make the transition between the military and the voluntary. He’s never looked back. His focus has been on helping those caught in catastrophes that can descend upon the citizens of the country he served. 

Larry knew that with his experience and training he could help when nature turned mean. Trained in the face of military danger, this is not a man to quail in the face of catastrophic military assault.

When the 9/11 attacks happened in New York City, Larry knew how he needed to respond and do what he could to contribute to the recovery. He was like thousands of other Americans, many never having been to the city, who came to aid the stricken region. 

Those planes struck the World Trade Center ending the lives of people living and working in the city and nearby suburbs, along with those on the planes going home to families who never would see them again. 

Larry knew his countrymen and women needed relief and came to the East Coast to help alleviate the pain and suffering.

He was in New York by the end of September 2001 and was an early responder through the first two weeks of October.

When Larry returned home to St. Joseph, Missouri, he found his wife, Audrey, training many Red Cross personnel to go help those stricken in New York and surrounding states. 

As Larry and Audrey had no children, they decided their calling was back in New York, where they could make a difference. 

They spent the last two weeks in December and the first week in January, easing traumatized fellow citizens’ suffering in separate locations, allowing other volunteers to go home for the holidays and be with their families. 

A farm boy from Missouri, Larry could hardly believe where all these people in need had come from as he became immersed in the East Coast culture. This novelty did not interfere with his mission. 

Larry was one of those indispensable people who loaded and unloaded needed supplies from trucks. Without dedicated people like Larry, those around Ground Zero could not have done their jobs. Larry, behind the scenes, helped keep things running smoothly for those on the front lines.

Larry’s most memorable experience in his deployment was driving a 24-foot truck in lower Manhattan where, when turning both sides of his vehicle scraped the curbing on a narrow street in an older part of the city,

Like so many working there, Larry’s proudest moments were when he could help stricken New Yorkers. His role of humanitarian aid is quite a testament for a man who has dedicated his life to service to his fellow citizens, a true force of the American Red Cross.

By Angie Springs
American Red Cross

September 11, 2001 started out as an ordinary day for most people. Karla Duncan was serving as the director of emergency services for the Midland Empire Chapter of the American Red Cross in St. Joseph, Missouri, some 1,200 miles from the World Trade Center.

Soon, however, this place so far away would be where she called “home” for close to a month.  

Karla was on call with National Headquarters for disaster deployment, so as soon as she saw what was happening that morning, she knew that she would need to go although she wasn’t sure when or where.

Originally, she tried to fly out on September 13, but Kansas City International airport didn’t have FAA clearance after all aircraft flying had been grounded, so she was re-scheduled to fly the following day.

At that point, she couldn’t get into New York City, so Angel Flight which does medical emergency flights, flew Karla and three other Red Crossers to Long Island in a private plane. 

Karla’s first day on the job was spent at Ground Zero on September 15, which happened to be her 41^st birthday. Her job was to assist with the feeding operation that had 48 fixed sites around the perimeter Ground Zero so that wherever the rescue and recovery teams came off of the pile, they were able to easily access food and drink. She helped to coordinate those feeding sites and to ensure that there was a variety of food for everyone.  

When asked what her thoughts were about being at Ground Zero, Duncan stated: “There are no words to describe it. I will never forget the first time I was there, on September 15, and it really activated your senses. Visually, of course, it was unbelievably tragic to see the sheer mountainous size of the downed towers – just imagine a 100-plus story building all in a pile. 

“Then your hearing – the sky above was full of helicopters and small aircraft flying over the area in a protection mode. Your sense of smell due to the fires that were burning in the pile. They were still burning when I left on October 10. 

“And your sense of touch – there was a layer of dust on everything – it looked like it does after a volcanic eruption. “People even used that dust to write messages of encouragement to the responders by utilizing store windows to write their well wishes.”

Karla felt like she made a difference along with the rest of the responders there. Everyone came together to serve regardless of which agency you were representing. Everyone was truly all in this together.

Karla was always glad that she was there, but it was very difficult to face people that were searching for their loved ones and with each passing day, knowing that the chance of them being found alive was growing slimmer and slimmer. 

All around the city on open wall space, you would find posters of missing people with their photo, what they were wearing that day, and other identifying details about them.

She recalled the most memorable part about being there was the sense of unity. Responders, both paid and volunteer, were there from around the US – all from different backgrounds, different faiths and different political affiliations. But in that moment, everyone was united as a brotherhood that descended upon the city to help.

“I wish that as a nation, we could feel this in our normal lives and not just when tragedy strikes,” she said.

As someone who never had been to New York City, it a little intimidating – their lifestyle is much different in the Midwest. But having spent nearly a month there, she found they were the warmest and most welcoming people.

When Karla would get on a subway to go to work, if she had her Red Cross vest on, people would get up and want her to sit in their seat.

When going out to dinner, she would have her dinner paid for or a dessert sent to the table if they knew she was with the Red Cross.

She even took her laundry to a small local drop off laundromat and had to beg the owner to take her money as he wanted to do her laundry for free. New Yorkers were grateful that Karla and the others came to help and they showed it time and time again.

Karla would love for there to never be a mass casualty event again but knows that is unrealistic.  What she does know is this – whenever it might happen, the Red Cross will be there to serve as it always has done.

By John A. Brimley
American Red Cross

Tears fell from his face as he recalled his most vivid memory from working as an American Red Cross volunteer at 9/11 in New York.

“‘Is daddy coming home?’,” recalled Bill Jones, of the Missouri and Arkansas Region, as he hesitated to gather himself as he thought of the young boy talking to his mother. 

“At the time her husband was missing. I couldn’t answer the little boy and she couldn’t either,” Bill said. “What do you tell a 4-year-old-boy?”

Bill remembers this being the experience that will always be with him from his three deployments and approximately 90 days in support of the 9/11 relief efforts 20 years ago.

His first assignment was to go to area hospitals to determine how many patients were at each facility.

From there, he was stationed at the Port Authority Headquarters in Manhattan to assist family members of those missing, injured, or killed in the attack. His memories of that day and his time on deployment are as clear today as if the events just took place.

Soon after his wife woke him up to the events of that tragic day, Bill went to the Red Cross office in Fort Smith, Arkansas to report to duty just as he did many years ago to serve in Armed Forces.

“I didn’t think twice about it,” he said. “People needed help, and that’s what I needed to do.”

Bill wasn’t alone. The collective response resulted in thousands of people targeting the area to assist in relief efforts. He recalled dozens of agencies and organizations he’d never heard of swooping down on New York City to offer their services to the victims and family members.

 It didn’t matter to Bill what his role was in the relief efforts. He just knew he needed to be in the number. According to NYC Health Department, there were more than 91,000 rescue, recovery and clean-up workers and volunteers from all over the country.

“It was one event that I’ve seen that brought people from all over the nation together to work as one team,” he said. “At that time, people were there from every sector of humanity with the one purpose, try to help their fellow man, however that can be done.”

By May 2002, the World Trade Center site was cleared. Rescue and recovery efforts included more than 108,000 truckloads of debris and 1.8 million tons of wreckage over a span of nine months. On May 30, 2002, rescue, recovery and relief efforts at the World Trade Center ended with a ceremony to honor the victims of 9/11.

Like many Americans, 9/11 for Bill evokes the emotions, tears and memories like nothing else. He’s not new to service and volunteerism. The outpouring of love and humanity from fellow countrymen touched him.

“It was different from a tornado or hurricane, at least it felt different to me,” Bill said.  “There was no way you could avoid an emotional attachment to the people who were there because of what you were seeing.”

By Ken Rosenauer
American Red Cross

The Square in Savannah, Missouri, is usually bustling on Tuesdays.

However, David Meade recalls on that day — Sept. 11, 2001 — you could have heard a pin drop there as residents, along with Americans across the nation, tried to fathom the events occurring in New York City and Washington.

A retired Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper and resident of Savannah since 1969, Meade was no stranger to death and disaster. Yet, he was stunned by what he saw and heard as TV coverage unfolded that day and the days following.

The atmosphere in the entire town of 4,762 in Northwest Missouri was one of shock that something like this had happened. The whole community was at a standstill.

After his 1999 retirement, Meade had begun disaster response training with the American Red Cross the previous January and was still a couple courses shy of being eligible to deploy. So, he was surprised when he received a call from the Red Cross at the end of October, asking him to travel to New York to assist in disaster response.

“When I first got the call, I was apprehensive,” he said. “I didn’t know what to expect. I just knew I was going to the Red Cross disaster response headquarters in Brooklyn.”

His experience as a state trooper also prepared him for this. Both call for one to be reactive, to respond appropriately to whatever challenges or issues he may confront.

About 72 hours later, after completing the last of his training, he was on a plane.

He spent three weeks in the large cafeteria at the Brooklyn headquarters, where meals were served around the clock to Red Cross staff and volunteers, National Guardsmen, police officers, firefighters — whoever was working the disaster and needed a meal.

“Anyone in need of food and a bit of comfort,” he said.

Food was prepared elsewhere and then trucked in.

“I served a lot of meals,” he said, “Made a lot of coffee.”

He swept floors, he cleaned tables and — he repeated — made lots of coffee.

He admits that he was a bit disheartened not to be on the front lines of the disaster, Ground Zero at the World Trade Center.

However, he came to understand that the work he was doing at the cafeteria freed up someone else who may have been better trained or more qualified.

He was housed in the Hotel Pennsylvania in Manhattan, next door to Madison Square Garden and three miles north of the Trade Center. Nice quarters, he thought, but more importantly a haven where volunteers could decompress.

The Red Cross had conscripted tour buses to shuttle volunteers to hotels and duty sites across the city. And so, he spent his days, part of three shifts of volunteers who kept folks fed.

That was Meade’s first disaster response operation. For the next 20 years, he volunteered for many more, often working in asset protection, drawing on his law enforcement skills.  More recently, he led a disaster assessment team checking damage to homes during the 2019 flooding in Northwest Missouri.

No single image or experience stands out.

“They all seem to run together,” he explained. “I don’t try to keep one particular memory.”

As a trooper, he had learned that you don’t bring work home with you.

At the end of this past July, he turned in his Red Cross vest and finally retired. Now, he spends his days with his wife, Carole, and their three daughters.

It’s a good life, made better by his service as a state trooper and Red Cross disaster responder, making a difference in the world around him.

By David Strom
American Red Cross

Anyone who has ever been to New York City might empathize with Mickey Shell, a long-time American Red Cross volunteer from Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Mickey has worked numerous disasters as a mental health professional.

He was working in a school 40 miles from home when 9/11 unfolded and watched on the school’s televisions as the World Trade Center towers fell in New York City and a plane struck the Pentagon. He contacted the Red Cross to deploy for that disaster and flew to New York City in early November.

Mickey was first posted to a relief site at the Mount Manresa Jesuit Retreat House on Staten Island, south of Ground Zero in Manhattan. The location became the headquarters for various support personnel and partner agencies.

He recalled the first few days brought an odd sight – many of the limo drivers had lost their financial services clients.

“Many of their clients were based in the towers, and they were all gone,” he said. “They drove their limos and parked them on the grounds of the property while they waited for counseling and other services.”

Mickey then relocated to a site near Ground Zero at an Art Deco building being used by the Department of Motor Vehicles.

“Our job was to go where folks were waiting and try to provide comfort. This included many of the Red Cross case workers, as well as their clients,” he said. “The team handed out bottled water and candy, and as a result many people called them the candymen.”

Sometimes the comfort was outsized compared to what was offered.

“One business owner was so grateful she wanted to pay me $100 for the water. Another client was one of the IT workers helping to set up our computers at the site. He was having a tough morning. He asked if I could get him a couple of pieces of fruit and had to use a sink that probably dated from the 1920s to wash it,” Mickey said.

That small gesture resonated with the worker. A week later Shell was trying to catch a subway at Grand Central Station when he heard someone call out “Hey, candyman” and realized that was same guy he had helped.

Navigating the complexities of the city was a challenge for the Arkansas native. The first day he had to show up at the downtown DMV building, and he was two and a half hours late for work. He took the subway the wrong way, and since he was told to ride it to the end of the line he got off somewhere in Brooklyn.

“That day I broke the record of any staffer getting lost. My boss had taken just two hours to find his way,” Mickey said.

He remembered vividly the young investment banker who had worked in the former Soviet Union before coming to New York. Her apartment had been destroyed by the blast from the World Trade Center’s collapse.

“She had to leave everything, including all of her clothes and an extensive CD collection. But we could give her a $120 voucher to buy some necessities, and she reacted like she had just won the million-dollar lottery,” he said. “Sometimes it is those small moments of kindness that can make all the difference.”

By Charles Hunter
American Red Cross

When Teena Kilo was watching the events of 9/11 from her home and saw the second plane crash into the World Trade Center in New York City she immediately knew it was a terrorist attack.  She thought of the Red Cross and said to herself, “They are going to need help.”

The Festus, Missouri resident called the Red Cross chapter in nearby St. Louis to see if she could help and was asked, “Can you come tomorrow?”

So the next day she reported to the Red Cross call center which began a 20-year commitment of service. She had recently retired from a 30-year business career and was considering how she might volunteer. The events of 9/11 focused her efforts to serve others through the Red Cross.

For the next seven days, Teena worked at the call center receiving phone calls from Americans throughout the country asking how they could help.

She coordinated donations and blood drives and assisted family members seeking missing persons. During those first days, Teena was impressed by the passion of the Red Cross volunteers, the quality of leadership and the excellent organization of the mission to help those affected by 9/11. She knew she had found her place.

“I couldn’t feel more proud of the country because people wanted to do something to help,” Teena said. “That experience changed my life.”

After that first week, Teena began volunteering on a set schedule, assisting with spreadsheets to help track volunteer resources.

Later, she joined the Disaster Action Team and started helping those affected by home fire, floods and other natural disasters. She has provided direct services to clients including referral assistance, shelter support and food services.

Teena reflects on her 20 years with the Red Cross since 9/11 saying, “I am still so proud when I walk through an airport wearing my Red Cross attire and credentials. Those initial experiences brought out my giving more. I just want to help people more all of the time.”

Teena continues her service with the Red Cross by assisting with disaster event verification so volunteers can respond to those in need. She has been honored for her work with the Clara Barton Honor Award for Meritorious Volunteer Leadership.

“That day, 20 years ago, changed my life for the better,” Teena said. “My service made me a better person. I know I made a difference.”

By Carl Manning
American Red Cross

Melissa Friel figured Sept. 11, 2001 would be just another day as the Red Cross chapter manager in Jefferson City, Missouri. As she got ready for work, she listened to the radio and heard reports of aircraft crashing into the World Trade Center in New York City.

She immediately realized the Red Cross would be involved in the recovery efforts. For nearly three months, she oversaw deployment operations at the chapter. On December 3, she began a month-long deployment to New York, specifically choosing to go then so volunteers who already were there could go home and be with their families for the holidays.  

Melissa, who now works at the State Emergency Management Agency in Jefferson City, was asked to recount her deployment. What follows is a Question and Answer session with her, edited for length.

What was Sept. 11 like at the Red Cross chapter?

That day was a blur. We had hundreds of phone calls; my favorite was from a local man. He told me his pick-up truck was gassed up and he was ready to go, where should he report. Folks wanted to do one of three things: They wanted to go help/volunteer to respond to New York or the Pentagon; they wanted to donate blood or they wanted to donate money to help those impacted by these horrific attacks.

What was your initial reaction when you arrived in New York City, nearly three months after the attacks?

Riding the shuttle from the airport into NYC was a surreal experience. There were armed soldiers at the entrance of the tunnels leading into the city. The shuttle driver told us there was no easy route to get around the city because there were so many roads blocked off due to the attacks. But what struck me were the lights and smoke illuminating Ground Zero. Everywhere you travelled around the city, the lights were visible like a beacon drawing you to it.

What was your Red Cross assignment there?

When I deployed I chose to go out in the Mass Care function so when I arrived at HQ I was directed to the Mass Care group. While waiting for my assignment it was awesome to run into and spend time with my fellow Red Crossers out of Missouri. I received my first assignment, spending the next few weeks at the Staten Island Landfill where the first thing we had to do was get out of the van while the armed security checked inside it to ensure there were no news media trying to sneak onto the site.

What was happening at the landfill?

It had closed in March 2001 because it was full. It was reopened to serve as the location where debris from the World Trade Center was barged and unloaded. The responders were sorting the debris by hand and with rakes to locate human remains as well as personal effects from those who perished. When what appeared to be human remains or personal effects were found, the responder would respectfully take the item to the forensic pathologist on site to verify if it indeed were human remains. It was my understanding that once identified as human remains, the pathologist would send it in for DNA testing so that the loved ones of those who died could follow their burial or death rituals.

What was you first impression at the landfill?

When you drove into the site, you passed through the first responder vehicle grave yard, there were smashed fire trucks, police cars and ambulances destroyed when the Twin Towers fell. Every time I stepped out of the Red Cross vehicle to replenish the rest areas, I felt as if I was walking on sacred ground where the remains of every day citizens and first responders who perished on that fateful day were currently resting. Needless to say it was a sobering and somber experience. We were informed that the whole site was a crime scene as well as a hazardous materials site and if we dropped something on the ground, we were not to pick it up. We were issued respirators and Tyvek protective suits and sent on our way.

What was the Red Cross role at the landfill?

The Red Cross ran what was called “The Hilltop Café” on top of a hill about 75 feet from where they were sorting debris, hence the name. This was a huge yurt type structure that was built to get the responders out of the December cold so they could eat, hydrate and just take a break. As this was a closed landfill everything had to be brought or built on site. The meals we provided were cooked offsite and picked up by a Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicle. Then my fellow Red Crossers served the meals to the responders. My job was to serve as part of the team making sure the meals were picked up and brought back to the site, making sure there were drinks and snacks for the responders in the Hilltop Café and at the rest sites in the debris sorting area.

What was it like inside the Hilltop Café?

The Red Cross team and the first responders working the landfill became like family. As the responders came into the Hilltop Café, they were greeted by Red Crossers. Our mental health professionals talked to the responders as they ate and rested. Our Red Cross team was acutely attuned to the mood of the responders. It was palpable. You could see it in their eyes, hear it in their voices. The NYC responders volunteered for this unspeakable duty. Each and every one of them knew someone who had died that day. How they chose to honor those who had perished was by coming to a closed landfill and sorting through hundreds of thousands of yards of debris in the hopes of that they could help give closure to the families who lost loved ones.

What was it like to leave the Hilltop Café?

Two weeks into the deployment, we were told that the Red Cross would be ending its service at the landfill and that another NGO would be taking our place as the mayor wanted to give every NGO the opportunity to assist at the landfill. To say we were devastated would be an understatement. For us Red Crossers, it was like we were deserting our family, especially because our mission at the landfill would be ending a couple of days before Christmas. As we were packing up our Red Cross equipment that last night at the Hilltop Café, one of the firefighters picked up an orange cone and used it as a megaphone, to sing to us as we left the building, making up new words to the closing theme of the Mickey Mouse Club Show. “Now it’s time to say good bye to all our Red Cross family, Red Cross family, Red Cross…” and we left the landfill with tears in our eyes and hoping that we had made the horrific job that the responders were having to do a little easier and less burdensome.

What was your next assignment?

My next two weeks would be spent a few blocks from Ground Zero, helping to open up a distribution site for those who lived around Ground Zero. We were based in a pharmacy on Wall Street that had been closed several years. We prepared the store where we would hand out HEPA air purifiers and HEPA vacuums to those living around Ground Zero because the pile was still on fire and the air was terrible to breath and their apartments had ash in them.

What were your thoughts about visiting the viewing platforms overlooking Ground Zero?

The first thing you notice when you arrive in the Ground Zero area are the pop-up memorials to those who died. There were several around the area. They contained missing person’s fliers, letters to those lost, pictures who those died, stuffed animals, flowers, tokens of appreciation. Everyone who stopped at these pop-up memorials left with tears in their eyes. The grief and pain shared by the loved ones of those who died was profound and intense. As I made my way up to the Ground Zero family viewing platform with others, it was eerily quiet, no one spoke. This time I felt like I was viewing sacred ground.

Did your 9/11 deployment change how you feel about helping others?

It didn’t change how I feel about helping others, just reinforced that working and volunteering with the Red Cross was one of the best ways that I could make a difference in the lives of those impacted by man-made and natural disasters.

What was the most memorable part about being there?

Visiting the pop-up memorials around Ground Zero, the NYC first responders I worked with daily. The Red Crossers I had the honor serving with. The pile of personal effects at the landfill that contained a stuffed yellow duck, a Bible, shoes and other personal items.

Have you been back to the Ground Zero area since then?

In 2016, I had the opportunity to visit the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, the first time to be back the New York City since my deployment. It was extremely emotional; lots of bad and good memories came flooding back. Back in my hotel room on the 56^th floor, a malfunctioning fire alarm went off at 2 a.m. I jumped out of bed and got dressed while deciding whether to go up to the roof or down the stairs. And I could not help but thinking about the folks in the World Trade Center having to make those exact decisions.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Red Cross volunteer Mark Maginn lived in the New York City area when 9/11 happened and used his training and skills for helping those in need. This is his story in his words about what he did.)

By Mark Maginn
American Red Cross

By the time of the attacks by Bin Laden, I had already restarted my psychoanalytic practice in Irvington-on-Hudson, just north of the city on the east bank of the Hudson River.

At that time, I was the executive secretary of the New York Society for Clinical Social Work. In reality, we were a rather large group of New Yorkers trained in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Later I was elected president but could not serve as my wife took an executive position with a Japanese company in Los Angeles.

Since I was only one of us working part-time, I arranged the training of over 200 social workers and psychologists in the International Trauma Debriefing Organization method. I placed these newly trained and talented therapists in and around Ground Zero as trauma volunteers.

I then volunteered at the FEMA Center at Pier 95 on the bank of the Hudson River in West Midtown. After a few days, I became a part-time supervisor of the Kids Korner. The Korner was part daycare for kids whose parents were at FEMA seeking assistance and part mental health center.

I supervised the volunteers who played for endless hours with the traumatized kids. If a volunteer approached me with a child about whom they were concerned, I would gently ease myself into the relationship, observe the child, and, if necessary, come to a diagnosis. I would then talk with the parents or adult in the child’s custody and refer them for the appropriate therapy.

After several days I was approached by a Red Cross volunteer whom I had come to know. She asked me to attend an important Red Cross meeting. Of course, I agreed. I believed my role was to respond to what anyone needed from me.

In this informal meeting, a Red Cross supervisor asked if any of us had been at the pier more than twice. Two of us raised our hands.

The supervisor took us aside and explained that they were taking a small flotilla of ferry boats south on the Hudson to a makeshift dock. From there, a cleared path led to a raised platform where families, if they wished, could enter ground zero and see where their loved ones perished.

We boarded the boat with the two families, one of us assigned to each. I saw my role as a silent but empathically available resource if anyone needed that.

When we stepped off the temporary wooden pier, small fires flickered ominously across the collapsed ruins.

The family stopped at a make-shift memorial and left family pictures before ascending the steps to the platform to view the hideous destruction that claimed this family’s father and husband. The horror was staggering.

On the boat trip back, the teenage son talked to me about how angry he was at his friends for not understanding his awful distress. I reassured him his feelings were natural and that moving beyond the rage would take time. I also reassured him there was nothing he could have done to save his father.

We docked back at Pier 95, and I never saw that boy again.

I contacted the Red Cross supervisor to recommend these trips not be continued because of the emotional difficulty they could cause. Eventually, the trips were stopped.

I came away from this brief experience so very impressed by what the Red Cross tried to do for those so wounded.

It was just a few weeks later, as I continued at Ground Zero, that I took training with the Red Cross to continue doing what I was doing, but then under the validating impress of one of the world’s finest relief organizations.

By Carl Manning
American Red Cross

When talk turns to 9/11, people mostly recall the planes crashing into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington. Some remember that open field in Pennsylvania where United Flight 93 crashed after being hijacked by terrorists.

Erin Lynch, at the time a Red Cross staffer in Kansas City, Missouri, remembers Flight 93 most vividly because she responded to that location as part of the Red Cross Aviation Incident Response Team, working as national liaison with the National Transportation Safety Board, United Airlines, the FBI and other agencies to help the families of the victims.

“It was about understanding the needs of the families and working to meet those needs in cooperation with the NTSB, United and FBI,” she said. “The focus was on the families of those whose lives were lost and provide services including site visits and memorial services.”

Flight 93 left Newark, New Jersey for San Francisco the morning of September 11, 2001 with a crew of seven and 44 passengers including the four hijackers. Less than an hour later, the hijackers stormed the cockpit.

Passengers and crew members used the plane’s air phones and their cell phones to call family and friends. Passengers then revolted against the terrorists and fought back.

During the struggle, the hijackers deliberately crashed the plane into the field about 65 miles south of Pittsburgh after turning toward Washington and their intended target of the Capitol – the one target the terrorists failed to hit that day.

Erin was at the Red Cross office in Kansas City when she got a call from national headquarters, asking her to go to New York. But all flights over the U.S. were ordered to land immediately wherever they could, leaving thousands of travelers stranded where they never had planned to be.

Unable to fly, Erin went to Kansas City International Airport with other Red Cross responders to help the stranded passengers there find places to stay and to help with their immediate needs.

“It was a scary time, an uncertain time for sure,” Erin recalled.

With all planes still grounded, Erin and another Red Cross responder then drove to Pennsylvania to begin a two-week deployment where Flight 93 had crashed near Shanksville.

As a liaison between the Red Cross and various agencies, Erin helped make sure the needs of the families were met.

“We were there to ensure that the resources were there for the families. Our job was to make sure everything came together for the families,” she said.

United decided to conduct two memorial services for the families. They also were bussed to a viewing area where they could see the crash site. Recovery work was suspended while families were there so they could have a time of peace and quiet.

“They were in shock at their losses and very supportive of one another,” Erin said.

Erin accompanied the family members on the buses and while she didn’t interact with the families, she was there if needed.

“The intensity of the moment I shall always remember. One of the family members said the role of the Red Cross was as a life preserver. We were there in case we were needed,” she said.

There were other ways the Red Cross helped the families besides direct contact with them. Erin helped organize efforts to prepare containers of earth from the crash site to give the families after each memorial service.  

“For the families, it was comforting to take something away with them,” she said. “The heroic actions taken to protect our nation may have offered a bit of comfort to the families.”

While much of Erin’s role was more about organizing and working with other agencies to help the families, she feels it was a role that helped them deal with their collective grief.

“I felt like I was an eyewitness to history and I feel very privileged to play a small role to provide support in such a time,” she said. “The intensity of this event, everybody was affected in some way.”

Erin now works as the Mid-America Regional Council emergency services director in Kansas City, but the memories of Flight 93 always are there.

Near her desk, is a framed photograph of the Wall of Names that’s part of the Flight 93 National Memorial. She said it’s a photograph that’s never far from her sight.

“I felt very privileged to be able to serve; to be part of that operation was a privilege. The scale was smaller but if you were there, it was all consuming,” she said.

One thing Erin said she will never forget was the generosity of the community. When buses carrying the family members went through the town, the sidewalks were lined with people holding signs of support and waving American flags.

“I’m humbled by what I was given to do, and grateful the Red Cross gave me the opportunity to serve.” she said. “It’s not about me. It’s about service to the families and those supporting the families.”