By: Ross H. Ogden
 

On September 11^th, 2001, Ross Ogden was a volunteer with the then-Greenwich Chapter of the American Red Cross. This is a first-person account of his experience in the days that followed, lightly edited for clarity.

For me, the twenty-fifth anniversary of this tragedy brings back memories of the victims of 9/11 and their families, as well as the brave responders.  It is also a reminder that each of us needs to prepare for and, if possible, prevent disasters from catastrophic ones that impact many people to single-family fires.

On September 11, 2001, like many others, I watched the events of that morning unfold on television.  Initial concern turned to horror followed by numb disbelief.

On that day, I was the national chair of Chapter Services, now known as Humanitarian

Services, and also a local Greenwich Red Cross disaster volunteer. I knew that our services would be needed, so I immediately responded to the Greenwich office where I was quickly joined by employees and other volunteers.

We began to implement a response plan for a mass-casualty event and to coordinate our efforts with those of surrounding Red Cross chapters in New York, Connecticut, and the Disaster Operations Center in Washington, DC.

Under the leadership of Chapter Board Chair, Pam Farr, we quickly established a family reunification and support center in the auditorium of a local church located across the street from the Greenwich Red Cross office.  Volunteers trained in family services, health and mental health, and mass care quickly responded there. With the rapid installation of telephone lines, computers, bulletin boards, tables, chairs, and snacks, we began to offer support to the families affected.

The shutdown of New York City and public transit as well as jammed telephone circuits made communication difficult and often impossible.

With the support center up and running, I was asked to establish a disaster welfare inquiry center — a database and support system to reunite Connecticut families who had been separated by the events in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Penn.

As families called seeking information about missing loved ones, we recorded their contact information and the names of those missing. Other Red Cross volunteers visited area hospitals to collect information on any 9/11 casualties treated, admitted, or released.

While we worked the phone lines, nursing and mental health volunteers as well as spiritual care providers met in-person with family members at the Greenwich support center as well as similar centers in New York City. They provided what information and comfort they could.

With each passing day, it became apparent that few in the Towers had survived the building collapse, and that the missing were not at hospitals or recovering in reception centers.

Our database grew to contain the names of Greenwich residents that were still missing, and later those from all of Connecticut, but we were able to reunite only a few with their families. Each succeeding day brought anxious calls: “Any news yet? Where can I go to look for him? Would it help if I gave you a picture? What can I do?”

As I continued to work through the list of those missing people, I found names of several Greenwich friends and even noticed a name I recognized as the same as my cousin, Elizabeth Ann Farmer. I thought that was a coincidence since she lived in New Orleans, but a few days later I learned that she had been in New York visiting friends before heading to Paris. To earn spending money for her trip, she had taken a temp job with a firm in the World Trade Center. She died on 9/11.

I believe sixty-five of those killed on 9/11 were from Connecticut and thirty-three of those were from Greenwich, the most from anywhere other than New York City.

So, today, let us remember those lost. Let us support their families. Let us honor the responders, and let this 25^th anniversary of the attacks be a reminder that the unimaginable can occur. We need to do everything we can to protect our loved ones and be ready for a crisis of any size.