The 22nd anniversary of the Sept. 11 2001 terrorist attacks has passed. In recent days, however, I've been reviewing some of the testimonies of immense heroism that day. Stories of people like Todd Beamer, who led the Flight 93 resistance, for example.
But when it comes to 9/11, no one group better testifies to individual and collective heroism than the New York City Fire Department. 343 FDNY firefighters died on Sept. 11 2001. One of their number was Orio Palmer.
A Battalion Chief with 20 years of FDNY service, Palmer led the rescue charge up the South Tower. First he fixed an elevator then took it to the 40th floor. He then climbed 38 floors laden with his heavy gear. At the 78th floor, he was met by a scene of devastation at the impact site. Enmeshed in a literal hell on Earth, Pamer did not blink. Instead, he supported the wounded, directed further rescue efforts and delivered priceless hope. Palmer died when the South Tower collapsed.
The best video evidence of the FDNY's courage that day comes from two French-American brothers Jules and Gedeon Naudet. Already filming a documentary on the FDNY, they were inadvertently caught up in history when the attacks began. The brothers were filming the FDNY conduct a manhole cover investigation as the first plane hit the North Tower. They recorded the impact, looking up on hearing the sound of a jetliner approaching. They then followed the FDNY into action.
One of the brothers hops into a car with Battalion Chief Joseph Pfeiffer. As sirens blare, a firefighter asks what to do, Pfieffer responds: "Go to trade center." Arriving at the World Trade Center complex's North Tower atrium, Pfieffer establishes a command post and begins to organize rescue efforts. These are hamstrung by malfunctioning radios. Still, Pfieffer's indomitable command presence is evident.
Firefighters start the hard climb up the stairwells. But as bodies start impacting around the atrium, the rescuers' faces become ever bleaker. They are horrified and scared. FDNY Chaplain Mychal Judge gives strength to the firefighters who assemble, perhaps subconsciously, around him. But we also see streams of civilians evacuating the tower, a reminder of lives saved. The South Tower is hit. But the firefighters keep ascending. One firefighter recalls how evacuating civilians met their ascending rescuers on the stairwell with bewilderment. As he puts it, "People pretty much said, 'why are you all going up there? Get out.'"
They kept climbing.
When the South Tower collapses at 9.59 AM, Pfieffer and the firefighters in the North Tower atrium are encased in a sea of smoke and debris. Chaplain Judge is mortally wounded. But Pfieffer doesn't skip a beat. He issues an order that likely saved many, many firefighter lives: "Command post to all units, evacuate the building." One firefighter now descending the North Tower explains how he felt, "You start to feel your anxiety build up and you take a big breath and you say it's going to be alright, let's just keep going. I have brothers ahead of me, brothers behind me, we're in this together, we're fighting together and we're going to do what we have to do."
Not all of them got out. Pfieffer lost his brother, Kevin, a fellow firefighter who was last seen helping civilians in the North Tower. But by making the terrible but right decision to evacuate, Pfieffer's leadership saved many of his brothers. He continues to serve in the FDNY, now as the First Deputy Commissioner.
These recordings of hard history matter not simply for what they tell us about the FDNY's immense courage. They also crystallize the dichotomy of those firefighters and the terrorists. Al Qaeda's ideology pursues supremacist authority and is defined by hatred for all who do not yield. That ideology motivated the hijackers to find purpose in destroying the lives of innocent strangers. In contrast, the FDNY marched upwards in service of a different cause: to rescue innocent strangers at all costs.
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Tags: Opinion, Beltway Confidential, 9/11, September 11, September 11 Terrorist Attacks
Original Author: Tom Rogan
Original Location: Remembering Orio Palmer and the FDNY 343 who died on 9/11
