Priority! Fall 2011

S P E C I A L 10 t h A N N I V E R SA RY I S S U E ®

Fall 2011

Life Stories of Go d’s Peo ple

9/11

We Remember

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We Remember

COVER STORY FEATURES

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This 10th anniversary commemorative issue of Priority! is filled with voices of those who served with The Salvation Army following the attacks on September 11, 2001.

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Ground Zero: New York City A Salvation Army mobile canteen was on the scene within 30 minutes after the first jet hit the North Tower. The Army’s comprehensive, compassionate service lasted until the closing ceremonies on May 30, 2002, and continued at various sites in and around the city for four more years.

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The Pentagon: Arlington, Va. When Major Todd Smith saw the smoke rising very near his Washington, D.C., office, he dispatched mobile canteens immediately to the Pentagon. The Salvation Army served more

Cover photo © Getty Images inset photo by © AFP / Getty Images

than 7,000 workers every day for three weeks at the crash site.

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Flight 93: Shanksville, Pa. The Salvation Army sprang into action as soon as word was received of a plane down in a field in western Pennsylvania. The Army provided a

DEPARTMENTS 5 Letters

trusted presence to police, FBI, and families on the scene.

FALL 2011 Volume 13 No. 3

‘I Will Restore’

T

en years ago, after I had the privilege of serving on Sept. 14 and 15 at Ground Zero, I couldn’t

sleep until I wrote about my experience. I called the piece I wrote “Altered Reality.”

What I had seen was apocalyptic, the stuff of nightmares. I wrote, “So many people in the world already know what we have now learned: that evil has the power to destroy, and no one is invulnerable.” Then I wrote about serving the rescue workers from my post very close to the smoking pile of rubble. And about the indomitable spirit of a New Yorker who worked alongside me handing out dust masks, socks, Gatorade, and gum to men and women heading back to their desperate search for survivors.

…promoting prayer, holiness, and evangelism through the life stories of God’s people

THE SALVATION ARMY Territorial Leaders USA Eastern Territory Commissioner R. Steven Hedgren Commissioner Judith A. Hedgren

Chief Secretary Colonel William Carlson

Editor Linda D. Johnson

Art Director Keri Johnson

I asked, “Where was God in all of this?” And I answered, “He was at the heart

Senior Designer Saoul Vanderpool

of it all, right where evil had planted its seed.”

Those words come from a Morris Chapman song, most familiar as sung by Joseph Garlington. It goes, “What was lost in battle/What was taken unlawful/ Where the enemy has planted his seed … I will restore to you all of this and more.”

When I sent out a call in May for memories of 9/11, they flooded in, and I was struck by how vivid, detailed, and raw they were. Aaron Antill talked about visiting the site, where new Towers are now rising from what was once called the “Pit.” He said, “Lots of feelings I didn’t know I had came rushing back.”

Contributing Editors Warren L. Maye, Robert Mitchell

Graphic Designers Dave Hulteen, Karena Lin, Joe Marino, Reginald Raines

Circulation Deloris Hansen

Marketing Christine Webb

That may be true for you too on this 10th anniversary. It certainly is for me. My reality has truly been forever altered. Evil did plant its seed in America on Sept.

11, 2001. But right there, in the midst of smoke and ash and sorrow, God began to restore. He was there in New York City. He was there in Shanksville, Pa. And He was there at the Pentagon. He was there with the thousands of Salvation Army officers, soldiers, and volunteers who washed feet, served a cup of cold water, and prayed with the exhausted, the angry, the grieving.

My prayer is that as you read this issue, you’ll find what many of the writers found—the Lord in the midst of it all. He’s still there today, with healing in His wings. He will restore: That’s a promise.

Editor

SALVATION ARMY MISSION STATEMENT The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. Its message is based on the Bible.

Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission is to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.

Priority! is published quarterly by The Salvation Army USA Eastern Territory. Subscriptions are $8.95 per year; bulk rates available. Write to: Priority!, The Salvation Army, 440 West Nyack Rd., West Nyack, NY 10994–1739.

Volume 13, No. 3, Fall 2011. Printed in USA. Postmaster: Send all address changes to: Priority!, 440 West Nyack Road, West Nyack, NY 10994–1739. Priority! accepts advertising. Copyright ©2011 by The Salvation Army, USA Eastern Territory. Articles may be reprinted only with written permission.

USA National website: www.SalvationArmyUSA.org

EVANGELICAL EVANGELICAL

PRESS ASSOCIATION

PRESS ASSOCIATION

Letters about 9/11 The cover of a special supplement done 10 years ago. For many people, the memories are still fresh.

serving among new yorkers

fornia Southern Baptist Disaster Team requested us to join with The Salvation Army to provide meals for the some 600 investigators that were sifting through the rubble on Staten Island. We still correspond with some of the people we met while working the 9/11 disaster in New York. It was our pleasure to serve alongside The Salvation Army. When

I served at Ground Zero two weeks prior

I returned home I wrote an 11–page

to Thanksgiving, 2001. It was a privilege

story of my experience. Our lives were

serving among the New Yorkers who

changed forever.

tirelessy gave of their time, despite their

Tom & Peggy Williams

own loss and pain. I met many wonder-

Banning, CA

ful individuals, especially Debbie, a native of Brooklyn. Debbie said that if she would ever convert from her

Comfort in Boston

Jewish faith, she would convert to Sal-

A number of officers were at Logan Air-

vationism.

port in Boston providing counseling to

Captain Shannon Benner

families of those who died in the WTC

Shelbyville, IN

airplane attacks.

california team

I recall ministering to a couple of families, holding them as they cried in total shock and disbelief.

It was not easy not to join in their suffering because crying was the only response we could muster.

With other families, we just sat in silence with them, letting them know that we were present and we would

As many other volunteers gave of time

not leave them alone.

and service to help the people of New

Major Jim Guest

York, so did Tom and I. We wasted no

School for Officer Training

time responding to the call when Cali-

Suffern, NY

dark days I was stationed at Ground Zero in the American Express building, which was also being used as the morgue. I always get a little teary–eyed when I recall all the details. It was raining; all I could smell was jet fuel; there was dust and black soot everywhere; the lights didn’t work; everything was dark outside and inside the buildings. The most powerful memory was when body parts wrapped in orange material were carted into the AMEX building right in front of me.

It’s a pretty brutal image to recall, but it also made me grateful and thankful to God for everything I have. So when I hear people (including myself) complaining over petty things, I think back and remember how very blessed I actually am.

Ivette Czaja Greater New York Divisional Headquarters

flight 93 gallantry The one thing that stands out in my mind when I remember Sept. 11, 2001, is that Osama Bin Laden could put a dent in our country but not could not ‘total’ us. We are a strong bunch of people who stick together in times of trouble. Experiencing the recovery efforts at the crash site of Flight 93, I witnessed and was a part of the gallantry of our citizens working together. It really made me very

Letters about 9/11 proud to be an American and belong to The Salvation Army.

On the following Saturday morning

Marilyn Albright Western Pennsylvania Division

following 9/11, I had my daughter, Amanda (who was starting high school at Styvesant High School, only a couple

changed outlook When 9/11 happened, I was a newly commissioned officer and newly married.

I was down at Ground Zero for 12 days.

My experience there changed my whole outlook on life. Some things just weren’t as important any more. I found a new love for God, my family, and my country.

Captain Matthew Morrison Augusta, ME

bagels at ‘best price’

of blocks from the Towers), and her friend Adria, and we were coming to Territorial Headquarters to volunteer on the phone banks. I wanted them to see the “other” side of the tragedy and just how Christian “Christians” could be. On the way to the office, I stopped

and I said to him, “I want a big bag of bagels at a good price.” He said, “What’s up?” I told him and he came back with an enormous bag with bagels falling off the top, it was so full. I said, “How much?” He said, “Free!—and that is my best price!” The girls experienced some very generous Americans that day and have never forgotten their time at The Salvation Army after 9/11.

Tom Baker Eastern Territorial Headquarters

at my fave bagel shop to get some bagels for the volunteers. The owner came over

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Ground Zero New York, NY

Š Getty Images

Ground Zero - New York, NY

‘Compassion Under Fire’

by Craig H. Evans

I

© AP Photo / Carmen Taylor

was on the phone when I first heard that a plane had crashed into the North Tower. At that time, the magnitude of the tragedy was unclear.

Most of us suspected it was a small plane that had somehow veered off course and slammed into the building.

By the time I got off the phone, I had gone to the back window, near my office on the sixth floor of Greater New York (GNY) Divisional Headquarters and in a direct line to the World Trade Center.

What I witnessed next will always be etched into my memory. I stood there aghast as I watched a large plane, flying at a low altitude, cross the river and disappear behind the South Tower. A moment later the side of the building facing me erupted in an enormous ball of flame.

It was then that my life changed forever.

As director of public information for GNY, my role was to clearly communicate what was taking place and how we were responding. Because so many victims were internationals, my responsibilities suddenly expanded and I became a global communicator for the Army—to the division, the territory, national and international headquarters. Events were taking place in such rapid succession and in such a chaotic environment that it was a challenge to disseminate even the most basic information. Overloaded communications systems made it that much more difficult.

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The team gets to work at Greater New York Divisional Headquarters. Craig Evans is at far right; Major Hildred Schoch at center.

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of feeling that I have for each one of these beautiful friends is beyond description. They were all heroes in my eyes.

It was in this climate that we named our response efforts “Compassion Under Fire.” In the midst of the ugliest circumstances, we were reminded that we were a compassionate Army, ready to fight evil with good.

Evans is development director for the Army’s Northern New England Division.

Escaping the city over the Brooklyn Bridge.

© AP / Daniel Shanken

USA East Media Ministries

Somehow, despite great obstacles, our divisional staff pulled together and mounted a response that was well beyond our human capabilities. We put the situation in the hands of an omnipotent God, and the pieces began coming together.

We became a close team, totally dependent upon each other but, more importantly, completely reliant upon a God who could do, through us, more than we could ever imagine. The depth

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Ground Zero - New York, NY

by Peter C. Vaughan

Jack Dearin

‘do something!’

A

rriving at Ground Zero within 12 hours of the attack has seared images, sounds, and aromas into my brain. I can summon every sensory assault of that day and be in that place— anytime. In the first few days, nobody was considering particle masks or hard hats or perimeter checkpoints. That all came after the first week or so. It was quasi–organized chaos as like–minded people focused on doing anything we 12

could to channel our own feelings and horror by helping.

I can still feel the adrenaline surge fueling countless hours and days of energy—scouring “the pile,” handing out water bottles or gloves to workers; praying with firefighters, volunteers, and the dazed who were already on their knees.

That was not normally in my comfort zone, but prayer was effortless and flowing through grace in those surreal days.

What remains with me deeply is the unity of spirit and mission in a collaborative effort to “Do Something!,” a very familiar charge to Salvationists. Folks of every color and race—PATRIOTS— there only to serve our fallen brothers.

What a responsibility—what a privilege!

Vaughan is facilities manager at Eastern Territorial Headquarters in West Nyack, N.Y. www.prioritypeople.org

by Lt. Colonel Abraham Johnson

I

was at the weekly finance council meeting at divisional headquarters (DHQ) when the secretary of Major Carl Schoch, divisional commander (DC), informed us that a plane had crashed into one of the twin towers.

One person at the table said that perhaps someone was filming a movie; therefore, we continued with our council business.

But in about 10–15 minutes, the DC’s secretary interrupted again to inform us that a second plane had crashed into the South Tower. Both buildings were now on fire, with part of a plane embedded in one of the buildings. The DC adjourned the council meeting and we all went to the window to see for ourselves.

A number of us, including the DC,

Commissioner Joe Noland (left) was territorial commander on 9/11, and Major Carl Schoch was divisional commander in Greater New York.

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went immediately to the scene. We made our way, walking through thick smoke and dust, through police blockades and crushed vehicles, including fire engines and police cars. We had to wear face masks and gloves because the dust was mingled with body ash.

Some people were walking dazed; others were crying, looking for their work companions; others were running.

Firefighters and police officers, covered in soot, looked like white ghosts; many were dazed and in shock.

Upon returning to DHQ, I was appointed to the Salvation Army’s emergency operation. I was assigned to supervise, with a team, the delivery of food, water, and clothing that had come by tractor trailer from as far as the state

of Washington. My responsibility was to supply and restock the canteens parked on the sidewalks from 7th Avenue to 6th Avenue and on both sides of the sidewalk of 14th Street. For the next three weeks I remained on duty, working from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week. We slept in shifts in the DHQ building. I went home just twice.

During this time, I had the opportunity to pray and encourage people— police officers, firefighters, emergency personnel, and people in the street. I thank God that I was available to bring direction and hope to people who asked for help.

Johnson is a retired officer living in Philadelphia.

Both photos USA East Media Ministries

Gearing Up

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Ground Zero - New York, NY

Triage at New York Temple

H

eading for the city from Long Island, I felt like a Pacific salmon in springtime. All the traffic was coming out (except for emergency personnel trying to get in). I will always be amazed at the confidence given to us because of our Salvation Army identification. The red shield on the van and my uniform got me through every makeshift checkpoint that sprang up. By the time I could see the Manhattan skyline, both towers were down, and an enormous cloud of smoke overshadowed the southern tip of Manhattan. It was surreal.

Before I could make it to the Temple Corps, coming down 7th Avenue, a company of off–duty firefighters who wanted to get down to the World Trade Center commandeered the van. So, in my first official duty, I drove them down (past 14th Street, which was the first red or restricted zone) as far as possible, until the police stopped us. The firefighters got out and walked the rest of the way, and I doubled back to divisional headquarters.

I was directed by our divisional leadership team (Majors Carl & Hildred Schoch, divisional leaders, and Majors Stephen and Jan Banfield, general secretary and women’s ministry secretary) to prepare the corps as a shelter/overflow 14

by Major Dean Satterlee

triage for potential victims. The Temple Corps is around the corner from (then) St. Vincent’s Hospital, and it was felt that they might need overflow beds/ cots for survivors who weren’t badly wounded. Of course, as everyone now knows, those victims—survivors—never came.

That night an ARC truck arrived from Star Lake Camp in New Jersey with beds. We set them up in the corps chapel and on the second floor. While the beds were never used for patients, they were used for the first two weeks for out–of–town rescue personnel and EDS teams from outside the division.

We even had some teams with search and rescue dogs stay with us. The corps kitchen on the second floor quickly became a feeding station. Soldiers and officers (including Majors David and Alice Hathorn and Majors Norm and Ruby Zanders) from the corps came to help the first wave of EDS and rescue workers who came for rest and refreshment. That first night I stayed up all night, standing on the sidewalk, encountering people who were searching for missing loved ones. I had a couple of opportunities that evening to pray with some of them.

By the second night the Temple Corps chapel transitioned from a dorm

for the rescue personnel to a supply house. (The second floor continued to serve as a rest station for the first two weeks.) The Army was quickly inundated with donations of gifts in kind, including tractor–trailer loads of goods. I remember one guy who drove up, parked his truck, trailer and all, and handed the keys to Army personnel.

I will never forget the generosity of the American people during those days. I still have the Timberland boots and Maglite flashlight that I used for those days of relief work. Major Hildred Schoch and my wife worked at the back of our chapel distributing water, protein bars, gloves, etc. to workers coming back from or going to Ground Zero (as it was now being called).

After two weeks, we were released from our duties as first responders as National Headquarters prepared to set up for the long–term relief effort. We had 50–yard–line seats, however, to the entire relief effort, until the last remains/ debris were removed from Ground Zero in May of 2002.

Satterlee, with his wife, Major Marissa Satterlee, were corps officers at New York Temple at the time of the attacks. They now serve in Western Pennsylvania. www.prioritypeople.org

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Donations pile up outside Greater New York Divisional Headquarters.

The New York Temple is at the same site on 14th Street.

Oscar DoSantos

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Jack Dearin

Ground Zero - New York, NY

O

n Tuesday morning, Sept. 11, 2001, I was listening to the radio as I prepared to leave the house to go to the School for Officer Training in Suffern, N.Y., for chapel and my morning’s work [on the faculty]. The weatherman said, “It is going to be a beautiful day, bright and sunny.” The chapel speaker spoke on “Holy Boldness.” As we were leaving chapel, word started to pass that a plane had hit the World Trade Center.

Classes were canceled, and we returned to the chapel for prayer. Then, everyone signed up for teams to go into the city.

They especially wanted people in the first teams with language and medical skills. Being bilingual in English and Spanish, I was in the first group to go to the city.

It was strange to go in a convoy, with traffic to the city being diverted and only emergency response vehicles such as ours permitted. We had only water with us. Food supplies were supposed to be waiting for us once we got to the

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by Major Elizabeth Roby

city, but it didn’t happen that way. We needed to feed ourselves and the police, who were everywhere.

At last sandwiches arrived in abundance, and we could feed those around us. The firefighters, who had been working for hours, were glad for the sandwiches—ham and cheese—except for several Jewish firefighters, who asked if we had just cheese or peanut butter and jelly—anything but ham. Obviously, the Salvation Army corps from all over the area that had been putting sandwiches together had not thought of that need, but we let people know when we returned home.

The next day, things were different, more organized. We had kosher food for the Jewish workers, and restaurants in the area were sending food. Donations piled up all over. The public certainly showed their generosity and their faith in the Salvation Army’s work.

Roby serves at Territorial Headquarters in West Nyack, N.Y.

Jeff Karg

Organizing Chaos

www.prioritypeople.org

A Harrowing Two Weeks

I

Traffic pours continuously down the West Side Highway toward Ground Zero.

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remember that day as if it were yesterday! I was a cadet at the School for Officer Training in Suffern, N.Y. We had just finished a half hour of power [a prayer service] and were on our way to classes. Next thing you know, we were informed that we were being sent in groups to Ground Zero to help out. I was told which group I was with and that I would be transporting the group to the city.

I loved driving in the city—the action, the business—but this night was so different. We couldn’t go the normal way because it was unclear if the George Washington Bridge was safe to cross yet.

So we were routed across the Tappan Zee Bridge and down. This was the longest ride of my life; there were no cars on the road, but there were military and police checks, it seemed, about every mile!

Entering the city was eerie. We were not sure about anything at this point.

The radio was issuing warnings; there were bomb scares; and buildings were still teetering. As we got closer, it started to look like winter with all the gray soot and lights shining. The dust was so

by Aaron Antill

thick, you felt like you couldn’t breathe.

We spent two weeks or so, sometimes 14–hour shifts, working down there, taking food and coffee and water right down into the pile. I can remember the faces, the tired eyes, the devastation.

We spent a lot of time working in the American Express building just feet away from piles of body bags.

In August 2010 I took a trip to Ground Zero. It was the first time [I had been back there]. Lots of feelings I didn’t know I had came rushing back. I am so glad my father was there to listen to me and let me vent. Then when the news broke [of Osama bin Laden’s death], it was good to hear but in my mind still doesn’t [make up for] the number of lives lost in that one incident.

The thing that has helped me the most was [that I saw] the unity that can happen in this country in a time of disaster. For a brief time, all the bickering and pointless nonsense stopped and we were one united nation.

Antill is a Salvation Army soldier in Oil City, Pa. 17

Oscar DoSantos

Ground Zero - New York, NY

The sidewalk outside Greater New York Divisional Headquarters.

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www.prioritypeople.org

‘What’s Next, Captain?’

T

hat night it seemed that New York City had fallen absolutely still.

People passed each other on the streets silently, but they looked into each other’s eyes. That behavior was highly unusual for my hometown.

That night it was whispered over and over again, “The World Trade Center has gone down”—as if there might be somebody who didn’t already know.

That night no one knew what was next. The tunnels and bridges to Manhattan had been closed to most traffic. Armed military personnel rode our subways and patrolled our streets.

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by Lt. Colonel Bill LaMarr

Low–flying military helicopters guarded our riverbanks and darted along our streets with spotlights piercing the dark.

Most people couldn’t sleep, saying to themselves, “What’s next?”

Meanwhile in lower Manhattan, there was still chaos. The air was still thick with debris, so thick that it couldn’t be washed from your body, clothing, or shoes. It was too dark to see even a few feet. Cars and trucks were abandoned, so damaged as to never be usable again. Periodically a siren would scream and shouts would come from bullhorns, “Everyone run uptown!” Our volunteers, braver than brave, continued to serve. What’s next?

Before morning, more than 1,000 New Yorkers had reported to 120 West 14th Street [the Salvation Army’s Greater New York Divisional Headquarters] just to see what they could do. Advisory Board members and Wall Street executives alike, unable to get home, reported to The Salvation Army for duty. Homeless men stood next to bank executives lifting cases of water into canteens, vans, and whatever vehicles would still run. Business suits next to blue jeans next to Salvation Army uniforms, all doing the same work. A man with a simple paper shield pinned to his suit lapel faced me and said, “What’s next, Captain? I’m one of yours!” Within a few hours all of us were gray with the same dust from the World Trade Center; you couldn’t tell us apart, and it was to remain that way, in spirit

and resolve, for a long time.

That night, New York City and New Yorkers came together in ways I had never known before. Nonprofit agencies, usually rivals for recognition and dollars, worked together. People who under other circumstances might have been afraid of one another stood side by side to lift a common burden and fight a common enemy. Fear was real; it had a face and a location. New York was forever changed, but in the midst of all that carnage, haze, destruction, and chaos, on that night, New Yorkers only asked one question, “What’s next, Captain?”

Forty–eight hours later (time had become irrelevant by then), the mayor, Rudolph Guiliani, called us first responders together to coordinate our efforts. Without much sleep, most had only been talking on two–way radios or Nextel cell phones (the only ones still working), and when we actually saw each other, this group of CEO types mostly just hugged and cried! The mayor had tears in his eyes too but was even more surprised to learn the coordinated effort had already started! We were working together! “What’s next, Mr. Mayor?”

And so it was for the next two years!

LaMarr, now retired, became the divisional commander in Greater New York two months into the 9/11 effort. Though he was a lieutenant colonel, many people simply saw him as ‘Captain,’ as they did many other Salvation Army officers.

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Ground Zero - New York, NY

Shock, Then Extr aordinary Peace

by Commissioner William W. Francis

I

USA East Media Ministries

n the early morning hours the day after the first plane smashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, Commissioner Joe Noland and I, who served as his chief secretary, along with a small team from Territorial Headquarters, drove steadily down the West Side Highway toward the large black plume of smoke coming from lower Manhattan.

With police waving us through the makeshift checkpoints, we arrived at a Salvation Army canteen that had hurriedly set up shop on the south side of Broadway between Maiden Lane and Dey Street, one block from the rubble of the South Tower.

I remember walking alone down Dey Street. The first person I met was a police officer with whom I had a brief, unforgettable encounter. Our initial greetings were followed by silence, staring at each other with disbelief, and the shaking of our heads. Words failed.

Conversation seemed pointless. In the end, we simply hugged each other as we fought back emotions we both knew could become uncontrolled. My new friend and brother—a tall, strong member of the NYPD—turned away in tears.

At the corner of Dey and Church I came face to face with the smoldering pit already labeled as “Ground Zero” by the media. The bleak, ghastly scene is forever embedded in my memory. It remains the most indescribable, destructive scene I have ever witnessed. The formidable sturdy girders of the South Tower were twisted and tossed like pretzels, some still awkwardly standing against an implausibly stunning blue sky.

I crossed what had been the street and looked intently into the Pit for what seemed a very long time. Simply typing these words brings back vivid sights— with surprising details—the putrid smell and the eerie silence, interrupted only by firefighters calling to each other and

the steady background cry of sirens.

I shall never forget that walk to the Pit and the walk back to the Salvation Army canteen that had arrived from Pennsylvania only hours before. Commissioner Joe and I gathered the officers and volunteers for prayer. During the prayer, I was overcome with a startling hope and an extraordinary sense of peace—Jesus came alongside us. We knew that we were not alone. I could almost audibly hear Jesus saying to his early 21st–century disciples: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) And we all stood motionless and in silence. We were not sure Jesus was finished speaking to us. It was a moment I shall never forget or fully comprehend.

Francis and his wife, Commissioner Marilyn D. Francis (see next page) recently retired from active service.

Leaders pray on Sept.

12. Inset: Then–Colonel William Francis with a police officer.

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‘hope is all we have!’

by Commissioner Marilyn D. Francis

Debris and thick dust from the Towers blanket a sidewalk.

Michael Ortiz

wo memories still haunt me to this day. One is the sight of my beloved husband, who was then chief secretary in the USA Eastern Territory, coming home after his visit to Ground Zero. He was covered with ash from the soot of burning bodies and concrete.

He had ashen clothes and an ashen face staring straight ahead. He had a lamp in one hand and a letter from a secretary, just written; both had been hanging in a tree. My Colonel Bill never spoke to me as I pried the items out of his filthy hands and carefully removed his clothing and shoes. He went into the shower and finally came back to reality from that stupor of a “seeing–but–not– believing” state. He emerged clean and together we discussed the way forward.

The other memory is from the morgue at New York Medical Center.

The doctors and nurses were bloody from their tedious labor of testing body parts—some smaller than a thumb—for DNA. All of a sudden as I stood there, a nurse named Elaine left her doctor and ran over from one of the tarp–covered platforms. She was sobbing hard. I caught her in my arms and held her as she cried. And she looked into my eyes and said, “Will there ever be HOPE again?”

Being a minister, I did my job. I prayed with Elaine, and she went back into her open tent, smiling at me with eyes that made me think she trusted this Salvation Army lady when I told her, “Yes, dear! Hope is all we have! Yes! Hope is yet alive for our New York City!’

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Ground Zero - New York, NY

by Ken Speranza

Warren L. Maye

Cheering for the helpers

O

n Sept. 12, I accompanied one of our EDS teams down to Ground Zero to take pictures and collect stories for circulation to the media and other Salvation Army units. As we made the left turn onto West Side Highway, I saw crowds of people lining both sides of the road. The people, seeing

The Salvation Army shield on the side of our van, began clapping, cheering, and chanting furiously, like we were part of some ticker–tape parade. The noise was thunderous and seemed to increase the farther downtown we drove. We were cheered all the way to the site by people so appreciative of every symbol of

‘It Is Well with My Soul’

I

remember very clearly on the second day I was just at the very edge of the Pit and all the workers were yelling, “Run, run!” and I didn’t look back. I didn’t know I could run so fast, but I remember clasping my laminated ID

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help they saw during those early hours and days following the tragedy. It was a simple but moving and sobering moment that left a powerful impression on me.

Speranza is director of publications for the Greater New York Division.

by Major Molly Shotzberger

in my hands, thinking that if I were to die, maybe they could identify my body through that ID. And as I ran, I had such an incredible peace come over me, and I remember looking heavenward and thinking, “OK, God, if this is it, if this

is my time, then everything is well with my soul, and I’m ready to go.”

Shotzberger, now retired, was a chaplain at Ground Zero. She told this story on a CBS special, “Hymns of Hope and Healing,” that aired in 2002.

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Ground Zero - New York, NY

Lingering at Ground Zero

by Captain Margareta Ivarsson

Note from a police captain: USA East Media Ministries

When I was hungry you gave me something to eat.

When I was thirsty you gave me something to drink.

When my feet hurt you made me smile.

Thank you, Salvation Army!

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en years later I am still lingering at Ground Zero. The stench of death as The Salvation Army van rolled into Manhattan. The sun shining despite the dreadful suffering. Determined volunteers standing on the street corners on the West Side Highway, signs held

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high with encouraging messages for relief workers. Everyone wanted to do something to help!

The Lord’s Army marching into the site of destruction, saluted by hundreds of police officers, firefighters, and EMS personnel. Called and enrolled a soldier

in that army, I knew there the heart of God bleeding for the masses. His Son, crucified, so that the message of redemption could reach out into this complete roughness, into the dust and gravel, into the darkness and despair. Within the taste of death, from the smells, the dust

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on our clothes and in between our teeth, hope emerged, strong and determined: “He is Risen, indeed!” There I learned my destiny.

Lt. Colonel Damon Rader quietly walking around a half circle of chairs, offering a cup of water and a blanket to cover the shoulders of disillusioned iron workers who had seen the most evil possible with their own eyes and were completely at loss for words. His hands on their shoulders, His presence in their grief, I saw Jesus in his servant, Colonel Rader. Quietly, a few words shared. Someone said, “You, know, we build things! We don’t tear apart and cut down piles of destruction....” Out of that cry, a conversation emerged, a crisis www.prioritypeople.org

intervention with us serving as a mirror for their grief. Tools offered—words, considerations—as a first step in a process of healing, in making sense of the senseless. And there was God. They said, “That’s just it! This is why we feel this way. We do not have crisis training.

We don’t know how to process death!”

From there, they went back to the Pit for another shift of labor, with hopes to do their part in making sense of the senseless.

Some had been working for days and nights without getting out of their shoes.

Post–traumatic stress evident. Conversations rare. Hurting eyes and aching feet.

Our plea to them: “Would you offer us five minutes of your time, sit down and

take off your shoes, please?” What an odd request! Some, quite taken back, agreed. There we washed feet with wet wipes, provided ointment and band–aids for bleeding wounds, new socks, new steel boots in exchange for the ones whose rubber soles had been burned on the pile.

There, conversations emerged, even an occasional smile and quiet laughter.

A glimpse of hope for restoration.

Together we are strong. As feet were healing, hearts were touched by the love of the risen Christ.

Ivarsson works in the program secretary’s office at Territorial Headquarters in West Nyack, N.Y. 25

Ground Zero - New York, NY Southern Baptists called to help

by Mickey Caison

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) worked hand in hand with The Salvation Army in the area surrounding Ground Zero in the months following 9/11. Mickey Caison, disaster relief coordinator for the North American Mission Board of the SBC, shares his memories.

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© Getty Images

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he Office of Emergency Management and the FEMA Volunteer Agency liaison asked whether the Southern Baptists would agree to clean apartments near Ground Zero. After much discussion, I decided that we would ask our volunteers to help.

The NYC Health Department gave us special vacuum cleaners to aid in removing dust from the apartments in lower Manhattan. We traveled to the mayor’s office, where the Health Department office was located. We carried four very large boxes down to the street, and I waited while my partner went to get the van. Soon a NYC police officer appeared. He was very insistent that the boxes and I could not be on the sidewalk.

After a few very tense minutes, the officer noticed the Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief logo on my jacket. He asked if I was a Christian brother. I responded that indeed I was.

He thanked me for coming and helping.

The van soon appeared and we loaded the boxes. As we closed the hatch, I asked, “What is your story?”

The officer responded, “My wife died three days before the towers fell, and I was at home, or I would have been with the three officers from this building who

went down to help. They were killed when the towers fell.”

My heart broke to know that this officer was dealing with the grief of his wife’s death and the guilt of not being with his fellow officers when they were killed! Of course, we prayed with this man. Over the past 10 years, I have prayed for this dear Christian brother

many times and wondered how he adjusted to life without his wife and fellow officers.

The Taj Mahal Major Dave Dalberg [national EDS director for The Salvation Army] and I spoke frequently about our operations in NYC. Soon after the Army began a www.prioritypeople.org

feeding operation at Ground Zero, we discussed a partnership using Southern Baptist volunteers to assist. Soon volunteers from both organizations were working together out of a truck parked in the middle of West Street.

After a few weeks city leaders and The Salvation Army established a very large tent nearby to provide feeding and a respite center for Ground Zero workers. Volunteers prepared food provided by many restaurants in Manhattan.

Thousands of meals were served in the tent nicknamed the Taj Mahal.

Many wonderful stories were told as volunteers from both organizations ministered together for the next nine months.

Fresh Kills landfill Another sight etched in my mind is the first time I traveled to the Salvation

Coming Alongside

by Major George Polarek

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hat a marvelous ministry the Southern Baptists performed at all the Salvation Army sites!

I remember one elderly volunteer who didn’t know what to do, so we put her in front of a hydration station, and she treated everybody like her son. She would grab you by the ear and say, ‘Don’t get by here without washing your hands.’ And they would say, ‘Yes, Mom’; they would do whatever ‘Mom’ said. www.prioritypeople.org

Army site on Staten Island. I became year’s 9/11 anniversary, for me, will be lost in the large complex. As I tried to like the other nine. I will choose to find the feeding tent, I came upon the remember the work of thousands of storage site for vehicles damaged as the volunteers who went to New York to towers fell. I wept as I thought of the demonstrate God’s love, as expressed by hundreds of men and women who were Jesus the Christ, as they comforted the killed and injured when the towers fell. grieving, gave rest to the weary, washed As I composed myself and resumed the feet of those working at a labor of my search, I was confronted by an imlove, and cleaned the remnants of those age of workers standing at large, long terrible moments from the homes of conveyer belts looking for remains. What those who today still look upon the New a very difficult job that is, I thought.

York skyline.

Then I entered the tent to discover volunteers demonstrating, once again, wonderful Christlike love. They were not just serving food but also spending time with each worker. They were the hands and feet of Christ in a very difficult situation.

Yes, there are many sights, sounds, and smells from those fateful days that Mickey Caison briefs volunteers before are not pleasant to remember. But this leaving for New York.

Another Southern Baptist volunteer we put inside one of the hydration stations, which were located literally at the edge of the Pit. It was this woman’s responsibility to take the workers’ shoes and socks off and give them fresh socks and boots. The Pit was so hot that even the soles of brand–new boots would melt in two to three days.

Well, this volunteer decided to bring a pitcher of water in to wash the men’s feet. This one fireman said to me, ‘I want you to know what this woman has been doing for us, and what she did for me.’

The day before, just before coming to the station, he had been so excited because he had found what he believed to be a fireman under the rubble.

‘There’s a boot!’ he shouted. And he called everybody. Then, come to find out, it was just the boot, just the foot. His chief told him to take some time, go over to The Salvation Army and get some refreshment.

And when he arrived, this woman washed his feet. That’s when he broke down and cried.

Polarek was incident commander for The Salvation Army at Ground Zero.

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Š AFP / Getty Images

Ground Zero - New York, NY

© Getty Images

Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits … who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.

—Psalm 103:2,4

At the Cross

‘I will redeem this Pit’

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construction man, probably a little overweight, digging through dirt, all of a sudden finds this little tunnel, manages to poke his head into it and see what we believe was a divine answer to prayers that we had been making throughout the time that we were at Ground Zero: “Oh, God, show us your presence; show us you’re here; show us how you’re going to redeem this pit.”

Suddenly, the construction worker comes out of this little tunnel screaming, “Wait ’til you see what I found! And he pulls in ministers and officials and shows them this cross. It’s fully extended, melted together with the intensity of the heat. The two beams were never initially part of the same structure. Heat had melted them together, and the piece of metal draped over it was molten metal that had fallen over one of the arms.

So when everybody saw this, the first thing we did was cry, and the second thing we did was go into worship, a marvelous moment of worship. www.prioritypeople.org

Everything stopped. Construction vehicles stopped. All the digging out of dirt—it all stopped.

We looked at the cross; we fell to our knees; and we thanked God because at that moment it seemed as though God was just placing His arms around us and saying, “This Pit is mine. I will redeem this Pit. I will redeem the lives of the people who are in this Pit.” And the message I received that particular day was no matter how large the pit is, how deep or how wide or how long, whatever pit it is that we live in, God is there to redeem it. If He’s in it here at Ground Zero with the World Trade Center, how much more can He do it for the world and for us!

Major George Polarek, incident commander at Ground Zero, told this story on a CBS TV special, “Hymns of Hope and Healing” that aired in 2002. He was speaking about the hymn “Amazing Grace.”

by Dave Johnson attended a worship service by that cross found in the rubble.

Some family members were there who had lost loved ones. One lady seemed very upset and mad at God for letting this happen, yet here she was at the worship service looking for answers. She was sobbing and looking for a shoulder to cry on.

Well, that shoulder was mine.

A million things went on in my head as to how to handle this. I had never experienced an emotion this big. The only things that came out of my mouth were that it was OK, I am here for you, and God loves you.

Her tears and my hug was all she needed; I held her for what seemed like a long time. Then my work was done, and she thanked me for giving her some precious time. To this day, I remember this lady and pray that she has had a new commitment with Christ.

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Johnson is assistant social services director in Minnesota’s Twin Cities area.

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Ground Zero - New York, NY

Miami Airport Encounter

by Rick Ford

Ford is supervisor of the Salvation Army’s Miami Area Command.

© Getty Images

W

hen the Miami Disaster Team left from the airport, it was under extreme guarded condition. The National Guard stood every 100 feet with M–16s. There were guard dogs and people had to strip to get through the checkpoints. Everyone was tense, stressed out, not knowing if another attack was going to happen in New York, let alone at home, where we were leaving our families behind.

We were sitting in the waiting area outside our boarding gate, and the pilot came out and walked around, looking at everyone. He walked over to our team and said, “Salvation Army. If something happens, I can count on you guys to watch my back.”

We all said, “Of course.” At that point, you could see the tension just leave his face and body. He turned and entered the hallway and walked down to the plane. We all looked at each other, then we all said a prayer, not only for our trip but also for everyone.

‘What Do You Need?’

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e had the privilege of meeting, encouraging, witnessing to, and praying with many people at Ground Zero.

A transit official, whose mother worked for The Salvation Army in upstate New York, did anything he ,

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by Majors William & Joan Bode

could to help us. When the rains threatened to come down and [soak] all our supplies, he asked if we needed a tent.

Before long, a truckload of lumber arrived and an army of police cadets from the academy framed a tent and

then used tarps to cover our entire area.

When our generator died and we didn’t know what to do, this same man arrived shortly afterward with a huge generator and gave it to us.

A truck driver from Toledo, Ohio, arrived with a semi full of supplies. It was www.prioritypeople.org

Gr affiti Messages

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by Major Gregory Hartshorn

“NYC, we love you!” “Fire Dept. of Buffalo sends their love & prayers.” When I went over to see how this was done, I realized these messages were made by fingers drawing in the thick coat of dust covering the walls. The walls were not gray after all, but black glass, or fancy gray marble with brass trim. The expressions of love were drawn by human hands, by the very servants who had come from near and far to lend help and hope. I thought carefully before I left my own message: “God’s peace be with us all—TSA Niagara Falls.”

exactly what we needed to keep serving in those early days when supplies were low. He said he couldn’t get through the security line. I took my Salvation Army “gator” and escorted the truck into Ground Zero, where cadets helped us unload.

God blessed us, and we look forward to meeting many of our friends again, if not on this earth, then in heaven.

The Bodes led a team from Massachusetts that arrived at Ground Zero on Sept. 14.

They are now divisional leaders in Western Pennsylvania.

Those messages are long gone now, washed away by the rains of heaven and the cleaning crews of New York. Many of the people who left those messages are still here, forever changed, with a fervent purpose to continue to offer help and hope where there is need. And when we look to God, we find He is the one who still brings His peace to the troubled heart.

Major Gregory Hartshorn is divisional secretary for the Southern New England Division.

Jack Dearin

remember serving from our Salvation Army canteen truck by Foxworthy’s Restaurant just around the corner from the Pit. My team was on the midnight shift, and New York City surely took on an eerie feel. Coupled with the devastation and ruin, there were no mobs of people on the sidewalks and there were no lights! The city that never sleeps was in a state of darkness. The walls of the buildings where we served were all strangely gray. On a closer look, we could see graffiti messages. Night after night, more messages appeared.

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Ground Zero - New York, NY

At the Medical Examiner’s Office

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was assigned as one of the chaplains at the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME, aka the Morgue). There was a temporary site at the World Trade Center (Ground Zero), but then it was decided to move all operations to the main facility at East 30th Street, Manhattan.

The Salvation Army played an important role in providing meals and

snacks to the fire departments, law enforcement personnel, and ME staff.

The role of chaplain was to be on–site support to these people, who were working 12–hour shifts.

One of the most striking memories of my tour of duty was when bodies or parts of bodies were found at Ground Zero and transported to the East 30th Street facility. It didn’t matter who was

found, but once [remains were] located and identified, there would be a call to the OCME. A chaplain on–site at Ground Zero would be called and an honor guard set in place. The remains would be transferred to the OCME by motorcade. Once the motorcade arrived, all personnel would form another line of honor. A final salute was given. In that solemn moment, as the remains were transported from vehicle to gurney, a chaplain would be called to say a prayer.

Major Carl Ruthberg is Conference Center director at Territorial Headquarters in West Nyack, N.Y.

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Bob Mitchell

Majors Molly Shotzberger, Cheryl Miller, and Carl Ruthberg pray together. They all served as chaplains at the medical examiner’s office.

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he first day I was at the morgue, I was giving some assistance on the canteen and a woman walked up to me and asked where she could get some help. I told her that maybe I could help, and she just broke down. She shared with me that she had seen the whole thing—both planes hitting the buildings—and she couldn’t get them out of her head. When she fell asleep, she saw the images; when she just walked around, she saw the images. She could not get them out of her mind, and it was driving her crazy. She was crying all the time. And she needed to talk to someone to help her try to get rid of the images.

We sat down on two milk crates and I was able to talk to her for a few minutes. I prayed with her and when she left, she seemed to feel a little better and www.prioritypeople.org

Courtesy Major Kathleen Bearcroft

Major Kathleen Bearcroft, a chaplain at the medical examiner’s office, is recognized for her service.

thanked me for my time. I’m sorry I can’t give you absolute assurance that she walked away back to normal. But I have assurance that God heard my prayer and that He went with her from that spot.

Major Cheryl Miller is a retired officer living in Clearwater, Fla.

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he flags! I remember the flags. One morning while I was serving at the morgue, a police officer came up to me and asked if I could get him some flags, the largest ones I could find.

www.prioritypeople.org

I immediately phoned Greater New York Divisional Headquarters with the request. Within a couple of hours the delivery was made. I walked down the side street adjacent to the morgue and handed the package over to the officer who had made the request. A little while later he came up to me and said to follow him; he wanted to show me something. As I walked down that same street, I saw them—the flags. They were waving in the breeze as they hung over the refrigerated trucks at the end of the street. After the identification process,

the bodies and human remains found at the World Trade Center were gently and delicately placed in the trucks. I will always remember the words the police officer spoke as we stood there with tears in our eyes. With his voice cracking and his hand over his heart, he said, “These souls will rest with honor.”

Major Molly Shotzberger is a retired officer living in Fredericksburg, Pa.

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Ground Zero - New York, NY

Honoring the Fallen

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So I immediately went with him.

When we arrived, the man’s covered body was being held on a stretcher by firemen who, I believe, knew him. It seemed to me that there were more of them holding the body than were needed to bear the weight, presumably because they wanted hands–on participation in acknowledging and honoring the sacrifice of their dead brother. There was nothing routine about this; it was intensely personal and painful for the men, and I felt their unexpressed grief.

The feverish rescue work had temporar-

ily stopped out of respect, and it was relatively quiet. Standing among those strong, courageous men and lifting them all to the Father in prayer was a sacred privilege I will long remember.

The body was lovingly placed in a refrigerated truck nearby that served as a mobile morgue, and the hazardous, heartbreaking work then resumed.

Rader is a retired Salvation Army officer living in Wilmore, Ky. He is a member of the Order of the Founder, the highest honor that can be accorded a Salvationist.

© Getty Images

ne night a fireman came to the Army’s nearest site to Ground Zero, where I was working, to ask me to pray, in the absence of the fire chaplain, for one of his fallen comrades, whose body they had just recovered from the rubble. He obviously knew we were praying people, perhaps from observing how often we prayed with rescue workers going into and coming out of the Pit. Everything during those days prompted us to pray, and I came closer to literally praying without ceasing than at any time in my life.

by Lt. Colonel Damon Rader

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www.prioritypeople.org

by Major Hollie Ruthberg

Bob Mitchell

A Personal Attack

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s a New Yorker stationed in New York City at the time of the World Trade Center Disaster on Sept. 11, 2001, I took that attack personally. So did everyone in the city, in the area, in the United States, and for the most part, the world.

This was not something that happened far away or long ago to someone else; this happened to me. It was my space, my skyline, my city, my country, and my world that was violated. In the same way I would feel victimized if someone broke into my home or if someone mugged me, I felt betrayed and misused. How dare we treat each other this way?

When the news came to me, I was www.prioritypeople.org

alone in our apartment preparing to head to Divisional Headquarters on an errand. Our son called from his honeymoon in disbelief and frightened for my safety. Switching on the TV, I saw the second tower hit and realized that somehow our world had changed. The phone rang, and I was asked to report to Divisional Headquarters on West 14th Street and be ready for whatever was required of me.

There was not a moment’s hesitation.

There was not a thought of “let me escape to the safety of the hills.” Not knowing if I would come back, there was still no decision to make. Of course I would go. I took my toothbrush, ID, and family photos just in case this was it. I

left a new message on the phone that told everyone I loved them and walked out the door.

Would the Empire State Building be next? The Statue of Liberty? Would planes just keep flying into buildings all around the city every 10 minutes? How planned was this? My knee–jerk reaction matched the vast majority of the knee–jerk reactions in this country and around the world. I wanted to be there helping. I wanted to pass out water, sort socks, offer a hand and a smile and a prayer. I wanted to say, with my life, that sanity and hope remained. That there might be craziness and violence and destruction, but that it stops here with me.

People around the world would have given anything to be in my position as a first responder. Volunteers poured in, determined to be allowed to help— doctors with skills, businessmen ready to dig through the rubble with their bare hands, children offering a teddy bear.

The firefighters who ran up the stairs of the towers as office workers ran down symbolize the vast majority of us. Let me get in there and help. Let me be on the list of people doing the right thing. Let me say no to this tragedy.

Ten years later, by the grace of God, it is still personal. Time does not heal, but love does. I will live on the side of goodness.

Ruthberg works in women’s ministries at Territorial Headquarters in West Nyack, N.Y. 35

Ground Zero - New York, NY

© Getty Images

Ken Speranza

Inside the Taj Mahal in December 2001.

Reviving Restaur ants

by Major George Polarek

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he Restaurant Revitalization Program was a marvelous idea that was instituted with Whitsons Catering.

Whitsons was and still remains the major vendor used to feed all the social services programs that we have here in Greater New York throughout the 10 counties.

When the incident happened, of course, on the very first day, the city called The Salvation Army and said, “Can you provide 40,000 meals or sandwiches by tomorrow?” And of course, we decided that Whitsons would be the people we called.

Eventually, we got to the point where we began using restaurants in that local

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area because we knew if we didn’t, those restaurants would die. Around those 16 acres of land, there had been 1,000 restaurants. A thousand restaurants, now out of business. We were able to use the food from at least 250 to 300 of those restaurants, which brought into Ground Zero, at the Taj Mahal tent, the very best food that New York had to offer.

We were also able to pay the restaurants a specific charge for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, whatever their specialties were.

That enabled them in turn to hire back their own employee staff.

So The Salvation Army was not only able to feed people at Ground Zero, but we were also able to keep restaurants

open. We were able to keep employees working and eventually allow volunteers to go into the very restaurants that were remaining open to continue pumping income and dollars into that area.

Polarek was the incident commander at Ground Zero. He now serves as area commander in Syracuse, N.Y.

Restaurant Screening, Selection, Food Deliveries and Volunteer Services 4 Meals per day served at the Taj Mahal tent www.prioritypeople.org

s

Jeff Karg

Sandwiches and Hot Chocolate

by Jay Conklin

T Food Facts Salvation Army, together with Whitsons Catering, provides:

24–hour service provided 100% supported by World Trade Center donations www.prioritypeople.org

he weekend after the attack, I volunteered at Ground Zero working on a Salvation Army canteen to supply dry clothes and hot food to the rescue workers. Before we arrived at the site, I helped unload a truck of donated supplies at the Greater New York Division.

One cooler was full of sandwiches made by fifth–grade students from a school in Wisconsin.

While working the canteen, I noticed more sandwiches made by kids of all different grade levels from all over the country. I also helped serve men and women from a great multitude of fire and rescue companies from around the country. The one that really sticks in

my head was the San Francisco Fire Department. Not only did they bring themselves, but they also bought their own gear. I also met a lot of young National Guardsmen. I very much enjoyed making hot chocolate for their entire platoon on a cold morning.

It really amazed me that under such dire circumstances and in the aftermath of such a horrific event, so many came together from all races, creeds, genders, and ages and helped.

Conklin is a trust supervisor in the Finance Department at Territorial Headquarters in West Nyack, N.Y. 37

Ground Zero - New York, NY

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few weeks following 9/11, I received a call from the territorial commander’s office indicating that General John Gowans (who had just arrived from London) would like to see the the work that the Army was carrying out at Liberty State Park in New Jersey. I was instructed to find a van and be ready to take the General’s party to the Park so we could make a noon appointment with some high–ranking officials. The only problem was that it was now 10:45! With so little time left, I called the state police from New York and New Jersey to lead us to the park.

With the General’s party in the vehicle, we met the New York state trooper at the Garden State Parkway entrance, and his only words were, “Stay with me, Major.” Off we went, with the General next to me and a happy chattering group

A Job to Do

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in the three seats behind me. At the border, we were handed over to a New Jersey trooper, whose only words were— you guessed it—“Stay with me, Major!”

At speeds exceeding 85 mph, we weaved in and out of traffic and finally ended up on the inside shoulder, and yes, I did receive many “salutes” from the drivers we went around—some of them not fun salutes!

After about 15 minutes at this pace, I noticed that there was no chatter from the others in the vehicle and the pull on my headrest told me that a certain chief secretary was intent on where we were going. The General, sitting next to me, was saying no words, but I felt his intensity and saw a drop of sweat on his cheek. Well, we did make it in time for the event! The trooper came back to the van. As I was prying my hands from the

steering wheel, he said, “Not bad driving, Major.” The General’s parting remark as he looked at me was, “WOW!” Needless to say, God’s grace is sufficient even in the times of dark humor!

Miller is retired and living in Clearwater, Fla.; he was community relations and development director for the Eastern Territory at the time of the attacks.

Below: General John Gowans visits the Pit, hosted by Colonel William Francis.

by Major Sharon Polarek

will never forget one man. He would crawl into crevices or small holes at Ground Zero to look for bodies.

One day, he came up to our canteen very exhausted and sat down, and I encouraged one of our volunteers to go and bring him some water. And then the next thing we did was to bring him a chair so that he could become a little bit more comfortable instead of sitting up against a cement slab.

Then he started talking, and we offered to make him a bed. With what we had, we made him a bed on the back of a 38

by Major Gary Miller

Warren L. Maye

‘Stay with me, Major’

truck. He was about to lie down to take a few moments of rest when an ambulance came up the road, and they thought they had found someone alive.

He looked at me, with tears in his eyes, and said, “I’ve got to get back. I’ve got to get back to the pile. I have a job to do, and they’re depending on me.”

Polarek volunteered on canteens for several weeks and continued to work at Ground Zero in various capacities until May 2002.

www.prioritypeople.org

Conversations with Police

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ost of my conversations were with police officers.

I heard them say, “Being a police officer is more than a job. When you punch out, this job isn’t over.”

“I don’t feel bad for myself. I’m OK. I feel bad for those who are lost.”

“Why do people have to take so many pictures here?”

“I have two kids, a 1–year–old daughter and a 4–year–old son. Before I leave home, my son says, ‘You gonna get the bad guys, Daddy? Gonna give ’em timeout?’ ” “Every morning when I leave the Long Island Expressway to get onto the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, there is

by Captain Scott Harvey

a toll booth. I have to turn and look at the skyline. It’s so different that it’s an eerie reminder of what happened.”

“I’ve sworn to protect this city, and if it goes down, then I go down with it.”

“I was absolutely terrified for two weeks after it happened, but I knew I had to stay strong for the city.”

One officer had an urgent look on his face. He looked at me, and I looked at him. I thought, “Well, either he wants to be alone, or he needs someone to talk to.” I sat down across from him. He started talking and talking: “Do you realize that people jumped from the top of those towers because the heat was too strong?” My throat started

to get a little tighter when he reminded me of that.

He went on to say, “I lost a good friend. He lived down the street and we were friends since grammar school.”

When our conversation ended, I felt I had failed to bring it to some sort of positive end. I almost wanted to run after him, and try to say something more comforting. I decided to let it go, since there weren’t any pat answers to give.

Harvey, corps officer in Ridgway, Pa., spent a ‘life–changing’ 12 days serving at Ground Zero in October 2001. For his full report, go to www.prioritypeople.org.

Jack Dearin

The Bronx Tremont Corps serves near Ground Zero.

www.prioritypeople.org

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Ground Zero - New York, NY

Two Sets of Eyes

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o me, a volunteer in the recovery effort in New York City for The Salvation Army, it all comes down to two sets of eyes.

I had just finished a delivery to a Salvation Army’s rest area at Ground Zero when I saw the first set of eyes.

The man’s huge forklift was sliding under a late model Honda covered with the dust that had blanketed the area for blocks when the towers fell. On its window someone had written some let-

by Steve Garrington ters and numbers with a grease pencil. I did not understand the code, but I knew it meant that the owner would not be coming back for that car.

The forklift operator’s eyes, slightly closed, stared at the Honda. He did not want this job. He did not want to be anywhere near this place of destruction; his eyes told you that. They were not hard–set and stoic but pleading. They showed how much he wanted to scream, to cry, to lash out. They were tired and didn’t know where to turn.

Then there was the other set of eyes.

The Salvation Army officer was at Pier 94, a place set up to help families, sitting in a folding chair behind a cheap eight–foot table like you see at a church supper. Across from her was a small Hispanic woman with her two young children. They had come to The Salvation Army because they had no place else to go.

At Pier 94

by Lorraine Rischawy was waiting in line to be checked through security one morning.

In front of me on the line were eight or ten men from Mexico in orange jumpsuits. They were checking in to be deployed to Ground Zero (and get new work boots; the soles of theirs had melted from the previous day’s work). One turned around and smiled at me when he noticed my badge said The Salva-

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I was about to turn away when I noticed the officer’s eyes.

They glanced at the piles of paperwork and lingered on what she was writing but always returned to the family in need. They looked deep into the eyes of that poor mother. They called to her eyes and seemed to say, “There is still hope.” They were tired, but they had the steel and determination of a soldier, yet the compassion of an angel. As she arranged to help that poor woman with her rent, those eyes almost smiled.

Two sets of eyes. The pain and the peace. The hurt and the hope. This Sept. 11, maybe I’ll go to a church meeting and pray for both of those nameless people. Perhaps I’ll pray for myself and wonder what people see when they look into my eyes.

Garrington works in planned giving for The Salvation Army in central Illinois and eastern Iowa.

tion Army. They all turned around and told me that they HAD to come and help. In Mexico City, they had just suffered horrific floods, and The Salvation Army had been there and had helped many of them. We formed a big circle, prayed together and hugged each other and cried for quite some time. Nothing much needed to be said. We had been helping each other.

Rischawy now works in planned giving for the New Jersey Division. www.prioritypeople.org

in partnership with the Mental Health Association's "9 -11 Healing & Remembrance" program welcomes families of victims, survivors, first responders and 9-11 volunteers to a live simulcast of the

NATIONAL MEMORIAL SERVICE Sunday, September 11, 2011, open from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm

at the Centennial Memorial Temple -120 West 14th Street in New York City

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1-866-212-0444

Ground Zero - New York, NY

‘Night Duty’

by Lt. Colonel Daniel Sjogren

I

Sjogren is divisional commander of the Northern Division in the Army’s Central Territory.

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© Getty Images

was assigned by The Salvation Army to coordinate the 17–acre Ground Zero site, and I chose to take the night duty, as I was not interested in dealing with the politicians and the movie actors who frequented [during] the day, and I wanted to be part of the serving of the firefighters, police officers, and volunteers under the big tent.

We saw a lot during the night; it was just as busy as the day. One chilly evening as we were attempting to stay warm, we heard a great deal of commotion outside the tent, and I went out to see what it was all about.

There was a cargo van that had been detained by the military police right outside the tent as they were endeavoring to get into the Ground Zero site, where the ground was anywhere from 1,000–1,500 degrees and would burn the soles off boots.

The intentions [of the bombers] were that they would leave the cargo van, filled with gunpowder, to create still another explosion. However, they were stopped by the military police, and the cargo van was confiscated before they could do any additional damage.

www.prioritypeople.org

Jeff Karg

A ‘Brother’ from Oklahoma City

by Robert Mitchell

W

hen Alton Gardner would sit down to eat with firefighters and police working in the Pit, the conversation would suddenly stop.

Gardner wasn’t a “brother.” However, he had brought someone with him who was: John Soos, a Salvation Army volunteer and the deputy fire chief from Oklahoma City.

The New York City police and fire personnel wanted to talk to Soos about his experience after the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City. They had heard that several emergency personnel who served there had committed suicide. Soos had told them that wasn’t true but that many had needed counseling.

Soos suggested that Gardner arrange to have fire and police personnel who responded to the Oklahoma City bombing come to New York. Through his Salvation Army connections, Gardner arranged for 25–30 police and firefighters from Oklahoma City to visit New York City. www.prioritypeople.org

“When they came back, they told me they got more out of that than the people that had received them,” Gardner said. “They said it was the greatest experience of their lives, to get to go up there and talk to their brother firemen.”

Gardner, who was previously in Priority! for his work in Iraq for The Salvation Army, said he saw people mature as leaders while he was in New York, but he saw something much more important.

“I saw the people who were there at the Pit lined up to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior,” he said.

“Everything we did there was inspirational. When you’re walking on ground where you know 2,714 souls were lost … you know you are walking on hallowed ground.”

Mitchell interviewed Gardner. Now retired, Gardner was the Salvation Army’s disaster director for the Arkansas and Oklahoma Division in the Southern Territory. He also served at the Pentagon site.

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Oscar DoSantos

Ground Zero - New York, NY

Marriage Counseling

by Major Leslie A. Walter

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Two days later he arrived at the feeding site looking for me. He had a huge smile on his face, and he proceeded to tell me what a great day he and his wife had together. “Major, you may have saved my marriage!� My response was that he was the one who would save his marriage, and that Jesus cared about his family. Terrorists had destroyed enough families. There was no reason that they should continue to ruin lives by destroying him and his wife.

Walter is corps officer in Erie, Pa.

Ken Speranza

I

n my assignment as a chaplain at Ground Zero, I built a relationship with a police officer who said he had not spent any significant time at home in over four months. He was so caught up into the recovery that his marriage was suffering.

I asked him if, in the week he had come to know me, he had come to feel he could trust me. His response was yes.

So I asked him if he would do a favor for me. He again said yes. So I asked him to take the next day, after his kids were off to school, and take his wife out on a date. Give her the day.

www.prioritypeople.org

Ground Zero Hug by Major George Polarek

I

f you wanted to thank someone, give them a handshake of thanks, more than not, they wouldn’t accept a handshake. It became a Ground Zero hug. I mean, some of the guys who just looked like they were meant for the mountains, they were the guys who were just pulling you in and sort of picking you up off your feet and saying, “Without you, we couldn’t do this.” Those kinds of comments, those kinds of hugs, were an enormous benefit, I think, emotionally, not only to the people who served there in uniform, but to the volunteers and the Salvation Army people who volunteered on a daily basis as well.

Polarek was incident commander at Ground Zero. www.prioritypeople.org

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Ground Zero - New York, NY

Grief during Holy Week

by Tom Sullivan

B

y Friday or Saturday of the first week of my service, I was thinking that I was handling the situation fairly well emotionally. But on Sunday, Palm Sunday, I began to feel weepy, especially as we had Palm Sunday mass performed by a Roman Catholic priest outdoors under the girder cross at the north end of the pit. That following Thursday, Maundy Thursday, I walked to the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church for its service, where I contemplated the different experiences of Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday. Even now, when I think of the magnitude of the human loss, I feel grief.

The day before I was scheduled to leave, the Salvation Army Command Center called those of us who were leaving to attend a debriefing meeting. I thought that they wanted to know how everything went as related to the work and if we had any suggestions. That was NOT what they wanted to discuss. They wanted to know how we were doing emotionally and to give us help and suggestions on dealing with our emotions and grief when we returned home.

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© AP

Sullivan is an advisory board member for The Salvation Army in Evanston, Ill., who volunteered at Ground Zero for two weeks, from March 18–30, 2002. For Tom’s complete account, go to www.prioritypeople.org. www.prioritypeople.org

Š AP

One Firefighter

I

by Major Earline May

remember in the dining area seeing a firefighter so distraught that he sat with his head in his hands trying to come to grips with the loss of fellow firefighters as well as other friends and family members. I sat next to him, not really knowing what to say but in my own way just praying that God would help him to deal with the tragedy and find strength for each new day. I observed him each day as he worked tirelessly at the pit to help recover bodies. Every time a body was recovered, we prayed right there at the pit, which indeed became holy ground. I know that life for those rescue workers, firefighters, and family and friends who lost loved ones through such tragedy will never be the same, but I do know that our Heavenly Father is more than able to give to each one what they need for such a time as this.

May serves as a corps officer in Steubenville, Ohio.

www.prioritypeople.org

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Bob Mitchel

Ground Zero - New York, NY

Herb Rader

FINANCIAL SERVICES

The New Jersey Division operated a full– service site at Liberty State Park.

How the army served

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The Army also served at Staten Island’s Fresh Kills landfill.

Source: Taken from report by Al Peck in January 2002 and from Diana Lopez, social services director in Greater New York 49

USA East Media Ministries

Ground Zero - New York, NY

Hope Piercing The dark

by Karen Hulteen

F

aith has always been central to my life, along with the belief that living faith is inseparable from service.

The longing to do something concrete and personal made it easy for my husband, John, and me to respond to the appeal for volunteer counselors to serve at part of the Salvation Army’s Emergency Disaster Relief Team at Ground Zero.

We were privileged to serve at the edge of the Pit. In March 2002, on the six–month anniversary of the terrorist attacks, two beautiful, powerful beams of blue light stretched as a memorial toward the heavens, illuminating, piercing the darkness—just as the Salvation Army’s support of the recovery and rebuilding was answering the horror of deliberate destruction and murder.

We worked in a large, well–lighted tent and later in a small, wooden hydration station.… Once, John lingered in the Pit until 4 a.m. while the body parts of two firefighters and one police officer were removed; he prayed with the widow and child of one of the victims as an honor guard provided a respectful salute

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and escort up the ramp. I mingled with hundreds of workers, some of whom had been at the site from the beginning, fatigued by 12–hour days, six to seven days a week and visibly affected by the strain of unearthing evidence of unfathomable loss. My mind swims with the visions of faces of families and fellow volunteers, all with stories, which I recorded in a journal.

Probably the most moving story for me was that of a police officer who, as one of the first responders to 9/11, ran to his car to get his helmet and inhaler— he was asthmatic, and the smoke and dust were causing a reaction. In the 10 minutes he left the scene, one of the towers toppled. His partner was killed.

Besides the grief and guilt, this man had also emerged with a belief that his life had been spared for a purpose, and that God’s protection and plan were to be revealed. I promised to pray for him.

The beams representing the Twin Towers were located just beside the Army’s ‘Taj Mahal’ tent. The Salvation Army had the responsibility of turning the beams on and off each night for 32 days, starting on March 11, 2002.

Hulteen is from Ramsey, Minn. Her husband died of lung cancer years after 9/11, possibly from exposure to carcinogens at Ground Zero. www.prioritypeople.org

Š AP

www.prioritypeople.org

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No Exit

by Diana Lopez

I

n the disaster response world, The Salvation Army is well known for never having an exit plan. That means the Army is present before, during and after an emergency with no intent to leave.

This was especially true after 9/11. The Salvation Army continued providing essential services to devastated businesses, heartbroken families, and a wounded city for over five years, through 2006.

In addition to a continuous presence at Ground Zero, The Salvation Army provided financial and emotional support at the Disaster Assistance Service Center

(DASC), where people could receive services from various nonprofit, city, state and federal agencies/organizations rather than having to go to each agency’s offices.

The Salvation Army provided emotional and spiritual care at the Family Assistance Center, where people who had lost a loved one at the World Trade Center could go for death–related services.

The Salvation Army also created the World Trade Center Recovery Program, which provided long–term intensive case management to people who had lost family members, their homes, and/or their

Mother’s Day 2002

O

n Mother’s Day 2002, we were asked to conduct one of the final meetings for the volunteers at the site. Wanting to see what remained of the towers, we moved from the Army– run building to the fence surrounding the area that was once the Twin Towers.

It was a gray day with a constant drizzle, but many came that morning, including a group of West Point cadets. As we approached, I found myself next to a young cadet with a stonelike stance looking into the spot of devastation.

My first thought was to strike up a

www.prioritypeople.org

jobs. For five years, service coordinators helped people access myriad services and financial assistance, from death benefits to eviction prevention to job training, and more. Support groups were offered as well. The Salvation Army was the last organization to provide 9/11 specific case management in New York City. Those still in need of support at the close of the program were referred to 40 local corps, where officers and soldiers continued to provide support years after 9/11.

Lopez is social services director in the Greater New York Division.

by Major Gary Miller

conversation, but his intensity caused me to withhold any small talk. We stood for a few minutes, and I noticed a glistening in his eye. Impulsively I asked, “Did you lose someone here?” to which he replied, “Yes, sir.” Then, after what seemed like an eternity, “My mother, sir.

I lost my mother on that day.”

Looking for words of consolation, I suddenly knew I didn’t have any. Having lost my mother just a few years before, I knew somewhat his hurt, We just stood there in the rain, he in his uniform and I in mine. Our hearts were heavy and no

words needed to be said; a small tear on his cheek said it all. “Thank you, sir, for your concern” were the only words he could say. I bowed my head for a prayer of comfort for us both, looked up, and he was gone.

Some things you simply have to leave in God’s hands. He knows the heart— sometimes simple presence is as good as words.

Miller is retired; he served as territorial community relations and development secretary in the days following 9/11.

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Ground Zero - New York, NY

by Major Tricia Taube

© NY Daily News via Getty Images

Pain at the Edge of the Pit

I

was at Ground Zero for the wrap–up in late May/early June 2002. In those days I arrived mid–afternoon and

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stayed till around midnight. I met many people in various stages of grief—anger, sadness, fear—and even one woman

who had avoided the area and refused to “come and see” until one of those late May nights. She just stood looking out

www.prioritypeople.org

© NY Daily News via Getty Images

over that vast pit and wept, speaking of her loss and sorrow. However, the person I remember the most was a young firefighter who shared that he had lost his best friend, a fellow firefighter, when the towers collapsed. His pain was so evident that I felt led to encourage him to find others who could not only relate to the loss and the pain he felt but who could point him toward the healing that only faith and trust in Jesus could bring. I had, that very morning, visited Brooklyn Tabernacle and heard an announcement about a police and firefighters’ support group Bible study. I suggested this as an option for this young man. His response was surprise; he told me that his friend had been a believer and had always encouraged him towards an acceptance of Jesus as Savior, and in fact, had invited him many times to his church—Brooklyn Tabernacle. As he prepared to leave, I promised to pray for him, and I often have, hoping that he followed through with his own parting suggestion: “Maybe this is God reminding me that I need to listen to my friend and go and see what He has for me at church.”

Taube is youth and candidates secretary for the Army’s Wisconsin and Upper Michigan Division.

www.prioritypeople.org

‘There Is God’

by Major George Polarek

T

he Salvation Army provided American flags for all of those individuals who were recovered and brought out, and Father Andrew and I would do ‘last rites’ by just laying a hand on the remains and saying a prayer.

But in those first few days, we didn’t see God—just death. It was dark; it was dingy; there was no life, no laughter, nothing. Father Andrew stood next to me after two burials we accomplished, and he said, “Look, George, look over there.” There was a priest who was praying with a fireman, and Father Andrew said, “There is God. God is there.”

And over to my right, he pointed to someone else who had a Salvation Army red jacket, with “chaplain” across the shoulders.

He said, “Look, he’s praying with another fireman. God is all around us.

You just have to sensitize your eyes to see it in the midst of all the turmoil and destruction.”

Shekinah glory I remember Dr. Nina, a clinical psychologist. We stood up near that cross they had found and moved to the west side of the Pit, and as we gathered there,

we were saying goodbye to some of the volunteers. She brought me over to the edge and said, “Take a look.” There were a few hundred men working down there—iron workers, police officers, the firemen—still working down at the lower end of the Pit. And she said, “You know, if you look with sensitive eyes, you will see God’s shekinah glory surrounding all these people.”

So I realized again that God was really in all of this, protecting people. Not one volunteer died; not one volunteer was really hurt after that initial 9/11 attack.

Polarek (pictured above) talked about these incidents in a taped interview in 2004.

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Ground Zero - New York, NY

Salvation Army officers march into the Pit alongside other first responders at the closing ceremony on May 30, 2002.

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www.prioritypeople.org

Saluting the Servants

T

the last hot meal together.

During the procession out of the Pit, as the ranks of police, firefighters and construction workers passed the Taj, they showed their gratitude by saluting and putting their fist to their hearts as they passed the Salvation Army officers and volunteers. Everyone was both surprised and grateful that they recognized The Salvation Army in such a special way; there were lots of tears at that moment.

Thomas lives in Ocean Springs, Miss.

Courtesy Debi Thomas

he affectionately called “Taj Mahal” was a haven for everyone involved.

It was a refuge The Salvation Army had set up for people to come and be safe, eat, talk, share, cry, be angry, or just sit quietly. The Salvation Army provided counselors and volunteers 24 hours a day from December 2001 until May 30, 2002, when the last meal was served.

It was then that we realized how wonderful our bond was with the rescue workers because they took the volunteers’ aprons and became our servers for

by Debi Thomas

One Year Later

© Getty Images

P www.prioritypeople.org

by Craig H. Evans

erhaps my greatest honor was being part of the Honor Guard on the first anniversary of 9/11. I wore the same uniform shoes that I had worn day after day in lower Manhattan. As I marched down into the Pit, my shoes collected dust from the cavernous hole in the ground. That day, as soon as I

returned home, I sealed those shoes in a plastic bag to remember what had taken place and how my life was changed by unimaginable circumstances. The dust clings to them, as do the memories of those days to my mind.

Evans is development director in the Northern New England Division.

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Ground Zero - New York, NY

by Major Sharon Polarek

Jack Dearin

A Cup of Cold Water

O

n the opening day, the first day of that event (9/11), we were there to serve a bottle of water, cold water. On the closing day, all we simply did was serve cold water. And the Scripture verse that talks about giving “a cup of cold water in My name� became reality to me. (Matthew 10:42; Mark 9:41) Polarek is social services secretary for the Empire State Division.

New Jersey Division Half-page AD

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www.prioritypeople.org

The Pentagon Arlington, VA

Š Getty Images

The Pentagon - Arlington, VA

Locked Down at the Pentagon Major Gene Hogg (center) and Captain Ken Vick (since promoted to Glory) talk with a volunteer.

by Major Todd Smith than 7,000 military troops and rescue personnel who had been deployed could not leave and were on duty 24/7 until the scene was released by the FBI. That’s why so little information was shared about what The Salvation Army was doing to help with the response.

Photos this section by Lt. Colonel Danny R. Morrow

camp unity

A

staff member rushed into my office and said a plane had just crashed into one of the Twin Towers in New York City. I turned on the TV in my office and watched live as the second plane crashed into the other tower. It wasn’t long after that when the windows on my fifth floor office on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., began to rattle. I looked out and saw a large mushroom cloud lifting over what I thought was the Pentagon. I turned to my staff as we continued to watch the horror playing out in New York City and said, “We are under attack.”

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‘we simply go’ “Go to the Pentagon or wherever the smoke is if it’s not the Pentagon,” I said.

I was asked later whom I had called to get permission to go onto the Pentagon property. My response was, “We are The Salvation Army. We don’t ask if we can help those in need. We simply go.”

Before the site was locked down and fenced in, we moved two canteen units into place along the west side of the Pentagon only 100 yards from the crash site. Because this was an attack on a government building, it immediately became an FBI crime scene. The more

We were asked by the Pentagon to set up the recovery area in the south parking lot, later known as Camp Unity. On Wednesday night while we were setting up, I returned from the command center to find a large number of cars in the way. I thought they were the vehicles of some of the rescue personnel, but then we discovered that these were the cars of the victims. We hired several wrecker companies to come in and work through the night to move more than 50 vehicles to the north parking lot, which became the area for all crime scene evidence.

The Salvation Army became the agency responsible to issue photo IDs to all support groups assisting with the response. We had teams from Christ in Action, Tyson’s Chicken, McDonald’s, Burger King, and Outback Steakhouse who volunteered staff, equipment, and supplies to help with feeding 7,000 people three times a day. We also set up spiritual counseling teams to meet with both the families of the victims as well as the soldiers, who were working on their knees and picking through the rubble with their hands.

We set up support for the troops and www.prioritypeople.org

Major Charles Powell talks with search–and– rescue personnel.

rescue personnel. For 19 days we provided meals and supplies (gloves, knee pads, shovels, socks, underclothes, etc.).

On Saturday, Sept. 29, the Pentagon closed down the recovery efforts. The following Monday, Oct. 1, we began case management for the thousands of individuals who had become victims.

Besides the primary victims, there were secondary victims who had been given pink slips because of the uncertain future in Washington. All told, more than 18,000 airport workers, hotel workers, and cab drivers lost their jobs because D.C. had become a ghost town. Between Oct. 1, 2001, and June 15, 2002, the Army helped to keep these families from becoming homeless. We spent $10.3 million on mortgage payments, rent, car insurance, home insurance, medical bills, utilities, groceries, etc.

One Middle Eastern man who had lost his job as a cab driver kept promising that he would pay back every penny of the money we gave him to help with his mortgage. It was not until a corps officer, his hand on the man’s shoulder, said to him, “Thousands of Americans have come to your rescue and want to help you” that the man, in broken English and with tears in his eyes said, “I get it now. America really does care for all people.”

Where was the Army on Sept. 11, 2001? Right where we needed to be.

Smith was the Salvation Army’s incident commander at the Pentagon.

www.prioritypeople.org

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The Pentagon - Arlington, VA

‘The Day the Flags R an Out’

by Lt. Colonels Danny R. and Esther R. Morrow

B

y early afternoon on Sept. 11, our headquarters in Washington, D.C., had notified us that both Esther and I were to report to the Pentagon site for emergency disaster duty. Esther was assigned to serve as emotional and spiritual care officer and I as press liaison.

Late that night we headed north to Arlington. Along the way we stopped for gas and a cup of coffee. I stepped up to pay and heard the attendant say, “Capt, the coffee’s on the house.” I attempted to thank him but he interrupted me: “And take this as a gift from me.” He handed me a $20 bill. He said, “You headed to the Pentagon? You going to help people? You’re going to need money; I want to do my part.”

encountering grief

A band ensemble from the Arlington, Va., Corps leads worship at the site.

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We arrived about 3 a.m. and drove to the Pentagon, which had not yet been fully secured, so access, while difficult, was not yet impossible. As we walked around trying to get our bearings, we saw a woman sitting on a bench and approached her; she was shaking, sobbing, and shivering in the cool September night. We sat with her and heard her sob over and over, “My baby’s in there, my baby’s in there,” as she gestured toward the gaping, fiery hole in the side of one of the world’s most famous and well– built buildings. Only a few words passed between us, but we felt God affirming our efforts at ministry, and each of us discovered the reality of one of the basics of Salvation Army Disaster Services: www.prioritypeople.org

Women’s Ministries Holy Spirit, Let It Rain Down On Me

go to

www.womensministries-tsa.org come Be a part!

The Women’s Ministries Department of the USA Eastern Territory honors the memory of those who perished on 9–11. We give tribute to those who survived and those who responded in the time of need. May God Bless you all!

www.womensministries-tsa.org

“Proclaim freedom all over the land to everyone who lives in it…”

Leviticus 25:10

USA Eastern Territory Commissioners R. Steven and Judith A. Hedgren Territorial Leaders

The Pentagon - Arlington, VA

“the ministry of presence.”

Later that morning, without sleep, we reported to the Incident Command Center at the Arlington Corps.

Esther went to a nearby hotel, where the Defense Department had set up a resource center for families of Pentagon workers to gather for information briefings, assistance with personal matters, insurance, counseling, and chaplain services. The Army’s role there was to greet each person and then be available to express that “ministry of presence.”

Opportunities abounded as acquaintances grew into relationships which grew into friendships. The conversations were free–ranging—cheerful, charming, fretful, challenging—and often finished with prayer.

Twice a day a general from the Pentagon met with the families to share what was happening, including how many remains had been discovered. Esther and the other Salvation Army officers on duty were included in these briefings, and it became a time of intense, personalized, and precious ministry.

to meet any of the rescue workers. The next day an entire team, including the search–and–rescue dogs, came to the center, and the families thanked them firsthand. It appeared to be the beginning of healing for many affected so directly by the attack.

Wonder Woman incognito One evening Esther came home to the hotel where we were billeted with an unusually big smile on her face. “Wonder Woman came by today,” she said.

She was talking about TV’s Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter, who lives in the greater Washington area. Her visit was incognito, and when Esther told her that the Army could arrange for her to be interviewed, her response was something like, “If you tell anyone I was here, I won’t come back. I just want to support these dear people in their hour

of pain.” We didn’t tell, and she came back several times.

Active duty and retired military chaplains were very much in evidence at the Family Resources Center. Several noted that it was the gentleness of Salvation Army personnel that brought peace, comfort, and assurance to the families.

Serving the media The press people—representatives from every news domestic and international outlet imaginable—were not allowed at the Pentagon itself. Instead a press center was set up nearby that afforded a clear line of sight. Even though every time zone in the world was represented and deadlines for submitting or transmitting stories varied greatly, at times things were relatively quiet. It was during those times that meals and snacks

As U.S. flags disappeared from Washington–area stores, they quickly reappeared at spontaneous memorials.

Pet therapy The time between briefings was as relaxed as possible given the circumstances. An area group brought specially trained dogs as part of a program commonly called pet therapy. These gentle animals provided hours of comfort as traumatized people stroked the dogs.

During one of the briefings, a family member asked if it would be possible 66

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S P E C I A L 10 t h A N N I V E R SA RY I S S U E ®

Fall 2011

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Life Stories of God’s People

9/11

We Remember

This 9/11 special issue may be your first glimpse of Priority! Our mission is “to promote holiness, prayer, and evangelism through the life stories of God’s people.” In each issue, we feature people from all over the U.S. connected to The Salvation Army.

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The Pentagon - Arlington, VA

were served from the Harrisburg, Pa., Corps canteen, assigned exclusively to the press area, under the leadership of Major Ron Dake and his volunteers.

Conversations developed easily as coffee was poured, sandwiches and candies handed out.

As the weekend came nearer we became concerned about how the men and women of the press would worship on Sunday; they would not be able to leave the site and return. We contacted the Arlington corps officer and requested a band ensemble so we could make it possible for the press folks to worship.

About 1 p.m. the musicians assembled and began to play familiar hymns.

Writers, photographers, videographers, editors, and anchors made a beeline for them. Many sang along with the band; some wept openly. We read Scriptures expressing hope and love and shared a simple Gospel message during the 30– minute service that was carried live over CNN and several other networks.

Worshiping in a tent at Camp Unity

dignitaries arrive One of the duties assigned to The Salvation Army by the FBI, which had responsibility for checking credentials, was to handle initial clearance of all new non–military personnel who had a need or desire for access. One day my cell phone rang, and a woman who identified herself a “wife of a Congressman” said that she had been told her group needed Salvation Army approval to be at the Pentagon. I suggested that there must be some mistake, but she insisted.

In a few minutes we were hosting a small 68

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contingent of women married to U.S. Congressmen. Like thousands, perhaps millions, they just wanted to do something “hands–on” to be useful. They asked if they could volunteer at the Salvation Army warehouse and would their work really make a difference? My answer was a resounding yes.

Before they left, the spokesperson asked how many days I’d been on duty.

When I told her 11, she asked, quite sincerely, if I needed her to do some laundry for me. That question had a profound effect on me emotionally and spiritually. I learned that day that this crisis was bringing Americans together in ways more meaningful than anything ever before experienced.

The first few days of our ministry, U.S. flags were plentiful and very visible.

About the fourth day, every flag outlet in the capital area ran out. I was begged, bribed, and badgered for the flag that was duct–taped to my golf cart. Fortunately no one was bold enough to steal it, and I have it still as a memento of nearly three incredible weeks of service and ministry. Our deployment to the Pentagon following 9/11 was amazing in that it was exhausting and exhilarating; it was a rush of adrenalin followed by moments of emotional cellar dwelling; it was as if one’s whole life was a preparation for this very moment. For Danny and Esther Morrow, it was a privilege beyond understanding.

The Morrows are retired but serving as corps officers in Petersburg, Va.

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Flight 93 Shanksville, PA

Š AFP / Getty Images

Flight 93 - Shanksville, PA

No Ordinary Tuesday

T

he day started much like any other Tuesday. Prayers, shower, get dressed, and off to the office in downtown Pittsburgh. While attending the morning staff meeting, the telephone rings: it’s for me. “I don’t believe it!” I say out loud. “What happened?” a friend asks.

“A commercial jet has hit the World Trade Center in New York City!”

Soon we learned that another plane had gone down much closer to home.

As I traveled by car across the rolling hills of Southwestern Somerset County, Pa., my mind raced ahead to the crash scene of USAir Flight 93 in Shanksville.

I asked myself, “How many died? How many were injured? How many men,

Moving Moment

by Major Glenn Bloomfield ut of the corner of my eye I noticed a search and recovery employee. The man was in white coveralls with big bold print on the back: FBI. He wore yellow boots, a helmet, and a white mask covering his mouth and nose.

I was immediately drawn to him.

As we moved closer, I could not help but notice the tears welling up in his eyes. As we inched closer to each other, I could not begin to imagine what he was experiencing. I thought to myself, ‘You are the encourager; encourage.’ We embraced for only a few short moments, but it seemed much longer.

O

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by Major Glenn Bloomfield

women, and children were on this plane?”

I knew I was rapidly approaching the “incident scene” as I began to see more and more fire engines, ambulances, local and state police cars, and other emergency units. I approached a state police checkpoint, and the traffic came to an abrupt stop.

As I rolled down my car window, the heat of the day came rushing in. My, was it warm outside. The state trooper asked for personal identification. As he looked at my license and noticed my Salvation Army uniform, he said with a rather strong tone, “Glenn, how can I help you?” I replied, “I’m a major in The Salvation Army, and I was instructed to go as quickly as possible to the crash site of USAir Flight 93.” The officer replied, “Good, we need you people here today.

Proceed to the next checkpoint.”

Once I parked my car, I got out and met with the staff from The Salvation Army to discuss strategy. I said to our director of emergency disaster services,

Robert Myers, “I want to go to the crash scene.” Bob said to me, “Major, we can go, but there is not much to see.”

But I decided to go. As I started the walk up the dusty road, I could see the smoke rising over the hill in front of me; the stench of jet fuel was thick in the air.

When I arrived at the top of the hill, I noticed that the green loblolly pine trees were covered in spent jet fuel.

Then my eyes turned down the sloping hill and I saw the remains of Flight #93 in a crater more than 100 feet wide and 70 feet deep. It was absolutely surreal; it was as if I were watching a horror movie.

Suddenly, the reality of the moment sank into my mind and made an indelible mark. I would never be the same.

Bloomfield works in the Finance Department at Territorial Headquarters in West Nyack, N.Y. At the time of the attacks, he was serving in the Western Pennsylvania Division.

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Lt. Colonel Gladys DeMichael looks at keepsakes people left at a makeshift memorial.

I remember three things

Photos in this section courtesy Western Pennsylvania Division

by Lt. Colonel Joe DeMichael

Major Claranne Meitrott comforts a Red Cross worker.

1. The worship services we conducted, at the request of law enforcement and media, on two consecutive Sundays [total time on–site was three weeks].

The sensitive spirit of those in attendance was very touching and a special blessing.

2. The moving picture of one of our women Salvation Army officer counselors praying with a volunteer from another agency who was overwhelmed with the tragedy.

3. The day the family members arrived in two large buses to visit the site where their loved ones perished. Even though it was a restricted area, we as The Salvation Army were called upon to meet the family members and remain with them as long as needed.

The Attorney General and FBI Director made a point to thank The Salvation Army for their prayers and support during this time.

DeMichael, now retired, was divisional commander in Western Pennsylvania at the time of the attacks.

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Flight 93 - Shanksville, PA

Crisis and Worship

A

fter the news came of the attacks in New York and that another plane was heading toward western Pennsylvania, officials took emergency action.

Businesses in Pittsburgh and the surrounding communities were closing and students were being sent home from school. In the downtown area, people were told to leave any high–rise buildings, which raised the question: What were we to do with the residents of the Salvation Army’s Family Shelter? We quickly made arrangements for those who had no place to stay, including Family Crisis Center children either coming from school or being picked up by family members; they were well taken care of in that moment.

On Wednesday, Major Glenn Bloomfield and I drove to Shanksville to meet Major Bob Carney, who set up the Army canteen to serve federal and local law officials working in the area of the plane crash. The major served with his best, as he would always do in moments like this.

He even slept in the canteen on that first night so he could have breakfast and coffee ready to go. A true servant!

by Lt. Colonel Bill Bamford

An unexpected phone call came to Divisional Headquarters on Friday, Sept.

14, at about 3:00 p.m. We were being asked to lead a worship service on Sunday morning at the crash site. Wow— what an honor! We prayerfully put together our service outline, gathered musicians, and prayed that God would use us on that Sunday morning.

It was a moving experience, as everyone at the site stopped their work and came to the service. There was not a dry eye in the congregation, even those of the burly federal agents and Pennsylvania state troopers, who are taught to stay composed in difficult situations.

It was a privilege to share in worship on that Sunday morning. It made me realize that 9/11 had awakened in many people a new spiritual awareness.

Bamford, chief secretary in the South America West Territory, was general secretary in the Western Pennsylvania Division at the time of the attacks.

Below: Major Bob Carney talks with Lt. Colonels Gladys and Joe DeMichael, divisional leaders.

The Salvation Army conducts a service for media and workers.

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Delayed Reaction

by Steve Twedt

G

inny Knor still remembers watching through her office window late in the morning of Sept. 11 as downtown Pittsburgh emptied into the suburbs and knowing she was facing the biggest challenge of her professional life.

The next weeks were a blur of telethons, a trip to Shanksville, coordinating donations, answering media calls.

She slept a few hours a night, worked on weekends, and lived on a diet that varied only by which toppings were on the pizza.

She was so busy that she didn’t have time to process her own grief. But when it hit her, it hit her hard. One night in November 2001, after another long day, she got home “and just cried and cried and cried.”

She credits the Salvation Army’s ministry for helping raise everyone’s spirits, including hers. This was always more than a job for her, but after 9/11, she came to consider it closer to a calling. “This really drove home the message that I’m in the place I want to be.”

—Excerpted and adapted from an article written on the first anniversary of 9/11 by Steve Twedt in the Pittsburgh Post– Gazette about Knor, director of marketing and public relations for the Western Pennsylvania Division. www.prioritypeople.org

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For details on the schedule of events and directions to the site, go to www.nps.gov/ flni/planyourvisit/september-11-2011-weekend.htm. To donate to the Memorial Fund, go to www.honorflight93.org

76

Photo by Richard Snodgrass

T

he passengers and crew of Flight 93 will be permanently honored at the Flight 93 National Memorial, set at the site where their final struggle ended in a rural field near Shanksville, Pa. The Flight 93 National Memorial was created by an act passed by Congress and signed by President George W. Bush on September 24, 2002. A design was chosen in 2005 through an open, international design competition and, since then, three–quarters of the $60 million in public and private funds needed to build the memorial have been secured. Ground was broken on the first phase of the memorial in November 2009 and dedication of the memorial is planned to coincide with the 10th anniversary.

bioLINIA and Paul Murdoch Architects

Dedication and Commemoration: Flight 93 National Memorial

bioLINIA and Paul Murdoch Architects

Flight 93 - Shanksville, PA

An artist’s rendition of the Wall of Names and the ceremonial gateway to the crash site.

A worker washes the memorial wall.

The Tower of Voices, shown in winter, reaches 93 feet into the sky and houses 40 aluminum wind chimes.

The sound of the chimes will be an audible reminder of the selfless acts of courage of the passengers and crew members of Flight 93.

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