We will always remember where we were on the morning of September 11, 2001. Some of us were starting our workday, in the middle of a commute or in the classroom. It was a day that started like any other but ended as the most infamous in modern, American history. Since that time, nearly two decades have passed and those defined as millennials are closing the gap as the youngest who were alive on that day. I’ve heard people talk about the world as “pre or post 9/11” and we are now entering an era where a new generation will only have lived in a post-9/11 world, never to know the relaxed regulations or lifestyles that preceded catastrophe.
I was one of the youngest alive on 9/11 and my understanding of the tragedy and the impact that it left had only increased as the years went on. As a mere kindergarten student, my memories were scattered. I remember Ms. Macrepole stepping in and out of the classroom with her TV on low in the corner. I remember the parents coming to pick up their children early but not understanding why. I remember stumbling in the door to see my father scrambling with his bags, his SWAT uniform on, while my mother cried. I remember my dad hugging us before he left, while my mom tried to explain that some very bad men had tried to hurt our country. Now, 19 years later, I am sitting down with my father, retired Sergeant Michael Paul Biron of the Manchester NH Police Department to discuss the day his SWAT unit was called to New York City.
My father had hauled a large cardboard box from the basement with hundreds upon hundreds of photographs inside. The pictures mostly featured the debris and ash from the once-proud city buildings that stood. Grief-stricken faces could be seen inside and in his eyes, I could see the memories flooding back.
AB: How were you selected to go to New York City? Were you willing to go?
MB: Yeah, of course, I was willing to go. I was selected right after 9/11 happened. Port Authority Police Department had part of their team in the basement of one of the towers. When the towers came down and everything was leveled, they lost all of their equipment, their cruisers, many of their officers and they — they basically — they needed assistance with transportation and just getting other personnel on hand. So, somewhere along the line, a message went out and I think it was pretty much in the New England area for any departments that could respond. Our department was one of them. And at the time I was working in Detectives – in Juvenile – and my partner, Scott, and I were both selected. Actually, we were approached and asked if we would be willing to go and help support any of the needs of the Port Authority Police Department, which of course, we were.
There was another member from Crime Prevention that was also selected and one supervisor. So, when I first found out about it, I guess I had mixed emotions. I was glad to have been selected. I was nervous about going, not knowing what to expect, yet there was no way that I wasn’t going to participate in this. So, when I came home and I spoke with your mother about it, she was pretty much dead against it at that time. I think out of fear; she had no idea what to expect. I mean, I think the world at this point, after viewing it live on TV, really didn’t have an understanding of what happened or what to expect. So, you know again, with mixed emotions, it was a difficult situation, a difficult decision, but I was definitely going to take part because I also felt that this was a piece of history that was happening that I could be a part of in my lifetime.
AB: How Long did you stay in New York?
MB: I think when we went down, we were there for — I want to say four days. We might have been there for four days, three of which we were working. And at that time we were working long days. It was like 16-hour days that we were putting in. We were up early and we went pretty late at night.
Local bakery in Manhattan covered in debris and ash from the fall of the towers.
AB: Can you tell me about some of the emotions you were feeling and what you were expecting to see upon arrival?
MB: As many times as I have traveled in my day, I’ve gone past New York City, but on the outskirts of it. I never actually went into New York City, so this was my first experience to do that. You know, you see other cities when you travel to places like Boston or Philly or places in New Jersey. But there is no other city with the size and landscape of New York. And when we first arrived there, we went right down into Manhattan and I was in complete awe and overwhelmed by the size. Once you’re in New York City and you get down to Manhattan, you see nothing but concrete. There are no trees. Everything is brick and concrete. And the size of the buildings and the landscape is just incredible.
So, when we got there, I remember rolling in and seeing that New York City is a constant hustle and bustle of traffic and people. It’s extremely congested. We were in our cruisers. At the time, our cruisers were almost identical to NYPD’s, with the markings and stuff. You really had to pay attention to see the difference. And we came in from one side of Manhattan — It must have been from the east side of Manhattan — and we had to make our way over to the west side through all the traffic. Everywhere we went, people were under the spotlight for sure, even more so were the fire department. I can remember sitting at a red light crossing, going across Manhattan, and the fire trucks were rolling out to a call, and it was like the parting of the sea for these guys. They were definitely untouchable. They went through that area, and when they passed, there were people actually standing on the corners cheering as the fire trucks went by. And, you know, that’s not something that you would ever see now, even to – you know, to today you don’t see that happen. You know, normally, you just pull over and let the fire truck go by, but it was obvious that these guys were getting the praise that they deserved for the work that they do effortlessly every single day. Yeah. So, it was – it was interesting.
When we got there, it was getting late. We made our way through Manhattan. And, at the time, we were actually going to stay in Jersey City, which is just across the river in New Jersey. The way Jersey City is situated — it sits up a little bit on a hill along the riverbank, and you can clearly see Manhattan from there. When we looked back as darkness was rolling in, where the towers stood, you knew it was no more. There was bright, white light from the construction and the rescue efforts that were taking place. There was still a cloud of smoke and dust that filled that area that kind of floated against the backdrop with the white light. It basically looked to me like something you would see on TV; like a bomb had just gone off or as if the dust was settling after a major tornado or something that had ripped through that area. It was shocking to see that. It was almost like this area had become sacred at that point because nothing had really settled down yet. And that was before we would get into the site. I mean, this was looking across the river from New Jersey. That’s pretty much what I saw the first day I arrived; the first night I arrived.
AB: What was the atmosphere like among other surroundings when you entered the City?
MB: Like I was saying earlier when we first arrived, it was definitely overwhelmed with police, fire, and EMS. I won’t take away from them either, but more so police and fire, because they were much more visual. There was a respect that people were paying tribute to. I think that it brought people together; hundreds of thousands of people, who don’t know each other, that on any other given day just pass each other by. When you’re in New York City, you just don’t make eye contact, you don’t look at other people and I didn’t see that at any point. That had all changed.
As people walked by, they actually made eye contact with each other, and without speaking any words, everybody was feeling the same thing. I mean, there was obviously the sadness. I think that there was this feeling of vulnerability and of being attacked when you least expected it. The way that we view ourselves, and the way that the rest of the world views us here in America as being the strong leaders of the world – to have taken a hit like we did really close to home – it just changed the outlook and perspective in a lot of people’s lives. There was a tribute being paid to those emergency service personnel who lost their lives and who were still down there working at the time. And at the same time there was a worry, a feeling of anger too, and resentment for what had happened. There’s no doubt about that.
AB: What was the first task that was dictated to new arrivals of SWAT members on site?
MB: Once we got there that night, we checked in with the Port Authority Police Department, and they actually have a New York/New Jersey branch, because they cover a lot of the major tunnels and some of the highways and thorough-ways that lead in and out. They also cover a lot of the major buildings like the World Trade Center, for example. So, they’re a huge law enforcement agency and they work between many places. All the subway stations and all that – they cover those as well. And so, when we got there, if I remember correctly, we were at their headquarters. And they had other police departments there as well. There was a couple of other departments there from Massachusetts that joined up with us, and I want to say one from New Jersey. We all had about four or five guys per department that were there to help out. And when we first met, it was actually pretty well organized considering all the circumstances. A lot of volunteers had come in. You had your American Red Cross. Other types of survivors and family members of officers that were killed in the past had come together to help organize. So, overall, under a command staff, they had it pretty well organized. They met with us. They outlined New York City and how to get around, the to and from – because, again, we weren’t from there – pointing out the different bridges, the major thorough-ways, some of which were just kind of locked down.
There were different avenues you had to take. The gridlines of Manhattan, north to south, east to west, and how a lot of the major roads we had, and then a lot of the airports, there was a lot of dignitaries that were coming in from DC, and representatives from other agencies, and they needed some protection and they needed to get from airports to either headquarters in New York – NYPD Headquarters – or Port Authority Police, and/or they were going down to the actual World Trade Center, down to Ground Zero. So, basically, our function at that point was transportation: getting these people in and out, and protecting them as they arrived. We got our assignments and they provided us maps. There were certain times we had to get to certain airports, certain locations we had to get to in Brooklyn, and just transport people around. Finally, we would go down to Ground Zero and we would also work down there.
AB: What were some other tasks you were assigned during the trip?
MB: Because of the attack and the crime that occurred, which it was, it was a crime on humanity – that entire area where the World Trade Center stood became a crime scene. And like any other crime scene, you have to lock it down and you have to manage every piece of evidence that comes out of there. And in this case, every piece of evidence either meant a piece of the plane or a body or parts of a body. So, every bit that was recovered from those massive, enormous piles of smoldering rubble became a piece of evidence, and that had to be collected, preserved, and transported to be secured. And when there was a finger found in the pile, that was taken as evidence and that was taken to the morgue, and that was our job. If there was a foot that was found, again, that was a piece of evidence, because they were trying to match body parts to people who were unaccounted for or potentially could be recovered and identified as being killed.
So when we got down there, there was a lot of toxic fumes going on around there from the concrete and the metal. Things were still smoldering. I mean, the complete destruction and devastation, I probably can’t describe to you. I can tell you that to this day I can remember exactly the sights, the sounds, and the smell of the place; the smell of hot burning metal and concrete dust, it was kind of a sweet putrid smell; the noise of the construction and trying to pick through the rubble in the pile. Everywhere you went, there was a whitish-gray coating of dust that was thick, almost like fresh cement that’s being poured, and it was as though a giant bucket of that cement was just dumped from the sky over this whole entire area.
When we got there, the National Guard had the outer perimeter secured from West Highway, back. You had to have credentials like we did, to get in. Once we were in, you had to wear booties; you had to wear respiratory masks and hard hats. We walked in to the site. There were massive, giant pieces of beam that, upon impact from the explosion, were actually launched from the building across this massive West Highway. They were embedded in the building across the street, literally embedded and standing out. Where the towers were, it was just a scaffolding of metal that had been twisted and crumbled. The pile was absolutely enormous. From the impact in the explosion, the glass was completely blown out of all the offices that you could see, and computers were still attached, plugged into the wall, but were dangling and swinging out of the windows. The chairs were flipped and blown right out. Cars were still completely under rubble. Papers were still blowing around; they were still coming out of the buildings. I couldn’t believe how many frigging papers could still be coming out, but they were still blowing out. But it just looked like a scene out of a movie; like an atomic bomb had gone off. I can’t imagine the people that were actually standing there when that blast went off; to have all those fragments of glass and everything just come shattering down on them.
There was one piece of metal that was shaped like a cross that was found. That was there when I arrived. It had not been cut away or removed yet. It was still there. And they actually had a flag draped over it at the time. We were near many of the firefighters who were working feverishly in that pile [of rubble], literally with orange Home Depot buckets. They were on their hands and knees, and they were wearing their turnout gear, literally digging in this rubble of steel and concrete to try to find their friends or their brothers or father or whoever it was out of this pile, trying to recover them. As soon as somebody was found, which happened often while we were there, they would yell from one to another, starting at the top of the pile all the way down.
A whistle would blow and everything would shut down; every piece of equipment, anybody who was talking. And we now stood in this area, this ginormous area, where you’re in the middle of New York City, as loud as it can be, and you could hear a pin drop. And they would pull out this body and they would put them on a carrier. There was a firefighter’s body recovered deep in the rubble and these guys, they gave him full honors. They draped him in an American flag, and they carried his body down off the pile. And that’s how they handled it. And when they got him down, there was a complete escort between police and fire for whoever this firefighter was that was recovered, and he was brought to, I’m guessing, the morgue or wherever it was they were holding people.
Another part of the city that I saw had hotels that were blown out. There was one particular hotel that still stood, and to get to it, you had to walk past all these storefronts – one of which was a Burger King, and that Burger King had become the first morgue when this happened for any bodies that were recovered. The glass was blown out, but there were pieces of plywood that were put up over the windows, and they were spray painted, ‘Morgue.’ Two doors down, there was a small corner store or grocery store, that was closed up. But when you looked inside, everything was frozen in time. Everything that was in that store was untouched. Everything was coated in this gray, white, powdery dust, and the clock that was hanging on the wall stopped at the time that the towers came down.
AB: What was your first reaction when you saw the collapsed Twin Towers?
MB: Like I just said – I kind of jumped ahead a little bit, I guess, in answering that for you, Alec. But oh boy. It was emotional. I was pissed. I couldn’t believe that this had happened. Again, to this day, when I have watched on TV, you know, the documentaries, I even find it hard to watch those. I mean, I think you definitely get choked up. The experience I was given to go down there and to see that was like nothing else I’ve ever done in my life. There will probably be nothing else ever close to that. I have pictures; I have memorabilia of pieces of stuff that I brought back from there that I’ll always keep close to me. Other than being struck in awe and being pissed, the thing that really hit home to me and bothered me the most was every day when you went to Port Authority to report in, you had to walk down the hallway of their headquarters, and within that hallway, all the officers that were lost, that were killed that day – there were pictures of them all along the wall or on a stand.
These pictures were draped in messages and flowers, pictures that were drawn. Some of the guys had not been recovered yet. They didn’t know if they were alive or dead. And their kids and their wives and their other family members and friends – the biggest thing for me was the kids, seeing the pictures that were drawn by their kids, in crayon, asking where their daddy was and if we could find him and get him home. And when I would go down to Ground Zero, there was an area where you could stand. It was a makeshift stage made out of regular deck wood, decking, and there were all kinds of notes that had been either written or inscribed by a knife into these boards. People were just looking for their loved ones that hadn’t been recovered. So, I felt that hit home quite a bit. I mean, just to see these notes that these kids were leaving, and the pictures they were drawing looking for their dad. It kind of ripped your heart out, especially having kids of my own.
AB: In that moment, were you able to estimate how long it would take for life to resume as normal in the city?
MB: I think, like anything else, life is going to go on and time is going to go by. You find healing with time. People are going to pick up their pieces and move on for those who were directly affected. It’s an event that’s never ever going to be forgotten, obviously, and it’s now a part of history.
Day to day for the rest of the people who live there had changed. I think in the beginning, there was that fear factor of “Is this going to happen again?” or “What’s next?.” And every time they heard a plane go overhead, they were probably thinking — even people around here — based on the images that they saw, what could potentially happen again. I don’t know how I could put a timeframe on that. I mean, I think that it depends on what the impact was to you personally. But I do believe that even today, where they’ve rebuilt that site, that it’s sacred ground now. Anybody who visits it or who has always either been in New York or had been there and knew what the towers looked like and what that site stands for today: I think there’s a feeling inside of remembering. You know that you will feel it – the effect of it when you’re standing right there in that area. But beyond that, you also know that life goes on. You’ve got to press forward.
AB: How did the people of NYC appear both emotionally and physically after the attacks?
MB: I’m going to base this more on what I saw on the news and stuff at that point. I mean, I think there were a lot of angry people by what had happened. And you know what? I even felt that way, unfortunately. You have got to be able to differentiate the fact that there are many Middle-Eastern or Islamic people who reside in this country who have probably been in this country for 20 years before this happened. People who had no ties to this ever happening. They’re not radical Islamic; they don’t have a radical Islamic upbringing. But because of their appearance and the attachment they have to the Middle East, there’s no doubt in my mind that daggers were visually thrown at these people, and probably verbally as well; out of anger for what had happened. People were angry, upset, hurt, devastated – and they didn’t know where to direct that anger.
AB: Were there any instances where you had witnesses the rescue of anyone or had aided in a rescue effort?
MB: I didn’t save anybody, and there was nobody to be saved at that point. It was a complete recovery effort. There were two incidents that I saw: there was a foot – it was in a woman’s high heel shoe. I saw that. That was recovered, and just that one firefighter that was recovered. But when they found them, that was an effort by FDNY. It was their job and nobody was going to get close to their guys. They recovered their own personnel.
AB: Did you feel any sense of lingering danger for New York City or even America, as a whole?
MB: Absolutely. I don’t know if I felt it in that area at that point. I just wondered, based on the day’s events and how they hit New York, and attempted to hit The Pentagon and DC. The way that public transportation and airlines had shut down – that was all reactive to what happened. And it was such a catastrophic, major event that occurred. It was unforeseen and they actually pulled it off. In my mind, I questioned, “What else had already been in place?” and “What other plans had already been made by these tyrants and these terrorists?” and “Was this just the first of many multiple attacks to come?” Basically, that’s how they operate; it’s one after another.
My thought was that we always train and learn that if a bomb goes off, to always be ready for a secondary one. And it’s usually in an area where they would most suspect us to respond and set up. I just didn’t know where, and I thought, as I still think today, that you can’t live in fear, because that’s what they want. But what would be the most primary and easiest targets to hit? And where would they do the most destruction and devastation? To me, that’s huge places of gatherings, either sporting events or, you know, amusement parks or tourist areas. So, I certainly felt that that could be a potential; places like Disney World or a major football game or an arena – something along those lines.
AB: Were there any times that you personally felt in danger of injury or death while there?
MB: While I was down there? No. No, I didn’t.
AB: When you left the city to return home, did you feel that you had accomplished what you came to do?
MB: I did the job that was asked of me. To me, that helped in more ways than just one. But it was so tiny when you look at the big picture of all the things that needed to be done with the rescue efforts. It was just one piece of that – many things that needed to be done to rebuild or recover from that area. So, yes, I felt gratitude for being able to go there. Yes, I felt like I had done my job. And I think more than that, when I got home, I was physically, but also emotionally drained and tired from it. When I sat back down, I actually had time to look at the photos and everything that we had observed there and to basically tell you guys and everybody back home what I had witnessed.
There was a camaraderie from all the officers from New York when we first arrived there; shaking our hands and thanking us. I mean, they could not do enough to thank us to come down and help them. So, I think that was a huge accomplishment.
In my field, being able to work like that as a police officer and being able to go anyplace from Manchester, all the way to New York City, where I don’t know any of those cops – it’s astounding. I’ve never met them. They don’t know me. But by far, just like firemen, it is an absolute brotherhood. You get down there and you become one of their family, just like when they come up here. And we take care of one another. It’s always been like that. I believe it will always remain like that. So, I think that in itself is an accomplishment to stick together, even through this heart-wrenching devastation that we took on that day.
AB: What is the biggest thing you’ve learned or taken away from your experience in NYC?
MB: That life’s fragile. Life is fragile. I think that on that day, which was a beautiful, sunny September day, it was probably no different a day for all those people than any other day. They got up, like we all do every single day. They did their normal routine. They got themselves off to work. The city thrived, like it did every day. They got to work. They went to their building – their office. They probably talked about what they did the night before, what they were planning on doing that upcoming weekend. Just life, in general, how you go on every single day, and within seconds of that happening, your destination’s done. That plane hit the building, and the fear factor that took place for those who were trapped and those who died in that rubble – I mean, that’s how short life can be. You just don’t know what to expect.
AB: My final question: If you were asked to do it all again, would you?
MB: Absolutely, without a question. I think for me, I’ve always been very patriotic anyway. I’ve always been supportive of our government, our military, our law enforcement, and all of our emergency service workers. So, I grew up in that family of it. I always believed strongly in it. Many of our family have either served in one or many of those capacities. And, to me, there’s nothing more than the pride that we have to be who we are and the freedom that we have. So, any time something like this ever happens again, and God forbid it does, I would be packing and ready to go on the drop of a dime.
AB: Thank you for your time, Dad.
Alec Biron is a New Hampshire native and higher education professional with his M.A. in English and Creative Writing. Alec has a background in covering event pieces, travel and culture stories, and personal essays as a freelance writer.
