USA: GROUP OF RETIRED FIREMAN CONTINUE TO HELP SEARCH GROUND ZERO AREA FOR REMAINS OF VICTIMS ALMOST SIX MONTHS AFTER WORLD TRADE CENTRE ATTACK

Record ID: 834392

  • Title: USA: GROUP OF RETIRED FIREMAN CONTINUE TO HELP SEARCH GROUND ZERO AREA FOR REMAINS OF VICTIMS ALMOST SIX MONTHS AFTER WORLD TRADE CENTRE ATTACK
  • Date: 6th March 2002
  • Summary: (W8) NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MARCH 6, 2002) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF GROUND ZERO (2 SHOTS) PAN FROM FIREMEN OVERLOOKING GROUND ZERO TO GROUND ZERO SITE WITH CRANE SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) LEE IELPI, RETIRED FIREFIGHTER SAYING: "You come here and you're going to get a feeling of sadness. Because you're looking at a grave of thousands of people. We're coming here saying, we want to dig in this grave to find your loved ones. So when we don't find your loved ones -- our loved ones -- it's very frustrating. That's the feeling. Today is going to be the day. We want this to be a good day. And a good day, for us --a good day for us, is to find people." VARIOUS OF GROUND ZERO (4 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 26th September 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, AND GREAT NECK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA1LXJXJDR7WS9KEKQ4MFQPLNFL
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Almost six months after the attack on the World Trade Center, rescue workers still work around the clock trying to recover the remains of victims. Of those who have been there everyday, are a group of retired firemen.
    Though six months and two seasons have passed since the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the clean-up efforts at Ground Zero haven't gotten any easier.
    Among those who have made that hallowed ground their home away from home are a group of retired firemen who have been able to search for the remains of their lost sons. Some of them, like Lee Ielpi have found their sons while others, like Bill Butler have not. Though they all have vowed to keep searching.
    Lee Ielpi looks out over what is left of the south tower of the World Trade Center. Just yards away, his son, Jonathan was found.
    Ielpi says, "You come here and you're going to get a feeling of sadness. Because you're looking at a grave of thousands of people. We're coming here saying, we want to dig in this grave to find your loved ones. So when we don't find your loved ones -- our loved ones -- it's very frustrating.
    That's the feeling. Today is going to be the day. We want this to be a good day. And a good day, for us --a good day for us, is to find people."
    Jonathan was one of the 343 New York City firefighters who died on September 11 as they tried to save others. The 29-year-old firefighter was with Squad 288 and left behind a wife, Yesenia, and two children Andrew and Austin, aged 10 and 3 respectively.
    Lee was planning on spending his retirement fishing, but instead, he is going to have to help raise his grandchildren.
    And, of course, there's all the work to do at Ground Zero.
    Though he found his son, he keeps searching for his lost friend's and his friend's lost sons.
    Some say the worst thing in life is to bury your child.
    This is the pain that Lee Ielpi and his wife Anne have been living with. Six months later, the sting is just as bad.
    Anne said,
    "It's going to take a really, really long time to get back -- and I don't know if we'll ever get back to normal. I don't know what normal is going to be anymore."
    When a fallen firefighter or policeman is found at Ground Zero, an impromptu service is formed. Work stops momentarily. Colleagues who are present at the site line up, and remove their hats with respect. Such a procession was formed late on December 11, 2001. Lee Ielpi and his other son Brendon were summoned to Ground Zero. Exactly three months after September 11, Jonathan had been found.
    Ielpi said, "So, I went back in with my son, Brendan, who is also a firefighter, and I was able to carry out my son."
    On Saddle Rock Bridge in Great Neck, New York, Melissa Ielpi watched the towers fall, unaware of her brothers fate.
    Later than night, after he had been declared missing, she laid roses and wrote a message. In an overwhelming outpouring of support for Jonathan and other Great Neck residents, the bridge became a spontaneous memorial, covered with messages of well-wishes, candles, and flowers. There are plans to rename the bridge "9/11 Memorial Bridge"
    Months later, standing on the bridge that became a memorial Melissa Ielpi said, "I cry every time I'm here, but it's still. He -- my brother -- had such an impact on so many people's lives that this just shows how many people he touched."
    Her brother Brendan, said, "You'd never think it would be something like this. You wonder when it's going to get better. It hasn't gotten any better since day one. It hasn't been the same."
    Brendan Ielpi can be found working alongside his fellow firemen, digging through debris, searching for those who have been lost.
    One of those still missing is firefighter Tom Butler.
    His father, 62-year-old retired fire captain Tom Butler watches as workers inch their way to the bottom of the south tower. As each day passes, Butler grows more and more concerned that they will not find his son.
    Butler had bought a house in Sarasota, Florida for his retirement. Now he is planning on selling the house. Turns out there is going to be no retirement. He has his son's three children to help raise.
    Butler speaks to his son when he's there, "I know he's here, and it's like, you know, having a closeness to him.
    Almost like a -- I mean, you know you say, do you talk? I mean, you talk to this, you talk to that. Well it's almost as if to say, well, 'I'm here. We're reaching out to you. We're going to try to get to you,' you know."
    Of the 343 firefighters lost on September 11, 195 still remain unaccounted for. According to the office of emergency management, 2,830 casualties were reported for the World Trade Center attack. Of those, only 753 are confirmed dead with recovered remains.
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