Latest / Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning / Hour 3: Supporting 9/11 victims
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: On this 25th anniversary of the attacks on the World
- 0:04Speaker 1: Trade Center in New York, there were several people that
- 0:08Speaker 1: saw it happen, including the legendary sportscaster, our own Warner Wolf,
- 0:13Speaker 1: who was on the air at the time with Don Imus.
- 0:18Speaker 2: MSNBC has just flashed on my screen. It looks like
- 0:22Speaker 2: there is a A plane has crashed into the World
- 0:26Speaker 2: Trade Center? We got Warner on the phone who's looking
- 0:30Speaker 2: at it right now. Warner?
- 0:31Speaker 1: Hi, man. What's the deal?
- 0:33Speaker 3: Something hit the World Trade Center.
- 0:35Speaker 4: I think it was a plane.
- 0:36Speaker 5: I heard it.
- 0:37Speaker 1: Right over my head, and the explosion.
- 0:39Speaker 6: Rocked the building.
- 0:40Speaker 7: Really?
- 0:41Speaker 6: And I'm looking at it right now.
- 0:42Speaker 3: The smoke is just bellowing out of the World Trade Center.
- 0:45Speaker 2: I mean, it's horrible.
- 0:47Speaker 1: The great Warner Wolf is on the air with us now. Warner,
- 0:51Speaker 1: can you... further describe that moment in retrospect?
- 0:55Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll tell you what, Larry, the plane, we lived
- 0:59Speaker 3: on the top floor on North Moore Street in Tribeca.
- 1:05Speaker 3: And that plane, I thought it was going to hit
- 1:08Speaker 3: our roof. I've never heard a plane closer in my life.
- 1:13Speaker 3: My wife and I were getting up. I wasn't working
- 1:17Speaker 3: that day. And, man, that plane, I tell you, it
- 1:21Speaker 3: was unbelievable. The sound was incredible. I can still hear it. And,
- 1:27Speaker 3: you know, you can see all the movies and TV, films, everything.
- 1:34Speaker 3: There's nothing like when it happened. There's nothing like seeing
- 1:38Speaker 3: it live. It's still with me. We were about 10
- 1:45Speaker 3: blocks from the World Trade Center.
- 1:47Speaker 5: We could see it.
- 1:48Speaker 3: Lit up every night right out of a window. When
- 1:52Speaker 3: that first plane hit, we said, man, what is it,
- 1:56Speaker 3: a misguided pilot? It was like the bomber pilot. You
- 2:04Speaker 3: remember the bomber hit the Empire State Building in 1945?
- 2:08Speaker 3: I said, man, look at this. Oh, but wait a minute.
- 2:15Speaker 5: Uh-oh. started watching and i.
- 2:20Speaker 3: Thought they were people were throwing tables and chairs out
- 2:24Speaker 3: of the window but man it was they were jumping.
- 2:29Speaker 5: Out of the window that was that was a horrible
- 2:32Speaker 5: sight and then uh i guess it was well 15
- 2:36Speaker 5: 16 17 minutes later uh the plane came around and uh.
- 2:46Speaker 3: Hit the other tower and now he said oh man
- 2:49Speaker 3: this is this is no accident so i i ran
- 2:54Speaker 3: on the roof of my building and i could see
- 2:58Speaker 3: everything and um oh boy the fire and just terrible
- 3:04Speaker 3: things you know it's uh and i saw the buildings
- 3:09Speaker 3: collapse those are the worst thing i've ever seen i
- 3:12Speaker 3: saw them just Oh man, am I really seeing this?
- 3:15Speaker 3: This was horrible.
- 3:17Speaker 1: It's gone.
- 3:17Speaker 6: It collapsed.
- 3:18Speaker 8: It's gone.
- 3:19Speaker 9: It's not there.
- 3:20Speaker 1: The whole tower.
- 3:21Speaker 5: The whole tower.
- 3:22Speaker 10: It's gone.
- 3:23Speaker 3: There's only one tower.
- 3:26Speaker 4: Oh God, this is horrible.
- 3:29Speaker 6: It's gone.
- 3:30Speaker 7: It's not there. It's like it disappeared.
- 3:33Speaker 3: And there's no way the first responders can ever get
- 3:36Speaker 3: enough credit for going into that burning building.
- 3:42Speaker 5: The two towers.
- 3:43Speaker 3: And I'll tell you one more thing. We had a balcony.
- 3:47Speaker 3: And I'd say for at least a month, there was
- 3:52Speaker 3: this unusual smell coming from the tower. And they said, no,
- 3:58Speaker 3: it's nothing. It was a sweet, sour odor. I've never smelled.
- 4:03Speaker 5: Anything like it.
- 4:04Speaker 3: It would be like a bad perfume, I guess the
- 4:09Speaker 3: way I'd describe it. And it was the burning of
- 4:12Speaker 3: the metals and the materials of the World Trade Center.
- 4:16Speaker 3: So that was all unhealthy down there. And as we're
- 4:20Speaker 3: finding out now still, I'll tell you, Larry, I still
- 4:24Speaker 3: I can't believe it was 25 years ago today.
- 4:26Speaker 2: Yeah, one of your eyesight on the spot announcement on
- 4:32Speaker 2: the IMA show of what it was like, even though
- 4:36Speaker 2: there was no Internet at that time, things didn't go
- 4:39Speaker 2: viral anymore. Your announcement of what it was like was
- 4:43Speaker 2: heard across the nation because people were desperately trying to
- 4:47Speaker 2: get information. And your voice, I must say, even though
- 4:50Speaker 2: I was on the competing network, WABC, your voice resonated
- 4:56Speaker 2: for an entire nation that grew.
- 4:57Speaker 1: Up with you.
- 4:58Speaker 3: Well, I never stopped to think of it that way
- 5:01Speaker 3: or looked at it that way. It was just what
- 5:05Speaker 3: I was seeing myself. It was like just... Telling the story,
- 5:12Speaker 3: my gosh, you know, I'm still uncomfortable talking about it
- 5:18Speaker 3: because it makes me think about it. I try not
- 5:21Speaker 3: to think about it, but I think, like I said earlier,
- 5:26Speaker 3: you could see all the TV and movies of it
- 5:29Speaker 3: years later. There's nothing, when you see something in person,
- 5:32Speaker 3: as you probably know, it just sticks with you. It
- 5:36Speaker 3: stays with you. And just, you know, oh, man, see
- 5:40Speaker 3: those people. God, those poor souls.
- 5:44Speaker 1: Yeah, and you were there just in the neighborhood for
- 5:48Speaker 1: the excavation, the search for bodies, the rebuilding, all of it.
- 5:52Speaker 1: Can you talk us through some of that?
- 5:54Speaker 5: Oh, I was, oh, my gosh.
- 5:58Speaker 3: I was still on WCBS at that time. So, you know,
- 6:03Speaker 3: I went down there and brought a camera and, gosh,
- 6:06Speaker 3: it You could see the weary workers, and they had dogs,
- 6:12Speaker 3: you know, because they were sniffing out to see where
- 6:15Speaker 3: people were. It was just a dreadful, just a terrible scene.
- 6:25Speaker 3: If you go through it once, hopefully that's it. But, like,
- 6:30Speaker 3: I remember one of the responders said, you know, it's,
- 6:35Speaker 3: It's bad enough that we have close to 3,000 people dead,
- 6:41Speaker 3: but it's the ripple effect. All the families from 3,000 people,
- 6:47Speaker 3: friends and family, it's not just... I'll tell you. When
- 6:52Speaker 3: my wife and I moved to Tribeca, we said, oh boy,
- 6:55Speaker 3: this is great. You know, nothing... Never thought that... We
- 7:00Speaker 3: were about 10 blocks from the World Trade Center. We
- 7:03Speaker 3: used to... You know, I'd come home at night. It
- 7:06Speaker 3: was a beautiful sight, the two of them. We'd look
- 7:09Speaker 3: out the window. There they are. What a great sight.
- 7:12Speaker 3: You can't see this anywhere else.
- 7:15Speaker 1: Yeah, I will tell you, Warner, that was powerful to
- 7:18Speaker 1: hear that from you since you experienced the whole thing
- 7:21Speaker 1: and how it haunts you to this day. And thank
- 7:24Speaker 1: you so much for sharing that, the great Warner Wolf.
- 7:27Speaker 1: Thank you, Warner.
- 7:28Speaker 11: All right, gentlemen.
- 7:29Speaker 5: Thank you.
- 7:30Speaker 1: Thank you. He certainly sounded different, didn't he? I mean,
- 7:35Speaker 1: Warner Wolf, you remember being fast-paced and getting through sports events,
- 7:41Speaker 1: but when he's remembering it, you could almost feel that
- 7:45Speaker 1: he was still seeing it.
- 7:47Speaker 2: Yeah, and he was on the fan with Imus in
- 7:49Speaker 2: the morning. And remember the night before, Monday Night Football,
- 7:52Speaker 2: the Giants versus the Denver Broncos. So they're a sports station.
- 7:56Speaker 2: That's all they're talking about at that time. And then
- 7:59Speaker 2: Warner was magnificent because where he lived with his wife,
- 8:02Speaker 2: he could almost reach out and touch the Twin Towers.
- 8:07Speaker 2: And then to be able to experience it and relate
- 8:11Speaker 2: it on WFAN was magnificent because it got those guys
- 8:17Speaker 2: all focused on, hey, forget sports. Everything else goes to
- 8:20Speaker 2: the sidelines. That's all anybody was talking about for days
- 8:25Speaker 2: and days and days thereafter.
- 8:27Speaker 1: And we're proud to have him here now. Let's get
- 8:29Speaker 1: some more reflections from our listeners.
- 8:32Speaker 9: Dr.
- 8:33Speaker 12: Bob, recalling Captain Kathy Mazza, who was a cardiac surgery
- 8:37Speaker 12: nurse with me at St. Francis Hospital, went on to
- 8:39Speaker 12: become Port Authority policewoman. And after 10 years there, she
- 8:45Speaker 12: became the first female captain and commandant of the Police
- 8:49Speaker 12: Academy in New Jersey. She came over with new recruits
- 8:52Speaker 12: to the buildings, to the towers, saved many, many lives.
- 8:57Speaker 12: And that day, she was like a sister to me,
- 8:59Speaker 12: dearly missed.
- 9:01Speaker 1: And thanks for remembering her. Kathy Mazza, Captain Kathy Nancy Mazza,
- 9:06Speaker 1: was killed on September 11th, as he said, while attempting
- 9:10Speaker 1: to rescue the victims trapped in the World Trade Center.
- 9:13Speaker 1: She was leading a group of people downstairs when the
- 9:16Speaker 1: building started to collapse. Using her sidearm, Captain Mazza shot
- 9:22Speaker 1: out glass walls, enabling many to escape. Captain Mazza was
- 9:28Speaker 1: the first female commander of the Port Authority of New
- 9:31Speaker 1: York and New Jersey's police department. She had served with
- 9:35Speaker 1: the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police
- 9:38Speaker 1: for 13 years. Others survived because of her. She did
- 9:43Speaker 1: not survive. She has a husband and mother that live
- 9:47Speaker 1: on and still remember her. They're going to be there today.
- 9:50Speaker 1: She was only 46 years old. Kathy Mazza, one of
- 9:54Speaker 1: the great heroes. Thanks for that talk back and getting
- 9:58Speaker 1: us to remember her. Kathy Mazza was one of the
- 10:00Speaker 1: heroes of 9-11.
- 10:02Speaker 2: And remember, that was a Port Authority building, two buildings.
- 10:06Speaker 2: Larry Silverstein had just purchased it, you know, private owner operator.
- 10:11Speaker 2: So the Port Authority was embedded there. In that project
- 10:15Speaker 2: from beginning to end of the World Trade Center site
- 10:18Speaker 2: and all the employees of the Port Authority who valiantly
- 10:22Speaker 2: stayed on and did not flee as almost most people
- 10:26Speaker 2: would have. I mean, we're trained. You don't run into
- 10:30Speaker 2: the belly of the beast. You run away. They stood,
- 10:34Speaker 2: they ground, they didn't leave, and they did everything they
- 10:37Speaker 2: could to help others.
- 10:38Speaker 1: Well, how about her story? She went in and saved lives.
- 10:40Speaker 1: She shot out a window so others could live, even
- 10:42Speaker 1: though she was sacrificing herself. Correct. An amazing story. Thanks
- 10:46Speaker 1: so much for that talk back and getting us to
- 10:48Speaker 1: remember Kathy Mazza on this day. Well, at Ground Zero,
- 10:52Speaker 1: they're now getting ready for the ceremony. We're going to
- 10:54Speaker 1: go back down there to talk to Natalie Migliore. And
- 10:58Speaker 1: of course, we will continue. With your remembrances, when we
- 11:03Speaker 1: come back, and this is a special time also to
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- 12:20Speaker 1: it counts.
- 12:22Speaker 2: We're moments away from the beginning of the commemoration so
- 12:25Speaker 2: let's once again go down to natalie migliore to get
- 12:30Speaker 2: an update on what's transpiring uh natalie can you describe
- 12:34Speaker 2: the scene.
- 12:36Speaker 13: Yeah um we still have families it sort of slowed
- 12:39Speaker 13: down but uh we've sort of had families filtering in
- 12:43Speaker 13: over here and now i've got i think uh Former
- 12:47Speaker 13: presidents are currently passing me, I believe, on Church Street
- 12:50Speaker 13: right now with just an excessive line, if I tell you,
- 12:54Speaker 13: of Secret Service vans and also NYPD police buses and
- 13:01Speaker 13: empty buses. So I think that we have officials and
- 13:07Speaker 13: former presidents arriving at this time. So that is what
- 13:12Speaker 13: we're kind of seeing now. So it's sort of a...
- 13:15Speaker 13: huge security.
- 13:18Speaker 14: Event.
- 13:19Speaker 13: And it's also a huge speculation as people are now
- 13:23Speaker 13: starting to gather on the other side of church street.
- 13:27Speaker 13: Now that a pedestrian plaza is closed off, not far
- 13:31Speaker 13: from the reflecting pools, which is typically open for the
- 13:35Speaker 13: nine 11 ceremonies in terms of that pedestrian plaza that
- 13:41Speaker 13: I'm talking about under the Oculus. But this year, security
- 13:45Speaker 13: measures are very, very tight, as you can imagine, with
- 13:48Speaker 13: four former presidents attending.
- 13:51Speaker 1: Natalie Migliore, we'll check in with you again. Thanks so much.
- 13:54Speaker 1: Nice job this morning. Let's get to some talkbacks.
- 13:57Speaker 15: Please mention all the young lads who signed up for
- 14:00Speaker 15: the military after this horrific event.
- 14:06Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
- 14:07Speaker 2: Mass, mass signing up. People were just... Anything that they
- 14:12Speaker 2: could do to get involved in uniformed services?
- 14:15Speaker 11: Honestly, right now, I'm crying thinking about the people that
- 14:20Speaker 11: worked in the food court. I know it sounds crazy,
- 14:24Speaker 11: but I remember going to the South Tower when I
- 14:27Speaker 11: was younger, and there was a food court on the
- 14:30Speaker 11: 107th floor. And not like their lives were more expendable
- 14:35Speaker 11: than anyone that worked in Cantor Fitzgerald or anything like that,
- 14:39Speaker 11: but They were just food service workers going to work.
- 14:44Speaker 1: It's not crazy at all. And nobody's expendable. I'm so
- 14:47Speaker 1: glad you called and remembered them.
- 14:49Speaker 16: Just because of iHeartRadio now, you guys get to hear
- 14:52Speaker 16: from all, I guess we're called expatriates, all of us
- 14:55Speaker 16: New Yorkers that live in North Carolina, South Carolina now.
- 15:00Speaker 16: And it's striking to me every year how I'm here
- 15:03Speaker 16: now that People don't commemorate.
- 15:06Speaker 2: It like we do.
- 15:08Speaker 16: It's shocking, and I just feel so bad that I
- 15:10Speaker 16: can't be home.
- 15:12Speaker 2: Well, it's our responsibility as a nation, if nothing more,
- 15:17Speaker 2: to remind this new generation that wasn't born at that time.
- 15:21Speaker 2: One-third of Americans were not born at that time, and
- 15:24Speaker 2: they know little, if anything.
- 15:26Speaker 1: About this. Yeah, it's amazing, though. She's saying even in
- 15:29Speaker 1: North Carolina, they're not having commemorations. I think if you searched,
- 15:33Speaker 1: you're going to find something. At least I hope that's true.
- 15:37Speaker 15: I flew from New York to Los Angeles on September 10, 2001.
- 15:41Speaker 15: Because I delayed one of my company's meetings 24 hours,
- 15:44Speaker 15: three of my employees did not end up on United
- 15:46Speaker 15: Flight 93. Finally made it back to the East Coast
- 15:49Speaker 15: on Saturday morning with a flight from Chicago to Westchester County.
- 15:53Speaker 15: I remember seeing a pillar of gray smoke and debris
- 15:57Speaker 15: from the tip of Manhattan all the way up to
- 15:59Speaker 15: the heavens, almost as if God was calling those souls
- 16:02Speaker 15: back home.
- 16:03Speaker 1: Beautiful. Beautifully said. And I'm so sorry about the people
- 16:07Speaker 1: that work with you.
- 16:08Speaker 9: On 9-11, I was working at a very large law
- 16:10Speaker 9: firm in midtown Manhattan. My boss and I were always
- 16:14Speaker 9: in early. Very few staff members were there, but a
- 16:19Speaker 9: lot of attorneys were there working already. And the thing
- 16:25Speaker 9: I remember is that Most of the attorneys were headed
- 16:29Speaker 9: towards NYU to donate blood for any survivors, which, as
- 16:34Speaker 9: we know, there were none.
- 16:37Speaker 2: You know, Larry, the first few years after the death
- 16:42Speaker 2: and destruction of the attack on 9-11, I would speak
- 16:45Speaker 2: to the private security firms whose men and women did
- 16:48Speaker 2: not leave their posts as they watched people running down
- 16:52Speaker 2: the stairwells at their instruction.
- 16:54Speaker 1: Wow.
- 16:56Speaker 2: Uh, they were, they really have been forgotten in all
- 16:58Speaker 2: of this cause they could have easily remember they're getting
- 17:01Speaker 2: minimum wage at that time.
- 17:02Speaker 1: They could have fled. They stood.
- 17:05Speaker 2: And unfortunately they died too.
- 17:07Speaker 1: Like so many others. Let's get to Daria Albinger with
- 17:10Speaker 1: the 830 News. Daria. Morning, guys.
- 17:12Speaker 8: Sunny and less humid today with a high of 79 degrees.
- 17:16Speaker 8: 25 years ago, right about now, life changed here in
- 17:20Speaker 8: New York City. And today, many of us are still
- 17:22Speaker 8: grieving after the 9-11 attacks.
- 17:24Speaker 17: Father Brian Jordan spent more than a year giving interfaith
- 17:28Speaker 17: services amid the rubble and loss.
- 17:31Speaker 4: We found fellowship coming together. They come together right there
- 17:35Speaker 4: on sacred ground in the midst of all this destruction.
- 17:38Speaker 17: Father Brian's close friend and mentor, FDNY chaplain Father Michael Judge,
- 17:43Speaker 17: died responding to the Twin Towers. His words of comfort
- 17:46Speaker 17: for those still grieving.
- 17:48Speaker 4: We're going to be reunited with them in heaven again.
- 17:50Speaker 4: We're going to be reunited. If you believe in the
- 17:53Speaker 4: words of everlasting life.
- 17:54Speaker 17: Natalie Migliore, WOR News.
- 17:57Speaker 8: The annual remembrance will begin soon this year with an
- 18:00Speaker 8: extra moment of silence to honor the first responders, rescue
- 18:04Speaker 8: and recovery workers, survivor and lower Manhattan residents, who died
- 18:08Speaker 8: from 9-11-related illnesses in the years following the tragedy. And
- 18:12Speaker 8: security is going to be tighter than ever.
- 18:15Speaker 7: There are now numerous streets in the area of the
- 18:16Speaker 7: 9-11 Memorial Museum.
- 18:18Speaker 1: Shut to traffic.
- 18:19Speaker 7: An eight-foot-tall fence surrounding the area where the ceremony is
- 18:22Speaker 7: taking place and a huge police officer presence. This is
- 18:25Speaker 7: all part of tight security. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
- 18:28Speaker 17: The ceremony is not open to the general public.
- 18:31Speaker 16: And because of the security footprint around the site, New
- 18:34Speaker 16: Yorkers should expect significant traffic delays. and pedestrian restrictions.
- 18:39Speaker 7: Former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and
- 18:42Speaker 7: Joe Biden among those attending the Remembrance Ceremony. I'm Scott Tringle,
- 18:46Speaker 7: WOR News.
- 18:47Speaker 8: President Trump is not going to be at the ceremony.
- 18:51Speaker 8: He is going to make remarks at the Pentagon today.
- 18:53Speaker 8: There's also a ceremony in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The Yankees beat
- 18:58Speaker 8: Colorado 10-3. They'll host the Mets tonight. And San Francisco
- 19:02Speaker 8: beat the LA Rams 27-7 last night in a game
- 19:04Speaker 8: that was played in Australia. Next news, 9 o'clock bulletins
- 19:08Speaker 8: at once. I'm Daria Albinger on 710WOR.
- 19:11Speaker 1: Thank, Daria. Thank you very much. When we come back,
- 19:14Speaker 1: someone I consider a friend and a hero, John Feal,
- 19:18Speaker 1: longtime advocate for 9-11 survivors, reflects on the attacks. He
- 19:23Speaker 1: was there. The lasting toll on first responders and survivors
- 19:28Speaker 1: and the importance of preserving their memories and all the
- 19:32Speaker 1: memories of that day. And now we want to talk
- 19:36Speaker 1: to John Feel. I'm sure you all know John Feel
- 19:38Speaker 1: by now. He is the founder of the Feel Good
- 19:41Speaker 1: Foundation that has worked tirelessly for 9-11 first responders who
- 19:47Speaker 1: had seemed to be forgotten after 9-11. And he had
- 19:50Speaker 1: to take several trips down to Congress later on with
- 19:54Speaker 1: Jon Stewart to try to get them to finally pass
- 19:57Speaker 1: the James Zadroga 9-11 Health and Compensation Act. And he's
- 20:02Speaker 1: still battling to this day for those 9-11 first responders.
- 20:07Speaker 1: But then again, he was also a first responder. And
- 20:10Speaker 1: John joins us now from Ground Zero. John, as you're
- 20:15Speaker 1: at that site, I'm sure it's tough on you a
- 20:18Speaker 1: little bit every year that you're there. Oh, John's not
- 20:21Speaker 1: with us right now. I was getting all kinds of signals.
- 20:26Speaker 1: I'm sorry, John. I was confused there for a second.
- 20:30Speaker 1: I apologize. Please tell us about your time there.
- 20:35Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, Lab 1, thank you for having me
- 20:37Speaker 6: on such a somber day. And many people use this
- 20:42Speaker 6: 25 remembrance as a milestone. But for us, directly affected
- 20:48Speaker 6: by 9-11, it's a day that hasn't ended. And it's
- 20:51Speaker 6: a day that is still killing. And it's a day
- 20:53Speaker 6: to remember those that we lost to senseless violence and
- 20:57Speaker 6: to the heroes that ran into harm's way and never
- 20:59Speaker 6: went home. But it's also a day to remember that
- 21:02Speaker 6: those who went there that got sick and died or
- 21:05Speaker 6: are still suffering and going to die in the near future,
- 21:07Speaker 6: we need to remember these men and women in uniform
- 21:09Speaker 6: and non-uniform. And collectively, we could do better as a society.
- 21:14Speaker 6: And we need to create an environment where we bring
- 21:17Speaker 6: back humanity, compassion, and empathy.
- 21:21Speaker 1: I want to get your reaction to Zoran Mamdani releasing
- 21:26Speaker 1: all of the files about what was in the air.
- 21:29Speaker 1: Files that have been locked away now for over 20 years.
- 21:34Speaker 1: Tell me what that means to you and what that
- 21:36Speaker 1: means to the 9-11 first responders.
- 21:40Speaker 6: There was no smoking gun in those 170,000 files and
- 21:42Speaker 6: the ones that are going to follow that. We knew
- 21:46Speaker 6: that they knew we were sick. It gives us validity.
- 21:50Speaker 6: But if they would have came clean in the beginning,
- 21:51Speaker 6: it would have made our fight in D.C. against Congress easier.
- 21:58Speaker 6: And shame on them. They've got to live with their
- 22:01Speaker 6: decisions because almost 10,000 people have died from a 9-11-related illness.
- 22:10Speaker 6: 57,000-plus have a certified 9-11-related cancer. So, you know, shame
- 22:16Speaker 6: on them. But today's not the day to point fingers
- 22:18Speaker 6: at anybody. Today's the day to embrace each other instead
- 22:22Speaker 6: of tearing each other down and lift everybody up.
- 22:25Speaker 1: And today's the day to remember, and I'm sure you
- 22:27Speaker 1: have so many memories. I remember something you told me
- 22:31Speaker 1: one time that I still, it's still shocking to me
- 22:34Speaker 1: and I still live with. I used to, I traveled
- 22:36Speaker 1: down when I worked at WPIX on buses, buses full
- 22:40Speaker 1: of first responders who were sick when you were fighting
- 22:43Speaker 1: for passage of the bill. And I remember seeing you
- 22:46Speaker 1: at an event afterwards, about a couple, just a And
- 22:51Speaker 1: you looked at me and you said, you know, the
- 22:53Speaker 1: people you traveled with on that bus, half of them
- 22:56Speaker 1: have died. And it really shocked me. And it made
- 23:02Speaker 1: the whole thing real to me. And I know it's
- 23:05Speaker 1: real to you every single day. Are there some people
- 23:08Speaker 1: that you want to remember on this day?
- 23:12Speaker 6: Everybody that I've ever come in contact with that passed
- 23:14Speaker 6: away from a 9-11-related illness, I remember all of them,
- 23:17Speaker 6: and the list is too long. I've been to over
- 23:19Speaker 6: 200 and about 213 funerals, and there's been so much
- 23:25Speaker 6: pain and sorrow in my life, and I'm never going
- 23:27Speaker 6: to feel sorry for myself, nor do I want anybody.
- 23:30Speaker 6: But we can take our grief and our pain and suffering,
- 23:32Speaker 6: we can turn it into positive energy, and we can
- 23:35Speaker 6: help others. And today we can hold the door open
- 23:38Speaker 6: and buy somebody a cup of coffee or lend a
- 23:39Speaker 6: shoulder to lean on. Or just listen to somebody who
- 23:42Speaker 6: needs to vent because this is a tough day for
- 23:45Speaker 6: America across the board. And I pray everybody gives it
- 23:49Speaker 6: themselves because, Larry, that's the true spirit of being a
- 23:51Speaker 6: human being, to give it yourself.
- 23:54Speaker 1: Yeah, that's extremely well said. I know that you were
- 23:57Speaker 1: on the pile at 9-11. I know you spent several
- 24:01Speaker 1: days there. I know you don't like to talk about it,
- 24:03Speaker 1: but on this day, can you tell us some of
- 24:06Speaker 1: those memories and what you remember the most of that time?
- 24:11Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, I remember everything that I saw and
- 24:17Speaker 6: everything I did, but I went to therapy to block
- 24:19Speaker 6: it out. I'm never going to forget the smell. The
- 24:22Speaker 6: smell will follow me for my lifetime. But what I
- 24:24Speaker 6: choose to remember is the humanity, the outpour of love,
- 24:28Speaker 6: how we all put aside our titles, differences, ideologies, because
- 24:31Speaker 6: on September 10th to 12th, there was nothing but love
- 24:34Speaker 6: and an outpour from, you know, These people that work
- 24:37Speaker 6: on the Pilari, they restored faith to a broken city
- 24:40Speaker 6: and a fractured nation. These men and women who are
- 24:43Speaker 6: sick and dying, they deserve all the credit.
- 24:48Speaker 1: John Feal, you are a national hero. I love that
- 24:53Speaker 1: I got to know you. I love that I got
- 24:55Speaker 1: to travel with you.
- 24:56Speaker 2: I love you.
- 24:58Speaker 1: And I know your work continues. I know it does.
- 25:01Speaker 1: How can people help?
- 25:04Speaker 6: Today, just be a human being. I don't ask for
- 25:06Speaker 6: anything other than just be a human being and do
- 25:09Speaker 6: the right thing.
- 25:10Speaker 1: Okay. Thank you, sir. So much. It was good to
- 25:13Speaker 1: talk to you again.
- 25:14Speaker 6: God bless you all. I love you guys.
- 25:17Speaker 1: Well, John feel the founder and president of the feel
- 25:22Speaker 1: good foundation. He's in a remarkable human being. Oh, absolutely.
- 25:27Speaker 2: And the testimony that he and John Stewart and the
- 25:30Speaker 2: other man who looked like he was dying. Remember when
- 25:35Speaker 2: he testified, I forget his name, Larry, but you could
- 25:39Speaker 2: see death marked on his facial features.
- 25:42Speaker 1: Let's go to Ground Zero for the moment of silence.
- 25:46Speaker 10: The break of night.
- 27:14Speaker 1: The bells will ring for this moment of silence, and
- 27:18Speaker 1: then everyone will stay silent in remembrance of when the
- 27:22Speaker 1: first airliner went into the World Trade Center. You're looking
- 27:29Speaker 1: right now as we're looking at some feat of this,
- 27:33Speaker 1: of all the presidents standing in silence and all the
- 27:35Speaker 1: people gathered standing in silence.
- 27:39Speaker 2: And what I marvel at is how each of the
- 27:42Speaker 2: family members continue to have the pictures of their lost
- 27:46Speaker 2: loved ones, whether they were uniformed services or had worked
- 27:50Speaker 2: in the area or involved in the process of helping people.
- 27:56Speaker 2: It's great that they are holding those pictures high in
- 28:01Speaker 2: the sky so that everybody sees it. Forget the politicians,
- 28:05Speaker 2: everybody who's there to pay their respects. These are the people.
- 28:09Speaker 2: This is what today is about. Their loss, their loss,
- 28:13Speaker 2: their sacrifice.
- 28:14Speaker 1: And you know, every single person there has a deep
- 28:17Speaker 1: relationship with someone who died. They're holding up pictures of
- 28:21Speaker 1: those people and that's all that is in their minds
- 28:24Speaker 1: right now. Even though it's a large gathering, it's very,
- 28:28Speaker 1: very personal for each and every one of them. And
- 28:32Speaker 1: it's so important that we remember every single year, not
- 28:36Speaker 1: just on the 25th anniversary, but every single year, the
- 28:40Speaker 1: sacrifice that these people made, not just the people that died,
- 28:44Speaker 1: but the families and what they sacrificed and what America
- 28:48Speaker 1: went through. We'll be right back. Curtis, any final thoughts?
- 28:54Speaker 2: No, I think we should just go down to the
- 28:58Speaker 2: reading of the names, which is the tradition as family
- 29:01Speaker 2: members come up and remember their loved ones, which is
- 29:05Speaker 2: really what the focus of this day is. hopefully will
- 29:08Speaker 2: remain until we reach midnight.
- 29:15Speaker 17: Jane Ellen Bassler.
- 29:18Speaker 14: Robert J.
- 29:19Speaker 13: Fairwalter.
- 29:21Speaker 8: Andrew J.
- 29:22Speaker 17: Bailey.
- 29:24Speaker 14: Brett T.
- 29:25Speaker 7: Bailey.
- 29:27Speaker 1: Garnet Ace Bailey.
- 29:29Speaker 14: Tatiana Bakalinskia.
- 29:32Speaker 17: Michael S.
- 29:33Speaker 6: Baksh.
- 29:34Speaker 14: Sharon M. Balkum.
- 29:38Speaker 17: Michael Andrew Bain. And my uncle, Stephen Gerard Hoffman. Uncle Stephen,
- 29:46Speaker 17: we love and miss you.
- 29:48Speaker 16: And as my dad says, your twin, Greg, thank you
- 29:51Speaker 16: for the memories.
- 29:52Speaker 17: They're the best part.
- 29:55Speaker 14: And my husband, Tom Strada, you are missed more with
- 29:59Speaker 14: each year that passes. But how can it be 25
- 30:02Speaker 14: years and still we have no justice for the role
- 30:06Speaker 14: that Saudi Arabia played in your murder?
- 30:08Speaker 4: She's right.
- 30:11Speaker 1: She's absolutely right.
- 30:15Speaker 14: Yes, we finally made it into a court and have
- 30:18Speaker 14: proved that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia fomented a rancid
- 30:22Speaker 14: culture of anti-American terrorism around.
- 30:25Speaker 1: The globe and then sent its agents to.
- 30:28Speaker 14: Support the radical Islamist hijackers so they could attack you
- 30:32Speaker 14: and all of our loved ones. But for 25 years,
- 30:36Speaker 14: administration after administration, including leaders in front of us here today,
- 30:41Speaker 14: chose to protect the Saudis instead of standing with the
- 30:45Speaker 14: 9-11 families.
- 30:48Speaker 1: She's correct.
- 30:49Speaker 2: Redacted from that 9-11 commission report is the Saudi involvement.
- 30:54Speaker 14: They vetoed JASTA. They broke promises, both public and private.
- 30:59Speaker 14: It has been one betrayal after another. President Trump can
- 31:03Speaker 14: still change that. Tell the Saudis to stop lying. Tell
- 31:07Speaker 14: them that if they want to be friends with the USA,
- 31:10Speaker 14: They cannot continue to deny all of this, all of
- 31:13Speaker 14: the pain, all of the destruction that we have all
- 31:15Speaker 14: been suffering through. Vice President Vance, thank you for being
- 31:19Speaker 14: here today. Please carry that message back. Stand with the families.
- 31:26Speaker 14: Stand with the survivors. Stand with Americans. As my husband
- 31:30Speaker 14: Tom would have said, that is always the right thing
- 31:33Speaker 14: to do. God bless all of us.
- 31:36Speaker 17: God bless America.
- 31:37Speaker 1: Wow.
- 31:39Speaker 3: Wow.
- 31:40Speaker 2: She's absolutely right.
- 31:42Speaker 1: Yeah, my goodness. I mean, that obviously was planned. And wow,
- 31:49Speaker 1: how fortuitous that we took the reading of the names
- 31:53Speaker 1: right at that moment because that made news at that moment.
- 31:57Speaker 1: That's something that's going to be talked about, well, throughout
- 32:00Speaker 1: the day and over the weekend.
- 32:03Speaker 2: And you know who's standing there, Bush 43. who's responsible
- 32:08Speaker 2: for that, protecting the Saudis. So let's see what happens.
- 32:12Speaker 2: If the wishes of the families are met.
- 32:15Speaker 1: That was an historic moment and you got to hear
- 32:19Speaker 1: it live. The Talkback of the Week is a listener
- 32:22Speaker 1: who helps us remember how even during all the hurt
- 32:25Speaker 1: and the pain of that day, 25 years ago, we
- 32:30Speaker 1: did find a way to come together.
- 32:32Speaker 10: I remember setting up a makeshift memorial when the towers
- 32:35Speaker 10: collapsed and I spelled USA in red, white, and blue
- 32:39Speaker 10: candles and added an American flag and flowers.
- 32:43Speaker 1: And it was amazing how fast it grew.
- 32:46Speaker 10: Everybody just started adding more flowers, adding more candles, adding
- 32:50Speaker 10: more American flags, adding notes. And I kept thinking to myself,
- 32:57Speaker 10: this is amazing how together we are on a bad day.
- 33:02Speaker 1: We will be sending him a morning show T-shirt and
- 33:05Speaker 1: a C-Crane radio as well. C-Crane radios that work when
- 33:08Speaker 1: it matters most. I also hope you'll tune in on
- 33:10Speaker 1: Sunday at noon. I'm going to be hosting the New
- 33:12Speaker 1: York Roadrunners Fifth Avenue Mile. It'll be me, Tim McClune,
- 33:17Speaker 1: and Bex Jenry. It should be a great race and
- 33:20Speaker 1: a great forecast.
- 33:21Speaker 2: Follow 710WOR on Instagram and Facebook. We have a thread
- 33:26Speaker 2: going on about making sure... The 9-11 education is mandatory.
- 33:33Speaker 2: One-third of Americans were born after the attack on 9-11.
- 33:37Speaker 2: Let's make our voices heard everywhere in our educational system.
- 33:43Speaker 2: Coming up, Mark Simone at 9, with the iconic Scott Shannon,
- 33:50Speaker 2: who has his own memories to share with all of you.
- 33:55Speaker 2: But right now, it's the news at 9.