Mentone Firemen Return From 'Ground Zero'
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
MENTONE - "Incredible."
That word kept coming up when Mentone Town Marshal Jim Eads and resident Matt Cohagen described the scene in and around Ground Zero.
Both men are members of the Mentone Fire Department and were present at Monday's Mentone Town Council meeting to thank council members for allowing the use of the town's police vehicle to travel to New York for a memorial parade. Although the parade ended up being postponed because family members of those lost and/or still missing weren't yet ready to participate in such an event, Eads, Cohagen and other local firemen recently spent nearly four days surveying the damage up close.
Several memorial sites have been set up in the area and Mentone firefighters left a poster promoting the countywide smoke detector program at one of the locations. Along with the poster, they left a gold dollar coin for luck. These items were among hundreds of thousands of memorabilia left for remembrance, support, luck, sympathy and various other reasons. When the firefighters returned to the same site on their second day in the city, the gold dollar remained where it was placed. Other coins and monetary gifts were there, too, and were undisturbed.
"Nobody bothers it," Cohagen said. "It's like sacred ground."
Eads said the reception every firefighter got was "incredible. ... We were walking down the street and people wanted to come and shake our hands." When the group stopped for lunch, the $42 tab was picked up by a woman from Massachusetts who was dining in the same restaurant. The waitress pointed out the woman to the uniformed firefighters, but she slipped out before they could thank her.
The New York firemen who greeted the visitors "treated us like it was us who lost somebody," Eads said. "Everybody's bonded together over this."
Of the destruction left behind in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack: "I haven't found the words to describe it yet ... every emotion was running through me at the same time." Eads said. As part of their trip, the local firefighters climbed atop a firehouse in the 16-acre area of wreckage. During the three-story climb, Eads said, he became emotional, with his knees shaking and feeling sick to his stomach.
With a firehouse about every 10 square blocks, Eads said, the contingent from Indiana met many of their surviving New York brothers and delivered posters from a Mentone Elementary School first-grade class to one group. The posters will likely be placed in public view like countless others that were plastered to shop windows everywhere the firefighters went.
In addition to having access to the area between the outer and secondary perimeters of Ground Zero, the group took in a little sightseeing, including the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty.
While at Ground Zero, the firemen watched as crews continued to move the toppled buildings, scoop by giant scoop. One huge piece of equipment was able to fill a semi trailer in three scoops.
"It shows you how big it (the wreckage) is and lets you know how long it's going to take to clean up," Cohagen said, adding that a portion of the wreckage that was pointed out to them was an area of debris about 14 inches deep now but once was nearly four floors of the World Trade Center.
Both men agreed that something needs to be done to keep people reminded of the ongoing cleanup efforts and the ramifications of the destruction, not just for New Yorkers, but for the whole nation. "This is in their backyard," Cohagen said, "and they see it every day. We only see what updates are given on the news. We need to keep in mind here what is still going on there."
He said that 12 bodies were found in what was once the 17th floor of the World Trade Center. The airpocketed area was 20 feet below ground.
Eads said one firehouse lost 50 of its 56 men. Another firehouse lost 26 men, including a chief, assistant chief and captain. "That's like us losing our whole department," Eads said, pointing out that 27 men make up the Mentone Fire Department.
Two photo albums, with captions written in on each page, commemorate the trip. "The amount of destruction is unbelievable," a caption reads on a picture of tangled I-beams and ash-covered rubble.
Although Eads classified the trek to New York as "a once-in-a-lifetime trip," he plans to return when the memorial parade is rescheduled. [[In-content Ad]]
MENTONE - "Incredible."
That word kept coming up when Mentone Town Marshal Jim Eads and resident Matt Cohagen described the scene in and around Ground Zero.
Both men are members of the Mentone Fire Department and were present at Monday's Mentone Town Council meeting to thank council members for allowing the use of the town's police vehicle to travel to New York for a memorial parade. Although the parade ended up being postponed because family members of those lost and/or still missing weren't yet ready to participate in such an event, Eads, Cohagen and other local firemen recently spent nearly four days surveying the damage up close.
Several memorial sites have been set up in the area and Mentone firefighters left a poster promoting the countywide smoke detector program at one of the locations. Along with the poster, they left a gold dollar coin for luck. These items were among hundreds of thousands of memorabilia left for remembrance, support, luck, sympathy and various other reasons. When the firefighters returned to the same site on their second day in the city, the gold dollar remained where it was placed. Other coins and monetary gifts were there, too, and were undisturbed.
"Nobody bothers it," Cohagen said. "It's like sacred ground."
Eads said the reception every firefighter got was "incredible. ... We were walking down the street and people wanted to come and shake our hands." When the group stopped for lunch, the $42 tab was picked up by a woman from Massachusetts who was dining in the same restaurant. The waitress pointed out the woman to the uniformed firefighters, but she slipped out before they could thank her.
The New York firemen who greeted the visitors "treated us like it was us who lost somebody," Eads said. "Everybody's bonded together over this."
Of the destruction left behind in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack: "I haven't found the words to describe it yet ... every emotion was running through me at the same time." Eads said. As part of their trip, the local firefighters climbed atop a firehouse in the 16-acre area of wreckage. During the three-story climb, Eads said, he became emotional, with his knees shaking and feeling sick to his stomach.
With a firehouse about every 10 square blocks, Eads said, the contingent from Indiana met many of their surviving New York brothers and delivered posters from a Mentone Elementary School first-grade class to one group. The posters will likely be placed in public view like countless others that were plastered to shop windows everywhere the firefighters went.
In addition to having access to the area between the outer and secondary perimeters of Ground Zero, the group took in a little sightseeing, including the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty.
While at Ground Zero, the firemen watched as crews continued to move the toppled buildings, scoop by giant scoop. One huge piece of equipment was able to fill a semi trailer in three scoops.
"It shows you how big it (the wreckage) is and lets you know how long it's going to take to clean up," Cohagen said, adding that a portion of the wreckage that was pointed out to them was an area of debris about 14 inches deep now but once was nearly four floors of the World Trade Center.
Both men agreed that something needs to be done to keep people reminded of the ongoing cleanup efforts and the ramifications of the destruction, not just for New Yorkers, but for the whole nation. "This is in their backyard," Cohagen said, "and they see it every day. We only see what updates are given on the news. We need to keep in mind here what is still going on there."
He said that 12 bodies were found in what was once the 17th floor of the World Trade Center. The airpocketed area was 20 feet below ground.
Eads said one firehouse lost 50 of its 56 men. Another firehouse lost 26 men, including a chief, assistant chief and captain. "That's like us losing our whole department," Eads said, pointing out that 27 men make up the Mentone Fire Department.
Two photo albums, with captions written in on each page, commemorate the trip. "The amount of destruction is unbelievable," a caption reads on a picture of tangled I-beams and ash-covered rubble.
Although Eads classified the trek to New York as "a once-in-a-lifetime trip," he plans to return when the memorial parade is rescheduled. [[In-content Ad]]