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American Morning
Ground Zero Flags
Aired May 22, 2003 - 09:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: This is Fleet Week in New York, when the city welcomes arriving ships and sailors. In town, our officers with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. One year ago, they received flags from the Port Authority Police Department, including a World Trade Center memorial flag and an American flag. Since the unit was deployed last August, the flags have traveled to half a dozen countries, including Iraq.
Today, the Marines returned them to Ground Zero and the Port Authority Police.
Captain Dan McSweeney and Sergeant Dennis MaCaulay of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, are at Ground Zero right now.
Thanks to both of you for being with us this morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks a lot for having us.
COLLINS: Sergeant, MaCaulay, I'd like to begin with you. I know that your neighbor was one of the Port Authority Police Officers who was killed on September 11th. What has this meant to the 24th MEU to be the keeper of these flags?
SGT. DENNIS MACAULAY, USMC: Well, we're very proud to do it. It's very important for us to get the point across to America that we are -- we're here to protect them. So, we're glad to return their flag, and happy to be back.
COLLINS: So, tell us all about it. Captain McSweeney, you returned the flags this morning, as we said. What was it like? How did you feel inside doing that?
CAPT. DAN MCSWEENEY, USMC: It was a really incredible experience, just because we were here a year ago during Fleet Week. That's where we received the flag, and to be able to give it back after having flown it in so many different places was an incredible feeling. The 37 Port Authority police department officers that were killed on 09/11 were honored, I hope, by our gesture, and that was one of our goals in doing it.
COLLINS: Tell us about the symbolism of the flags and why you thought it was important for your unit to have them.
MCSWEENEY: Obviously, it provided direct link during our deployment to what happened on September 11th. And we think it's real important to demonstrate the strong links that exist between military services and our civilian services, and the Port Authority Police Department is the perfect organization for us to do that with.
COLLINS: Sergeant MaCaulay, I know you came back a little bit early, ahead of the rest of the unit, so that you could return the flags during Fleet Week. When is the rest of the unit expected to arrive back at Camp Lejeune?
MCSWEENEY: They are supposed to be on Monday, Memorial day.
COLLINS: And what is their feeling? What is the overall feeling about all of this, and the symbolism behind it?
MCSWEENEY: Well, we're glad that we were able to protect America and make sure nothing like this ever can happen again, and that's about it.
COLLINS: Were you nervous being in charge of the flags? I mean, they really did symbolize a lot. Was there any sort of -- as you handled them on a daily basis, I would imagine, did it make you nervous at all?
MCSWEENEY: It sure did.
COLLINS: How so?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think best way to describe the feeling, is we understood the importance of the flags, and we wanted to make sure that we treated them right, and we did that. We flew them everywhere went. We always protected them and it's an incredible feeling to come here been give them back to the Port Authority guys. It's a really special relationship that we established with them, and to be here at Ground Zero, one year after we were here to receive see of flags, just -- it made us feel that we're a part of the ongoing effort to defend our country.
COLLINS: Great. I want to bring someone else in now, CNN correspondent Bob Franken, who was embedded with these Marines during the war in Iraq.
Bob, bet these two faces are quite familiar to you. What can you tell us about the evening?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: First of all, this was a remarkably cooperative unit. The commander of it, Colonel Rich Mills went to great pains to explain that he had caused his officers to go to school to understand the media, something a lot of us would probably like to be able to do. I think that Captain McSweeney, however, deserves at least a Purple Heart for the damage that we did to his mental health, if nothing else. He had to herd the cats, the reporters who were covering this. They called the truck they hauled us around on the clown cart, and much to their surprise, we rather enjoyed having that.
You're watching now some of the coverage that we're able to do. You're looking now at somebody they picked up along the way who covered what was going on there, leaving the helicopter in the middle of the desert, we had to carry our own gear, which was something of course that we were not all that used to doing. It was quite an experience. We lived with the Marines. We were able to experience to some degree what they went through, the heat, the dirt and all that kind of thing. But it was a story not so much the embedment, but the chance to watch them close up.
And in this particular case, they allowed us without argument to report as reporters, as opposed to getting bonded to the point that we forgot we were journalists. This was a particular remarkable assignment and Captain McSweeney was the one who made it work.
COLLINS: Thanks so much. Bob Franken, thanks so much. You were embedded with the 24 MEU, and Captain Dan McSweeney, and Sergeant Dennis MaCaulay, we also appreciate their time this morning. Thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 22, 2003 - 09:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: This is Fleet Week in New York, when the city welcomes arriving ships and sailors. In town, our officers with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. One year ago, they received flags from the Port Authority Police Department, including a World Trade Center memorial flag and an American flag. Since the unit was deployed last August, the flags have traveled to half a dozen countries, including Iraq.
Today, the Marines returned them to Ground Zero and the Port Authority Police.
Captain Dan McSweeney and Sergeant Dennis MaCaulay of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, are at Ground Zero right now.
Thanks to both of you for being with us this morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks a lot for having us.
COLLINS: Sergeant, MaCaulay, I'd like to begin with you. I know that your neighbor was one of the Port Authority Police Officers who was killed on September 11th. What has this meant to the 24th MEU to be the keeper of these flags?
SGT. DENNIS MACAULAY, USMC: Well, we're very proud to do it. It's very important for us to get the point across to America that we are -- we're here to protect them. So, we're glad to return their flag, and happy to be back.
COLLINS: So, tell us all about it. Captain McSweeney, you returned the flags this morning, as we said. What was it like? How did you feel inside doing that?
CAPT. DAN MCSWEENEY, USMC: It was a really incredible experience, just because we were here a year ago during Fleet Week. That's where we received the flag, and to be able to give it back after having flown it in so many different places was an incredible feeling. The 37 Port Authority police department officers that were killed on 09/11 were honored, I hope, by our gesture, and that was one of our goals in doing it.
COLLINS: Tell us about the symbolism of the flags and why you thought it was important for your unit to have them.
MCSWEENEY: Obviously, it provided direct link during our deployment to what happened on September 11th. And we think it's real important to demonstrate the strong links that exist between military services and our civilian services, and the Port Authority Police Department is the perfect organization for us to do that with.
COLLINS: Sergeant MaCaulay, I know you came back a little bit early, ahead of the rest of the unit, so that you could return the flags during Fleet Week. When is the rest of the unit expected to arrive back at Camp Lejeune?
MCSWEENEY: They are supposed to be on Monday, Memorial day.
COLLINS: And what is their feeling? What is the overall feeling about all of this, and the symbolism behind it?
MCSWEENEY: Well, we're glad that we were able to protect America and make sure nothing like this ever can happen again, and that's about it.
COLLINS: Were you nervous being in charge of the flags? I mean, they really did symbolize a lot. Was there any sort of -- as you handled them on a daily basis, I would imagine, did it make you nervous at all?
MCSWEENEY: It sure did.
COLLINS: How so?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think best way to describe the feeling, is we understood the importance of the flags, and we wanted to make sure that we treated them right, and we did that. We flew them everywhere went. We always protected them and it's an incredible feeling to come here been give them back to the Port Authority guys. It's a really special relationship that we established with them, and to be here at Ground Zero, one year after we were here to receive see of flags, just -- it made us feel that we're a part of the ongoing effort to defend our country.
COLLINS: Great. I want to bring someone else in now, CNN correspondent Bob Franken, who was embedded with these Marines during the war in Iraq.
Bob, bet these two faces are quite familiar to you. What can you tell us about the evening?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: First of all, this was a remarkably cooperative unit. The commander of it, Colonel Rich Mills went to great pains to explain that he had caused his officers to go to school to understand the media, something a lot of us would probably like to be able to do. I think that Captain McSweeney, however, deserves at least a Purple Heart for the damage that we did to his mental health, if nothing else. He had to herd the cats, the reporters who were covering this. They called the truck they hauled us around on the clown cart, and much to their surprise, we rather enjoyed having that.
You're watching now some of the coverage that we're able to do. You're looking now at somebody they picked up along the way who covered what was going on there, leaving the helicopter in the middle of the desert, we had to carry our own gear, which was something of course that we were not all that used to doing. It was quite an experience. We lived with the Marines. We were able to experience to some degree what they went through, the heat, the dirt and all that kind of thing. But it was a story not so much the embedment, but the chance to watch them close up.
And in this particular case, they allowed us without argument to report as reporters, as opposed to getting bonded to the point that we forgot we were journalists. This was a particular remarkable assignment and Captain McSweeney was the one who made it work.
COLLINS: Thanks so much. Bob Franken, thanks so much. You were embedded with the 24 MEU, and Captain Dan McSweeney, and Sergeant Dennis MaCaulay, we also appreciate their time this morning. Thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
