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CNN Live Today
Interview With Anthony Cavallaro
Aired September 11, 2003 - 11:35 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: There have been memorials overseas as well, and CNN's senior international correspondent Walt Rodgers is in Baghdad for more on that as well.
Walt, good morning to you.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Soledad.
The candles you see burning over my shoulder were lighted just a few moments ago in a very touching and tasteful ceremony commemorating the 9/11 attacks two years ago.
I'm with the 800th Military Police Brigade from Long Island. Many of the men and women serving in this unit, now in Baghdad, were in New York two days (sic) ago. Some participated in the relief. One of them, the man we're about to introduce, Major Anthony Cavallaro, was actually in building two at Ground Zero.
Major, how were you touched by this ceremony? What memories did it bring back?
MAJOR ANTHONY CAVALLARO, U.S. ARMY: A very, very nice ceremony. It's hard to believe that two years have gone by since that tragic day.
During the ceremony, I was just thinking of some of the horrible things I saw that day and how I was able to get home to my family. Unfortunately, many of those people in those buildings weren't able to get home that day.
RODGERS: You were on the 30th floor of building two, is that correct? When you think about that now, do you ever wonder, ask yourself, how you were spared, others were not? What thoughts go through your mind two years later?
CAVALLARO: I think that someone was looking out for me that day. And you know, I often think how different it could have been for my family if things would have turned out differently that day, if the plane would have struck a little bit lower than it struck that day, or if the building would have toppled down immediately, like these terrorists probably wanted it to do that day.
RODGERS: Why is it so important that these commemorative ceremonies, like this one, with the 800th Military Police Brigade from Long Island, taking place here in Baghdad, why is it so important these ceremonies continue? What do you think needs to be remembered and perpetuated?
CAVALLARO: You need to remember the people who lost their lives that day. We need to remember why it is that we're here doing these things and the things that the military has done and the people of America have done for the last two years.
So we need to remember this day so we can go forward from it. We don't always think about September 11 except for days like this, where we just stop back and reflect on what happened that day.
RODGERS: Many of your fellow soldiers in this unit walked up to the microphone a few moments ago and shared their reminiscences about people they knew that day, people who died. Do you want to share any?
CAVALLARO: Well, we had a colleague in my office whose name was Jeff Cloud (ph) and he got a job with Cantor Fitzgerald about a year before September 11, and unfortunately that office was up in the 90's on Tower 1 and he didn't make it out that day, and so that, you know, that's something that touched our office very deeply.
Our office -- I worked for the New York Stock Exchange. We had our enforcement division at 2 World Trade Center. We were fortunate not to lose anybody from our office.
RODGERS: What is it that Americans need to remember and should never forget about what happened then and what you're doing here now?
CAVALLARO: Americans need to remember that there's people in this world that don't like us and will do anything to kill us. They would have killed 10,000 people that day if they could have, and so that's why we need to be here, to prevent those things from happening again, so when my kids and your kids and anyone else's kids go to work in New York City or any other city in our country, that a horrible day like September 11 never happens again.
RODGERS: Major Anthony Cavallaro, thank you very much for talking to us. Major Anthony Cavallaro, 800th Military Police Brigade, a reservist serving here in Baghdad, was in the World Trade Center, made it out that day, telling us what's important to remember.
Back to you -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, Walt Rodgers for us, in Baghdad this morning. Walt, thank you for that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: There have been memorials overseas as well, and CNN's senior international correspondent Walt Rodgers is in Baghdad for more on that as well.
Walt, good morning to you.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Soledad.
The candles you see burning over my shoulder were lighted just a few moments ago in a very touching and tasteful ceremony commemorating the 9/11 attacks two years ago.
I'm with the 800th Military Police Brigade from Long Island. Many of the men and women serving in this unit, now in Baghdad, were in New York two days (sic) ago. Some participated in the relief. One of them, the man we're about to introduce, Major Anthony Cavallaro>
Aired September 11, 2003 - 11:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: There have been memorials overseas as well, and CNN's senior international correspondent Walt Rodgers is in Baghdad for more on that as well.
Walt, good morning to you.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Soledad.
The candles you see burning over my shoulder were lighted just a few moments ago in a very touching and tasteful ceremony commemorating the 9/11 attacks two years ago.
I'm with the 800th Military Police Brigade from Long Island. Many of the men and women serving in this unit, now in Baghdad, were in New York two days (sic) ago. Some participated in the relief. One of them, the man we're about to introduce, Major Anthony Cavallaro, was actually in building two at Ground Zero.
Major, how were you touched by this ceremony? What memories did it bring back?
MAJOR ANTHONY CAVALLARO, U.S. ARMY: A very, very nice ceremony. It's hard to believe that two years have gone by since that tragic day.
During the ceremony, I was just thinking of some of the horrible things I saw that day and how I was able to get home to my family. Unfortunately, many of those people in those buildings weren't able to get home that day.
RODGERS: You were on the 30th floor of building two, is that correct? When you think about that now, do you ever wonder, ask yourself, how you were spared, others were not? What thoughts go through your mind two years later?
CAVALLARO: I think that someone was looking out for me that day. And you know, I often think how different it could have been for my family if things would have turned out differently that day, if the plane would have struck a little bit lower than it struck that day, or if the building would have toppled down immediately, like these terrorists probably wanted it to do that day.
RODGERS: Why is it so important that these commemorative ceremonies, like this one, with the 800th Military Police Brigade from Long Island, taking place here in Baghdad, why is it so important these ceremonies continue? What do you think needs to be remembered and perpetuated?
CAVALLARO: You need to remember the people who lost their lives that day. We need to remember why it is that we're here doing these things and the things that the military has done and the people of America have done for the last two years.
So we need to remember this day so we can go forward from it. We don't always think about September 11 except for days like this, where we just stop back and reflect on what happened that day.
RODGERS: Many of your fellow soldiers in this unit walked up to the microphone a few moments ago and shared their reminiscences about people they knew that day, people who died. Do you want to share any?
CAVALLARO: Well, we had a colleague in my office whose name was Jeff Cloud (ph) and he got a job with Cantor Fitzgerald about a year before September 11, and unfortunately that office was up in the 90's on Tower 1 and he didn't make it out that day, and so that, you know, that's something that touched our office very deeply.
Our office -- I worked for the New York Stock Exchange. We had our enforcement division at 2 World Trade Center. We were fortunate not to lose anybody from our office.
RODGERS: What is it that Americans need to remember and should never forget about what happened then and what you're doing here now?
CAVALLARO: Americans need to remember that there's people in this world that don't like us and will do anything to kill us. They would have killed 10,000 people that day if they could have, and so that's why we need to be here, to prevent those things from happening again, so when my kids and your kids and anyone else's kids go to work in New York City or any other city in our country, that a horrible day like September 11 never happens again.
RODGERS: Major Anthony Cavallaro, thank you very much for talking to us. Major Anthony Cavallaro, 800th Military Police Brigade, a reservist serving here in Baghdad, was in the World Trade Center, made it out that day, telling us what's important to remember.
Back to you -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, Walt Rodgers for us, in Baghdad this morning. Walt, thank you for that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: There have been memorials overseas as well, and CNN's senior international correspondent Walt Rodgers is in Baghdad for more on that as well.
Walt, good morning to you.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Soledad.
The candles you see burning over my shoulder were lighted just a few moments ago in a very touching and tasteful ceremony commemorating the 9/11 attacks two years ago.
I'm with the 800th Military Police Brigade from Long Island. Many of the men and women serving in this unit, now in Baghdad, were in New York two days (sic) ago. Some participated in the relief. One of them, the man we're about to introduce, Major Anthony Cavallaro>
