Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Five Lives

Aired September 10, 2002 - 22:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANDERSON COOPER, GUEST HOST: Good evening. I'm Anderson Cooper for Aaron Brown, who we hope is getting some rest tonight. Aaron, if you are watching, go to sleep. It is 10:00 already.
At just past dawn tomorrow, Aaron will be right where he was September 11, 2001, on the roof of our New York bureau with the view south to lower Manhattan.

It is a skyline that, even a year later, is still alarmingly vacant, unnatural to anyone who lives in New York City. Now, that doesn't mean you won't see Aaron Brown tonight. Aaron, with the help of the NEWSNIGHT staff, will take us through a special program on what is surely an unsettling night for all of us.

Tonight we'll trace those first hours and days, and then the year that followed, from five different points of views, all from people directly affected by what happened. It is told in their own words, the best way we thought to tell a story, of what has been a remarkable year. That is coming in few minutes. But first on with the day's news.

In the news tonight, is dominated by the decision to raise the nation's color-coded security alert from Yellow to Orange. The difference being the government now believes the risk of a terrorist attack to be high, and is taking additional precautions in the name of safety, here and abroad.

So, for specifics, we begin our abbreviated whip by turning to CNN's Jeanne Meserve in Washington. Good evening Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Anderson.

Perhaps the most startling sign of the new threat level, portable air defenses, a raid around Washington, D.C. for a military exercise, have now been armed with missiles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the escalation threat level orange, and explained the rationale behind it.

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The United States government has concluded, based on analysis and specific intelligence of possible attacks on U.S. interests overseas, to call government, law enforcement and citizens, both at home and overseas, to a heightened state of alert.

MESERVE: Fresh intelligence from senior al Qaeda operative in the custody of a friendly country, indicates American embassies and military facilities in Southeast Asia could be targeted on the anniversary of September 11 attacks. Intelligence from a separate source suggests the possibility of al Qaeda suicide attacks against American targets in the Middle East.

In response, embassy security is being beefed up. Concerned about a possible attack had already shut some embassies, including those in Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan and Bahrain. Americans overseas were warned by the state department, to be vigilant. No specific or credible threat against any domestic targets, but the current pattern is so similar to what was seen just prior to last September's attacks, security within the U.S. will be more visible and robust.

TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY DIRECTOR: They may engage in increased surveillance, or counter surveillance operations. May make adjustments as to the number of entry points into buildings.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (on-camera): Private industry, government officials, and law enforcement, all were briefed on other security steps they might take. The public was asked to stay vigilant, report anything unusual and go about its business, which tomorrow, may well include remembering the last catastrophic terrorist attacks against the U.S. -- Anderson.

COOPER: Alright Jeanne, thanks very much for that. Tonight, on now to the White House where the president is preparing for the ceremonies tomorrow, and his speech to the nation tomorrow night.

CNN's Kelly Wallace is there. Kelly, it is bound to be a busy day for the president tomorrow.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, a busy day and a hard day, according to President Bush. He says it will be a hard day for most Americans. He will be spending day paying tribute to the victims at the Pentagon, at the crash in Pennsylvania and in New York City. His schedule is remaining the same, not changing due to the higher nation's threat level.

But Vice President Cheney's schedule is changing. He is remaining at a "secure, undisclosed location." In fact, he had a speech in Washington tonight. He canceled that, and sent videotape of his remarks instead. And tomorrow he will not be joining the president at commemorative events in the Washington D.C. area, including the moment of silence at the White House, and the ceremony at the Pentagon.

Aides say they are doing it out of an abundance of caution, and in keeping with continuity of government protocols, which calls to separating the president and the vice president during times of increased threats. Anderson. COOPER: Alright. Kelly Wallace, thanks very much. Thank both of you.

That is the news at the top the hour. I will be back with another update in about 30 minutes. Here now, our special presentation, "Five Lives and Aaron Brown."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON BROWN, HOST: Anderson, thanks, and good evening again, everyone.

People, all of us, have such powerful memories of September 11. But we're less certain than most of us have any real memory of this night a year ago, the night before our world's change. It was in fact, just another day here in New York. There was a driving rainstorm on September 10. But the forecasters promised, that Tuesday the 11th, would be warm and it would be sunny.

The 10th was a forgettable day, in the way a normal day could be. We think about it tonight. The serenity of it all. That millions of people would get a good nights sleep, and get up and go to work, all in their own world, seemingly disconnected from each other. Separate threads and different pasts.

What happened on September 11, was that the threads, for worse, but also in some ways, for the better, became bound up in one enormous knot. Tonight we look at five different stories, five different worlds that collided that morning.

The widow of a firefighter, the fiancee and the family of a lost trader. A worker down at Ground Zero. A family forced out of their home in lower Manhattan. And the rarest of the rare, a survivor badly burned but alive. We have spent a year following their stories, and we begin their stories with those first few minutes, and a quick look, first, at who they are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVEN IRGANG: I'm Steven Irgang, Doug's brother and Doug's best friend.

He ran, he swam. He biked. Usually before he got to work at 7:30. Was a sales trader at Sandler O'Neill, which was on the 104th floor of tower two. And he loved it. He met a great girl, Kristen, his fiancee, an they were planning on getting married December 22, 2001.

KRISTEN LADNER: I feel like my life down with the towers, honestly.

JOANNE IRGANG: Doug. He was the best son you could ever ask for. When you lose a child, you lose your heart. MANU DHINGRA: My name is Manu Dhingra. I was a trader at September 11, at Andover Securities. I was a little late to work that day. Going up to my office, just gotten off the elevator, and that's when the first plane actually hit. The elevator doors just exploded, and I was just caught in a ball of fire.

When I realized that I wasn't dead, you know, -- only thing that gave me courage and strength to come down was my parents. Because I knew how hard it would have been for them if I wasn't here anymore.

You don't know what you have until you almost lose it or you do lose it. You know, and I thought I lost everything.

NANCY LOVING: We're Kevin and Nancy Loving. We have three children and we live here at the Post Towers building, which is -- was in the shadow of the World Trade Center. That day, I -- I held my husband's hand, and I had my children's hand, and we evacuated together. The whole time I just felt so lucky.

The definitely the face of the neighborhood has changed. But I believe we are going to rebuild. And I want my children to see that. I don't want them to have the last thing in their mind, is what they saw that day. Every day I look out at Ground Zero and it's a constant reminder. But I know that we were saved.

BILL REPETTY: My name is Bill Repetty. I'm a crane operator. And this is my city. And I was outraged and I wanted to help.

We worked seven days a week. Minimum of 12 hours a day. Sometimes longer. It was pretty horrible. You didn't know what you were picking. You know, if something else would cave in, or you were going to hurt somebody. So it was very, very stressful. Going there, every day, and -- and just seeing that mess, it was just -- you know, I knew my family is important before, but more so now.

SHARON COLE: His name is Keithroy Marceles Maynard. He's 30 years old. He works for the New York Fire Department. At first I tried to talk him out of becoming a firefighter. It didn't work. I seen had he a passion for it and that's what he wanted. He joined here, was excited to say my dad is a firefighter. I never imagine that he would ever disappear from my life so early, at such a young age.

ANNOUNCER: 22 minutes, we'll give you the world.

LEE HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, 64 degrees at 8 o'clock. It is Tuesday, September 11, I am Lee Harris, here is what is happening. It is primary day, and the polls are open in New York City.

COLE: That morning I was fast asleep. So he woke me about 7:00 that morning. And said I must get up, and go and vote. At first I was thinking about, because he was a little bit too happy. And that's unlike him. He's a grouchy person in the morning. Never too happy. I was like, are you all right? And he said, yes, I'm OK. But you need to get up and go and vote. So I said, OK I'm up, I'm up. And that was it.

KEITH LOVING: Our youngest child was starting pre-K. It was his first day.

N. LOVING: I was gathering the camera and thinks that I wanted to take Elliot's picture. It was close to the quarter till, when we heard the sound of the plane.

DHINGRA: I was on the 83rd floor of the first tower. All of a sudden as I was walking in the hallway, I hear a door explode. And just this big ball of fire just engulfed me. I'm thinking, how am I going to get down? My arms are burned. My back is burned. My face and -- some of my friends say like, when you have to get up, you have to get up. There's nobody here, you have to get up. So, I don't know how, I just jumped up. Just started running down the stairs.

J. IRGANG: At quarter of 9:00 when he called, he said, Ma, don't worry. So of course, that made me worry. And I said, what? What? And he said everything is OK. An airplane hit the other building.

So with at that point, we hung up and we put on the TV. I didn't know what was going on. And then I saw -- I thought there had to be danger to building number two if there was so much smoke coming out of building number one. I regretted not having said, just run. Just get out of there.

LADNER: About 9:00, somebody came into my classroom and said my mom was on the phone, and it was an emergency so I ran to the office and she told me what happened. And somebody else in the main office said, oh, Doug called you about 10 minutes ago and said he was OK.

As things progressed and it got progressively worse. And I was just calling his cell phone and praying he would turn up.

K. LOVING: Then I heard the roar of another plane at that point. Literally, just stood there and watched this plane slam into the next tower. And at that point, I sprinted back to the school and said, we got to get out of here. What's going to happen next?

DHINGRA: I was on the 15th floor. I see all these emergency workers and firefighters pushing everybody out of the way and going up the stairs. You know only later, it occurred to me, I hope some of them made it down. But it didn't seem likely at that time.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER (voice-over): An absolutely huge gaping hole, debris falling down to the street.

N. LOVING: We were mesmerized by the sight. I couldn't help but look. Because I was in awe in a fair and frightening way. I kept turning to the children's faces, because I didn't want them to see. And at that point, is the point where they saw, you know, a lot of people jumping.

I might have been able to mask some of this from them, but the people around us were just -- were in chaos and they were falling down. There were women shrieking. And it just shook. It shook the world. We knew it had come down, because the sound and the people screaming on the street. And we kept telling ourselves, don't turn around. Keep going. Keep going.

COLE: As the day passed, I sat and watched everything unfold.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER (voice-over): How did this happen? Two of the most recognizable buildings in the city of New York had been attacked, and both of them appeared to have collapsed...

COLE: I waited and waited. I said OK. When I see 4:00 come, I said, you know what? Something is wrong.

He would have just made a quick phone, even to call to say, gee, I'm OK but have to go back. You know. To let me know he was OK. And when I didn't hear that, I just started crying.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Coming up on this special NEWSNIGHT, the hours and the days right after the shock. Our five stories continue in just a moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alright, come on, Let's go!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you know anything, please call this number, please.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Father of three, real good guy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe somebody saw him when he came out.

S. IRGANG: We felt we had to do something and we weren't going to sit around and just cry in the apartment. So we had to just get out and do something. We were on our way to all the hospitals anyway, so we just figured, between each hospital and we'll put up posters.

COLE: Once I did this picture right here and I blew it up. They did like a 100 copies. And we just wrote on them, and we just started pasting up posters. I was just out there, because I had to do something, my son is looking at me, where is dad? And you know, stuff like that and when I come in every day, he looked at me, mom, did you find daddy yet? I'm like, no.

DR. ROGER YURT, NY CORNELL PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL: How are you feeling this morning?

DHINGRA: Pretty good. A little bit of pain.

YURT: OK. 39 percent of his body is burned. But it does then leave other areas non-burned, where we can take skin from to do the grafting.

His burn is probably more like 60 percent now because we went to the operating room and took more skin off. So until he heals those burns, he's actually got more injury than he had to begin with.

REPETTY: I walked around at least two hours with my mouth open just in shock. The TV coverage did not show half of what we seen, in your life. So, it was just total shock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got about 38 blocks.

REPETTY: That's no problem. Let's take it.

The first few days here, the air had burning feel to it, and smell, and we wore our mask constantly. As the days went on, it kind of gotten progressively better.

Beginning was just the rescue, just in there and rip as much out as you can to see if there's anybody still alive.

The greatest image I have is just the bucket brigade. Maybe 3, 4, 500 people in line, with pails. Guys digging on their hands and knees, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) spade, shovels, just an incredible show of humanity.

I was operating a crane running from the Vista Hotel. A whole squad of firemen and police officers emerged. Rescue workers ran in. I didn't really see what happened, but I assume that they rescued a body. They had got a body out of it. And about two hours later, I'm still working and swinging around. A firemen -- fireman came on the running board and just shook my hands. I said why. He said, you found my friend. Every day you find out the tally. That's the moment that find anything. When you don't find somebody to identify, that's, for us, a bad day.

LADNER: I could picture that he finds his way out of the rubble, at this point. You know? I don't know. You know, we just -- we wanted to spend our life together and, you know, have children, and get dogs and, you know. Be together.

K. LOVING: Hop over.

N. LOVING: Now we're staying in friends' homes that we evacuated with. But it is not home. And we don't have any of our things except the things that we had on our backs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you dog with Elliot?

N. LOVING: You know, Elliot is at temporary school on Fulton and Dutch.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's the downtown school. N. LOVING: Take me an hour to walk there.

We were questioned by a lot of family and friends about our decision to come back. And we were one the first families that came back into Battery Park.

It was like, how you could, knowing what happened? But all the more reason to come back, I think it's a tribute to those people. All the people that worked in those buildings, in the Twin Towers, and the people in the neighborhood, they loved this area as much as we did.

My letter from management.

Every time I came back to the apartment, I just -- it was a reminder, because our breakfast dishes were still here. My husband and I left with -- just with our keys. It was hard. And then, our view is of the destruction. And that's one of the reasons I don't want the children to come back into our apartment. I just don't want the kids to see that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Coming up on this special NEWSNIGHT, we continue our five stories. But before that, a quick update on the day's news. Stay with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: In the weeks and months after September 11, there were so many markers in the paths of accepting to what had happened, and trying to move on.

There was the day New York Stock Exchange reopened. The day that David Letterman went back on the air. It would seem to say it was OK to laugh a little at least again.

The day flags were raised back to full mast. The moment when the rescue effort was finally, tragically, renamed a recovery effort.

It was necessary for all of us to do all of that. For the sake of the country. But how does someone like Sharon Cole move through the months without the father of her child?

Or Doug Irgang's fiancee, how did she get through Christmas? And that wedding that should have been?

And what about Billy Repetty, feeling that special pride of working at Ground Zero, but also feeling the pain of leaving his family behind?

We pick up with our five stories as they begin putting the pieces of their lives back together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REPETTY: Every day since September 14, come in the dark and you go home in the dark. 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., 7 days a week.

It's rough. I'm tired. You know, I come home and all I want to do is go to sleep. But this is, you know, this hallowed ground here. We lost so many people here.

You know, you keep saying that to yourself and it makes you get through. You know, when you sit back and realize why you're here, then it seems to keep you going. Keeps me going.

Hi, Nick.

See, my wife, my children, my friends -- they're there for me. They make it easy for me.

DANIELLE REPETTY: Ever since my dad went down there, I just, I think of him as like a hero and everything, because it does like, I feel bad for the kids that don't have fathers coming home and everything. And I'm grateful, like every second, that he comes home.

COLE: He told me, he said, mommy, I want to say something at daddy's memorial. And I said, OK.

He got a standing ovation, just because of what he said. And I was really proud of him, because he went up there like a man and did what he had to do.

I know definitely that he's not alive, you know. And I've come to terms with that.

I have a counseling session here tonight for the fire department.

The more I talk about it, the better I feel sometimes. I guess that's hearing somebody else's and know that it's not me alone that's in this situation. It helps to heal the mind somewhat.

I have our 6-year-old to live for. And life has to go on for him as well as me. And I know his father wouldn't even like to see us there just grieving over him and not being happy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Swimmers ready. Take your mark.

S. IRGANG: We wanted to do something that would make Doug proud of, you know, and help others and give back. Doug loved swimming, so we organized the swim-a-thon. We had 600 swimmers and we raised a lot of money.

We're using part of the proceeds to teach kids, not only under- privileged kids, but kids that lost parents in the World Trade Center, how to swim. LADNER: I felt very grateful for all of these friends that did this. And I just, you know, then you realize how loved Doug is.

I think it's sort of the shock wearing off and the reality setting in. And there's just tremendous sadness. And emptiness.

I just still feel like I'm in a relationship with someone. I'm not ready to let go. I mean, wearing my ring is just because I feel like I'm with him. So it's perfectly natural to me to wear the ring.

S. IRGANG: And they were planning on getting married December 22, 2001. That was a tough day for us.

We actually went to my mom's and just spent the whole day with my mom. We didn't do very much. It was a quiet day. It was sad.

LADNER: It's just getting through Saturday. And I feel Christmas will be a breeze compared to that. I'm glad to be with my family. I'm glad to be going someplace that's quiet and restful and peaceful. And being with my family is really important to me. And other than that, I really have just sort of blocked everything else out.

DHINGRA: Today, I'm going to go home, sit on my couch. That's it.

Life can't be normal. It can't be as usual, as it was. I just want to spend some time with my family and friends who were very supportive during this ordeal. And I'll be in rehab for a while.

That's my favorite shirt.

ANNOUNCER: ... to the World Trade Center attack burned ...

DHINGRA: Oh, wow.

ANNOUNCER: ... over 40 percent of his body, Manu Dhingra went home from the hospital.

DHINGRA: People wanted to show me a mirror. And I just didn't want to look, because I didn't want to -- I didn't know what I was going to see.

Everybody says it, but I didn't believe it in the beginning, but the actual burn care is more painful than the burns. And every day it seemed like I was reliving the whole experience, and even more so.

But I guess there's a method to what they do, and obviously, it worked for me. And like 20 other people who were in worse shape than I was, and one by one they're all coming out of the hospital.

N. LOVING: All right, sir, now I'm doing the Christmas presents, trying to get happy.

We want the kids to think that this Christmas is not going to be different than the other Christmases, and it's hard. Because in the meantime, we're still in a temporary apartment with now less than we've ever had before, because we've had to move so many times.

K. LOVING: We've had all these dates that we were supposedly going to be able to move back into our building. And every time our building has missed those dates.

N. LOVING: They detected asbestos and fiberglass, so they're doing an abatement, an air abatement. And they bring this machine in, and they suck all of the air out of the apartment, out the window. And then we have fresh air.

I think the tree looks really festive.

K. LOVING: Yes, it's maybe hard to celebrate somewhat. But it, really it should be the opposite.

N. LOVING: We really should have ...

K. LOVING: We could have -- we could not be alive. We have a lot to be thankful for.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Next on this special NEWSNIGHT, the aftershocks, the emotional ties -- some that took many months to surface.

Five stories of September 11 continues in just a moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: It is remarkable to think that in late August, just a few weeks ago, workers down in Lower Manhattan were still finding bone fragments. They found a woman's pelvic bone on the roof of a nearby building.

The physical evidence of what happened sometimes took months to uncover, if it was uncovered at all.

And the same is true for the psychological impact. Often a delayed impact. The recognition for some of the people we've been profiling, that even without a body, it is time to put someone to rest.

There are nightmares and signs of post-traumatic stress that took months to come to the surface. And there is the eventual realization of what really matters, what are the priorities after you've seen the worst.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) REPETTY: I shattered my forearm, and I was home for five weeks nursing this, and then came here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, Billy, start coming up. You've got a set of slings on 30 footers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take it away.

REPETTY: This is what we normally do. That was totally out of the normal.

I didn't want to leave until the last piece was taken out. And by getting hurt, it forced me to get out, which was good, because I was just -- it was getting to be too much.

I went the night the last column was taken out. It was very sad. But we had a good feeling, because when we walked up the ramp, all the firemen and police officers were saluting us in tears.

You know, here it's, everything is happy. Everything was sad there. But I was doing the same job. So, then you realize, that all this means nothing. It's just the family we have is very important to me now, more so than it was before.

SARI IRGANG: That's all right. Yeah, oh, just cut the bottoms off.

STEVEN IRGANG: Some days it's tough to get out of bed. But I just try to be really active, and that makes it a little easier. Because thinking is not good.

So, doing. I have all these projects. I just spent a lot of time just, you know, putting together all sorts of pictures and just so much, so many unknown, unanswered questions that will always be unanswered, that it's just tough to, you know, we'll never have closure, 100 percent closure.

This is all we have left, you know, the wallet. We hoped we -- there would have been, you know, more of Doug left than just pants and a wallet.

You know, we're still hoping that they find, you know, him. But, you know, so at least, I mean, we have something.

We unveiled the stone last week. But there's nothing to put there. But now we have a place to go. And he's, you know, he's in our heart, that's where he is. He's in our, you know, he's looking over us.

COLE: Hi, guys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How you doing?

COLE: These guys are like my second family. There's nothing that they wouldn't do for me and for the kids. DENNIS BRANTLEY, FIREMAN: That's one of the good things about the fire department. Everything you do, even outside, your families, everybody is really, really, really close.

So, when the tragedy happened, we felt like little Keith was just one of ours.

VINNIE DEMARINES, FIREMAN: Well, this is one of the letters that Keithroy sent us. You got 220 and the ladder 122 truck.

Please find my dad. Please come to my house.

We used to go to his house every day after 9/11. We brought food, said hello to the kids, his mother, you know, just did the right thing. Tried to get it through.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yea, we win.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We win.

BRANTLEY: They'll always have a place to come, hang out, sanctuary, whatever. They're our family.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Use the red. Use the red. Use this one.

COLE: They are a lifeline. And they let me know that. It's not just a day or year, or whatever. This is lifetime. And even when Little Keith is bent out of shape, they will be there to bend him back in, you know.

DHINGRA: This is my daily routine. I have to make sure that the grafts are moisturized.

I have some exercise, physical therapy exercise that I do just to flex my grafts and make sure that I don't lose the movement that I have gotten back.

The give pressure to the graft so it won't scar as badly. And they try to flatten the grafts out.

I see a psychiatrist along with a physical rehab person. I think psychologically I have a little work to do, because you know I still have flashbacks or images of something happening or something going wrong, whether it's flying or whether it's being at big places.

There's not a day that goes by that I didn't think of something bad happening to my flight. I went to see my best friend, Jeremy, in San Francisco.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are hoping to have that clearance at any time now.

DHINGRA: On the way back they had to evacuate the airport. It was like a bomb threat or some guy with residue on his shoes.

I'm getting ready to go on a trip to India to visit my relatives. A chance to spend some quality time with my mother. Just have a whole bunch of reasons, and just take another step forward, you know. I'm not looking forward to it, but I'm going to do it.

K. LOVING: So then what we'll do is we'll go through the rest of the stuff up there and see what we really want to bring down here.

It's nice to be around our own things again. It's really nice to be back in your own bed. You know, it's just -- this has really been pleasant.

Hopefully you'll have some space. It's just nice to have access to your clothes and to your things. To not keep running back and forth.

N. LOVING: It's a bigger apartment. It has a better view. It cost a lot less.

Right now the Red Cross is offering financial assistance, but the other assistances, the major thing I think right now that a lot of people is the counseling.

Would you like to finish this one? And then build a new one?

And to take -- we wouldn't have gone out asking for it. Dr. Franklin immediately recognized it in our middle daughter, Alise (ph), and said I think that she's suffering from post-traumatic stress. She told us that she really thought we needed to get help.

Someone came up with this Liberty Fund, which they're doing counseling down here for the kids. They're the ones that are going to have this horrible memory. So this -- a way for them to get it out and to talk about it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Up next, the people we profiled for nearly a year -- where are they now as they try to endure, if not fully recover.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: We've heard so many cliches going into the one-year anniversary of September 11. We've heard that Americans are stronger than they were before. We've heard that out of the worst, we have also seen the best.

Cliches, it turns out, often have the advantage of being true.

But what we think the most compelling way to view September 11 is to look at individuals. Please faced with something they never should have faced at all, who simply endured. For the people we've met tonight, that process will not end tomorrow, or September 12, or the September 12 after that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN: One, two, three! Go, Stan, go!

REPETTY: Look. They got back to normal. It's my kids, and my family, and my wife, and my dog and my cat. You know, back to Joe America.

Great ball. Keep it in. Good try, Kate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good try, Kate.

REPETTY: Everything that's me, I got back to. You know, everything that revolves around me and my life with my family is back to normal. So, that's a good thing.

AUDREY REPETTY: I think we all realize that what we have is important. And that in one second, your whole life can change. So, I think we just appreciate each day.

REPETTY: Don't put your heads down. OK, you walk off the field with your heads up. Even though we didn't win, it's better to be here.

The days down there were so long and horrible that, you know, this is nirvana. That was hell.

But I'm thankful I was there. And I feel I served my country in the best way I could.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have enough for you, OK.

J. IRGANG: Life is really pushing us through. But it gets harder in ways as time goes on. And we're doing the best we can do.

Kristen, Doug's fiancee, is getting a little stronger. And we're very proud of her, because it was very difficult at the beginning. But she must move on. And she's moving on.

Having a new baby will definitely give us a new focus. A good focus, since we'll -- we won't have babies from Doug ...

SARI IRGANG: And then this will eventually be the baby's room. We'll finish cleaning it out.

STEVEN IRGANG: We need something good. And finally we have something to be excited about.

The baby's due in the second week of September. And some people ask me, well, what happens if the baby's born on that day? I said, that would be the greatest thing -- that's a miracle, a rebirth. And we don't know if we're having a boy or a girl. But either way, it'll definitely be a good swimmer. We'll but the baby in the water real young. And the baby's going to know a lot about her uncle.

COLE: Well, this is going to be my living room, over there, or living quarters. Try to make it comfy.

I just needed a whole new start, especially if I had to concentrate on bringing up Keithroy in the right way.

So I said, why not just give him what his father always wanted, the chance to have his own house, his own backyard, you know, all those stuff. He is, goes to his play station, and I'm glad those are the things, takes his mind to ask things at times.

But I know he's hurting inside as a child. But sometimes I don't know how to reach him. Sometimes I feel all alone, and sometimes I feel angry and upset, you know. Because I thought I wasn't going to do this by myself.

KEITHROY MAYNARD, JR.: Eye, eyes and mouth.

COLE: It's like I'm starting my life all over again, from scratch, bearing in mind that I have a son to look after. I know I have to be careful in different decisions that I make.

I know it's going to be hard on him. I know it's going to be hard on me. And I just hope I do the right thing.

DHINGRA: This year's gone by so fast. You know, sometimes it feels like, just yesterday, and sometimes it feels like another lifetime away.

CHRIS: Manu, how are you?

DHINGRA: Hey, Chris. How are you?

CHRIS: Good.

DHINGRA: I have these two wonderful people representing me. They're doing all the paperwork for the victims compensation fund.

CHRIS: And we want to make sure that we're up to date with it...

DHINGRA: To me it's closure. You know, this is a way that you don't have to like fight on and litigate for years to come. So I was grateful that the government had set up this fund to help all the victims.

It's my birthday party. A lot of these people I've met after September 11, because of everything I went through. And I just met some really wonderful people who were there when I really needed them.

I'm always reminded of what I went through every day when I look in the mirror, but I just don't know what purpose would it serve to be angry, you know. I'm just reminded, of course, every day that one floor up or a couple of floors up, you know, things would be a lot different. I wouldn't be here at all.

You realize that every moment is precious and you have to basically cherish every opportunity that you have to tell your loved ones that you love them. Just, you know, I think just enjoy life.

N. LOVING: And Alise is doing a lot better. She's still very quiet with people, and she still does not like to be left alone.

K. LOVING: Want to see her smile?

N. LOVING: She drew that one in therapy. She still has a way to go. But we've seen a big improvement. And she -- it comes out through her creativity.

Rainbows. There was a lot of rainbows -- rainbows everywhere.

K. LOVING: Hey, how did you hit? Huh?

N. LOVING: I'm really happy that we decided to stay. It was tough. I questioned it. And I -- and I still, there are moments when I still question what would it have been like if we'd gone back to our rental house in Virginia?

K. LOVING: Wow, big hit. Nice hit, Raul (ph).

N. LOVING: Staying was therapy for all of us. To watch the changes and to see that it can be a positive thing. What happened definitely was evil. And it was meant for that.

But there was so much goodness that came out of that.

K. LOVING: It's given us a sense of strength that we can endure a tragedy like. And it's a real tribute to our democracy, and a real tribute to life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: We want to take a moment to thank some of the people involved in this special NEWSNIGHT.

It's been an extraordinary amount of work over the last year, not easy work at that.

Sheila Stefens (ph), NEWSNIGHT producers Katherine Mitchell (ph), Sarah Coyle (ph), Amanda Townsend (ph) and Alana Douglas (ph).

Join us tomorrow on CNN, beginning at six in the morning. Paula Zahn and I will help you through the day of remembrance, the first anniversary of the awful events of September 11.

Until then, I'm Aaron Brown. And good night for all of us at NEWSNIGHT.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com