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CNN Live At Daybreak

America Recovers: A Hero's Send-Off

Aired September 28, 2001 - 07:51   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: And that's what many firehouses look like here in New York City in the wake of the September 11 attacks. It is a longstanding tradition that firemen attend their colleagues' funerals. But in New York there are so many dead, so many services and so much work that must be done, many firefighters can't attend all, if any, of the services. And this weekend there will be several.

CNN's Greg Clarkin joins us now with more on that -- Greg.

GREG CLARKIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Paula.

As a matter of fact, there will be eight services for some of the missing and dead firemen today alone. New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has urged New Yorkers, as a show of support, to get out there, attend some of these services. He says there are simply too many for him to attend and it pains him that he can't hit all of those services. So he's asking for a show of support in that fashion.

Now, we're outside of a firehouse in midtown Manhattan on the West Side, where the grim statistics still face these gentlemen as they come into work throughout the day -- 343 New York firefighters dead or missing. This house alone, a terrible toll has been taken. Fifteen of their firefighters are lost. They leave behind at least 25 children. There are grandchildren. One firefighter just recently had a newborn.

As you can see, the door is opening here and the gentlemen are getting ready for some activity. But this firehouse, again, taking a big toll in the September 11 attacks. There are a number of displays out here, memorials, flowers, candles and the like, and you can see the folders there of the folks that were lost at this particular house.

Now, over here on the other side of the buoys, there are books where guests have been kind of signing in, signing their thoughts, their remembrances and the like. The firefighters every morning putting out a plate of cookies, actually, for those who come by.

In these signing books we've seen signatures from throughout the country, throughout the world. As a matter of fact, Laura Bush was here the other day signing her prayers and thoughts with the firemen. And from about six o'clock on this morning, Paula, we have seen a number of folks come by here, people just stopping, looking, signing the book, wanting to kind of just feel what the firefighters are going through.

One gentleman here from Washington is Lee Louder (ph). And Lee, tell us -- you're with Barnes & Noble in Washington. That brought you over here today for some professional purposes, but also personal reasons, as well, correct?

LEE LOUDER (ph): Right. I only live about three blocks from the Pentagon and, of course, what we went through in Washington is nothing compared to what New York has gone through. But this weekend the employees at Barnes & Noble were, I work at a store at the corner of 12th and E Street. And we're having a fundraiser for the people that lost their lives in the Pentagon and for those in New York.

And I thought, I came by to take some pictures because this is so overwhelming. I'm staying in a hotel around the corner and I walked by here the other day. It just breaks your heart.

CLARKIN: So you've been by here a number of times. With each subsequent visit, I mean, you had the same thoughts, the same emotions?

LOUDER (PH): Oh, yes. Yes. And there's other stations and when you walk around New York that are, they're completely closed down. They lost every firefighter. And you kind of wonder how can a city survive when something like that's happened. But every person we've met in New York, I mean we've, a friend and I, we've talked to policemen, firemen have been incredibly nice, and you can tell that they're still carrying on. They're concerned about their city. They're not giving up. It's really inspiring.

CLARKIN: Lee, thanks very much for joining us.

LOUDER (PH): Sure.

CLARKIN: And Paula, that's just one of the folks that's passing by here this morning. We can tell you, speaking with some of the firemen here this morning, these folks exhausted, let alone the disaster that they're facing downtown, the cleanup efforts. They're still going about their job of answering calls here in midtown Manhattan -- Paula back to you.

ZAHN: But they are certainly so appreciative of all the support they're being showered with.

Greg Clarkin, thanks so much for that report.

CLARKIN: Sure.

ZAHN: For 68 New York firefighters, their work extends beyond battling blazes. It is their honor to commemorate fallen colleagues with a longstanding department tradition.

But as CNN's Beth Nissen reports, the funerals seem to be unending and so is the mournful music.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Outside St. Patrick's Cathedral, a small contingent from the New York City Fire Department's Emerald Society of Pipes and Drums. They take a deep breath and prepare to play yet another funeral for one of their own.

UNIDENTIFIED FIREFIGHTER: Every day that we have free, we're playing at funerals, anywhere from one to two a day.

NISSEN: So many that the 68 member unit has had to divide. Instead of the usual rank of 40 pipers at each funeral, a smaller team of 13. Scheduling is difficult. Most of the pipers are active duty firefighters, almost all of whom are already doing double duty waiting for 911 calls at fire stations then working in relays at ground zero.

UNIDENTIFIED FIREFIGHTER: We've been working at the firehouse and working at the Trade Center and we come here on our days off and do this and then we go home and see our families after we're done. We see our family when we can and we get our sleep when we can.

NISSEN: The names of the pipers flag their histories and heritage -- Sullivan and Murphy, O'Hagen (ph) and O'Shea. The pipers are, to a man, Irish-American.

UNIDENTIFIED FIREFIGHTER: Traditionally the police and the fire department and in New York City and other cities like Boston, Philadelphia, has been very much an Irish occupation.

NISSEN: Yet even for the growing number of firefighters who are not Irish, the ancient Celtic traditions hold when marking the end of a life. The souls of the valiant, of warriors lost in battle, are piped to their graves, piped into heaven. On this day, the pipes were escorting the soul of Lieutenant Dennis Moheca (ph), a firefighter aboard one of the first rescue units to arrive at the twin towers after the first plane hit. Some of the pipers knew a few things about him. He was a 26 year department veteran. He loved salsa dancing and a good joke. He leaves behind a 14-year-old daughter and a devastated wife.

But even those pipers who did not know Lieutenant Moheca take his death hard.

UNIDENTIFIED FIREFIGHTER: We're all family anyway. Even not knowing somebody personally, it's a loss for us.

NISSEN: The pipers are dedicated, but tired, emotional.

UNIDENTIFIED FIREFIGHTER: There's been so many now but I just remember marching by and seeing one of the brothers and his son had the, his helmet. It was just too much.

NISSEN: They've learned to play through the tears.

UNIDENTIFIED FIREFIGHTER: You've got to find some inner strength and keep going, put the next foot forward, you know?

NISSEN: And to march on. The fire department has buried most of its confirmed dead. But there are still pipes to play for the police and firefighters reported missing.

Beth Nissen, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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