Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

New York Fireman Discusses Work at World Trade Center

Aired March 08, 2002 - 08:11   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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Just days before we mark six months after 9/11, we have a pretty moving story from ground zero. Yesterday, I had the honor of meeting two remarkable men, two firemen who have come out of retirement to join the recovery efforts down there. But in addition to searching for their colleagues who died in the World Trade Center, the two men have also been looking for their sons, who were firemen just like their fathers.

Here is part of an interview I had with one man, Lee Ielpi, who is searching -- who has been searching for his son Jonathan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: When you look out here, what do you see? What do you think of?

LEE IELPI, RETIRED FIREMAN: I think of all of my friends, I think of my son, I think of what they went through the day this happened. People have asked me about, "How do you think -- what happened to them?" And what I say to them is, this was absolutely, positively instantaneous.

So when I come here I still think about their fear, and I look at this area and it's still a dream. Can you picture this? I still can't picture it, it's a dream. And you think about it. You think about getting everybody out of here. You're thinking of a good day. You want -- we've had some great days.

COOPER: What's a good day here?

IELPI: Yes, right -- right. The day we find good viable bodies, that's a good day. That's a great day. You find one, two, it's a good day. You find four or five, that's a really good day. That one day we found in the North Tower, when the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) was way up there, you find, I think it was 13 one day. The guys went home here smiling, happy. Thirteen firemen can you imagine? But that's a good day. That's a good day for 13 families out there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: We'll have more with Lee Ielpi on Monday's show, when we take a special look at how the world has changed since 9/11.

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