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American Morning

Ground Zero Recovery Ends Today

Aired May 30, 2002 - 09:03   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: Up front this morning, a turning point for a city and the country. After nearly nine months of rescue and recovery efforts at ground zero, an emotional ending is only about an hour and a half away.

CNN's Michael Okwu is there.

He joins us now -- good morning, Michael.

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula, good morning to you.

The words to describe what we are about to see this morning are "simple" and "solemn." It is not going to be a day for long speeches. And, in fact, it will not be a day for speeches at all. The entire ceremony will start precisely at 10:29 am this morning. That corresponds, of course, with the collapse of tower two here at the World Trade Center on September 11.

The entire event, we are told, will take about 20 minutes, beginning with the ceremonial ringing of the New York City Fire Department bell. It will ring exactly 20 times, four sets of five rings. We are told that that, of course, is the traditional signaling of a firefighter who has fallen.

And then, Paula, another solemn moment: About 220 representatives from city, state, and federal agencies and private organizations involved in the recovery efforts here at the World Trade Center will assemble along the ramp that leads in and out of ground zero. They will wait as escorts start a procession up the ramp, carrying a stretcher with a folded American flag on top. This, we are told, will symbolize all who died on 9/11 and were not found.

That stretcher will be placed in an ambulance and followed by a pipe-and-drum unit. And then a recovery truck draped with a black cloth will proceed up the ramp carrying the very last load of steel, we are told. "Taps" will be played, "America the Beautiful" will be played, helicopters will fly over. And at some point, the procession will turn and make its way up town towards uptown Manhattan. And the very last line of New York City police officers, firefighters, and Port Authority police officers will mark the very end of the recovery effort here at ground zero.

One thing about numbers, Paula, in the events following September 11, we in the media talked so much about them, perhaps. It was the only way that we could convey to the public just the magnitude of what happened here on that day. There is absolutely no way, of course, people would later tell you, that television could capture what happened.

The final numbers: 2,823 people died; over 1,700 have still not been identified or recovered. Paula, the end of a chapter here, but certainly not the end of a story -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right. Michael, thanks so much.

Once again, the ceremony gets underway at 10:29, representing the time of the collapse of the second tower.

Thanks, Michael.

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