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CNN Sunday Morning

New York Firefighters Remembered

Aired October 14, 2001 - 10:27   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Special perspective we have to share with you this morning -- it was just weeks before the terrorist attacks on U.S. soil that a television crew had the chance to accompany many of the firefighters who ended up losing their lives at the World Trade Center towers.

Michael Okwu brings us some of the poignant moments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Most of the firefighters you are about to see and hear are dead or missing -- firefighters like Kevin O'Roark (ph), William Lake (ph) and Danielle Lebrady (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just when you start to show confidence in yourself, this job has a way of humbling you. Just when you think you know what you are doing, you get a curve ball.

OKWU: They were among the first units who responded to the attacks on the World Trade Center. Manhattan's Rescue One and Brooklyn's Rescue Two lost 18 men that morning. These pictures were shot by producers of a new syndicated reality program called "The Bravest," just weeks before September 11 -- "The Bravest" creator, Russell Best.

RUSSELL BEST, EXEC. PROD., "THE BRAVEST": These guys are the bravest you thought, you could ever imagine meeting.

OKWU: From July to August, they've (UNINTELLIGIBLE) cameras to the firemen and captured images of some of the last blazes battled and won, and ironically, their final reflections about their professions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a born firefighter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sounds ready for the shave. Kiss your lady good-bye when you are leaving. You might not come home, but it's real.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes you could have the most experienced guys and everything on the scene and it's just this, such situations that are outside of our control.

OKWU: Rescues One and Two are elite units, specifically trained to save lives in the most dire circumstances and to rescue other firefighters, to be on hand even when a hero needs a hero. For all the carnage, more than 25,000 people escaped from the Twin Towers. Eyewitnesses tell stories about firefighters returning into the building to save more lives, going to hell and back.

BEST: And I really believe that if they sent them to hell, they would put it our. The World Trade tower collapse was worse than hell.

OKWU: And still Joseph Angeoliny (ph) may have gone back. At 63, Angeoliny (ph) was the oldest active member of the fire department. He had been cited for bravery 14 times. People, who spent time with him, called him a man of few words, loved by his colleagues, and fuelled by an unwavering desire to save people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My sons are on the job. My son Joe (ph) is over in Atlanta 4 (ph), which is in Erie district, and we catch fire sometimes together, which is the good things and it's fun.

OKWU: Joseph Sr. is dead, and Joseph Jr. is missing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watching tape of firefighters who are no longer with us is (UNINTELLIGIBLE), and watching tape of firefighters who are still with us is painful, because they're in heaven.

OKWU: Here are their faces, enduring images of the nation's pride and of unfinished promise.

Michael Okwu, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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