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CNN Live Sunday
Families Feel Helped by Attending Memorial Service
Aired October 28, 2001 - 15:07 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.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: In New York this afternoon families of the victims of the World Trade Center attacks gathered for that special memorial service we brought you live here on CNN. It was held amid the towers still smoldering rubble in Lower Manhattan. CNN's national correspondent Gary Tuchman is there near Ground Zero.
Gary, I know I saw the woman who broke down in tears on you at the beginning who you were trying to comfort.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Donna. It was an incredibly emotional and poignant day. The service was beautiful. It was eloquent. It was very Simple. Keep in mind where it took place. The juxtaposition is just hard to think about. You have this destruction, this devastation behind me. You have hundreds if not thousands of bodies that have not been recovered that are still there. You have the smoke, you have the water being used to put out the water, all taking place at the same time we heard the service.
With us right now, a family that came to the service. It is their first time at Ground Zero. They lost their father. They lost their husband: The Pership (ph) family. With me right here is Stacey Pership. Stacey lost her father. Estel (ph) lost her husband, Frank Pership who worked for the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Corporation.
I want to ask you, first of all, Stacey, is this the first time you have been to Ground Zero?
STACEY PERSHIP, FATHER KILLED IN WORLD TRADE CENTER ATTACKS: Yes, it is. I have been all over the city since it happened, but I never could bring myself to come down here before.
TUCHMAN: You lost your dad.
S. PERSHIP: Yes.
TUCHMAN: This was a horrible thing that you must be very angry about, but I am just wondering, how hard was it for you to come here today and look at this devastation for the first time?
S. PERSHIP: You know, they have not recovered anything of my father yet and to look at the destruction and know he is somewhere in there is very difficult.
TUCHMAN: Did you get some comfort by being at the service today?
S. PERSHIP: Just to be around other people that are actually going through the same thing that you are, does make you feel like you are part of a larger community.
TUCHMAN: I want to talk to your mom.
Estel, is this the first time you -- excuse me for stepping in front of you, Stacey -- is this the first time you have seen the devastation?
ESTEL PERSHIP, HUSBAND KILLED IN WORLD TRADE CENTER ATTACKS: Yes.
TUCHMAN: When you walked down the street, tell me how you felt.
E. PERSHIP: Very shaky. I thought I was going to pass out, being so close, but yet not really seeing anything. Just terrible, terrible destruction and so many people have lost so many people. It is very, very hard for me -- very, very hard.
TUCHMAN: Is it hard for you, Estel, to decide whether to come at all today to this service?
E. PERSHIP: I had to be here. I had to be close. I had to breathe that air in, and fill my lungs up with him and everybody else that is lost. TUCHMAN: That is a very eloquent way to it put it, to breathe the smell and fill your lungs up with him. That brings up another point, that this smell is a smell right now of the fumes that are coming up from the ground. Some consider it very dangerous. I don't see you wearing a mask. E. PERSHIP: No. I have a mask in my hands, but I'd rather just breathe it in. I am not afraid.
TUCHMAN: Do you think this helped you -- being here today?
E. PERSHIP: Yes. It has.
TUCHMAN: Tell me why.
E. PERSHIP: It feels like I am a little bit closer to him. I know he is with me 24-7.
TUCHMAN: What you would say to him right now?
E. PERSHIP: Frank, get me through this. Get us all through this. My sister-in-law, my children, my son-in-law and my grandchildren. Get us through this, please.
TUCHMAN: Let me tell you something, Estel, the fact that you have such a wonderful family, children, grandchildren, they will help you a lot. E. PERSHIP: I am sure they will. Friends, everybody, has been so kind and so good. And God bless all the volunteers, the Red Cross right on down to anybody else that is volunteering. They have all been wonderful. TUCHMAN: Estel and Stacey, the world knows about your father and your husband.
S. PERSHIP: Thanks very much.
TUCHMAN: Thanks for joining us.
You can see lot of people had a very difficult decision to make, whether to attend the service or not. We talked to many family members who said they just couldn't bear to be near the destruction that cost the lives of their loved ones. But you can see some other people say they felt helped by it. Donna, back to you.
KELLEY: Gary, you can only hope that they do get some relief from the sadness and the anger. The emotion is so raw. Gary Tuchman there. Thank you very much.
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