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| "Did you find her yet?" -- Two years later, many WTC victims remain unidentified |
| 2003-09-05 |
| by Deroy Murdock, National Review Online. Deeply moving; you should go read the whole thing. Just three days before the second anniversary of 9/11, the FDNY will conduct its last memorial service for a firefighter killed at the World Trade Center. That it will have taken 727 days to reach this milestone barely describes the boundless pain that this atrocity’s survivors endure daily. Firefighter Michael Ragusa was 29 years old when al Qaeda attacked America. He and four members of Brooklyn’s Engine Company 279 rushed into the conflagration, but never escaped. So why has his family waited so long for a memorial? They simply had nothing to bury. His body never was found at Ground Zero. Michael Ragusa gave blood as a prospective bone marrow donor. The National Marrow Donor Program gave the Ragusas a vial of their eldest son’s blood. And that is what they will bury on September 8. Meanwhile, others have grieved over even fewer remains. Captain Brian Hickey led seven of Rescue Company 3’s men into Tower Two. None survived. After awaiting his body’s recovery for eight months, Hickey’s family instead buried a coffin bearing his helmet. Only perspiration residue on its sweatband and a few hairs tied the headgear to the 47-year-old father of four. Later, the medical examiner classified a one-inch square bone fragment as Hickey’s. His family interred it in lieu of his helmet. DNA analysis thus has connected minuscule remains to individual casualties. Incredibly, pathologists linked one atomized, male, South Tower employee to more than 200 body parts. Ghastly though this is, at least these bereaved have something to honor. Each family can visit a grave and commune with a hint of the person they still love and sorely miss. But homicide pilots Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi denied many relatives even this. Of the 2,792 people they butchered at the World Trade Center, only 1,521 have been identified. The 1,271 other men and women essentially were vaporized. There is no discernible speck over which prayers can be said nor tears shed nor tender moments recalled. Of the 19,893 remains recovered, most of the 12,374 bits of tissue and bone that endure are too badly damaged to distinguish, due to exposure to the elements and the fires that raged at Ground Zero until December 19, 2001. Still, experts hope eventually to attach names to the mere particles that once were people. "We have made a commitment to the families that we are not going to stop the identifications until we can go no further based on the technology that is available today," says Ellen Borakove, spokeswoman for New York’s Medical Examiner. "That is the reason we are preserving and drying the remains that have not been identified so that in the future, when the technology improves or evolves, we can extract DNA from those samples." Amid the latest adventures of Ben & Jen, Kobe Bryant, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Americans might overlook what all this means: This war aims to avoid further scenes such as those that Gotham’s coroners have faced since 9/11. "I’m still driven by the families," Robert Shaler, New York’s chief forensic biologist, recently told the Associated Press. "When I see these people, they look at me with eyes that say, ’Did you find her yet?’" Never forget. Never "get over it." |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #9 Stevey, you are one poor, sad waste of human skin. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-9-5 11:50:07 PM |
| #8 I have never been to the WTC, though I have flown by the towers in approaches to JFK. I do not know any people who perished there. But that event is branded in my brain. Looking back, I can see how I was physically affected for 2 weeks afterward. I have lost friends who were burned to death. I have literally picked up what was left of them. Those events, from time to time, come back in memory and emotion. That is how I feel from time to time about the victims of the WTC. We must never forget. We must honor their memories. And we must do everything in our power to prevent this from happening again to ourselves and our allies. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-9-5 9:00:02 PM |
| #7 There's nothing wrong with steverosa that a little rope and a lampost couldn't cure. You stink right through the screen. |
| Posted by: Sgt.D.T. 2003-9-5 7:09:48 PM |
| #6 I leave Wed for NY...to pay my respects. Went last year too..the 11th is my birthday...but not anymore...its a day to remember, not for me to celebrate. The vibe in NY on that day is impossible to describe...and standing at ground zero is like being in a cathedral....a holy place. I wont forget...and I will say a prayer for all of us every year at that scene of indescribable horror. Thats my birthday present to myself... Keep up the pressure to keep this in the mind of people....dont let it just pass by....they declared war on us...we cant forget that or forgive. May their souls rot in Hell.... |
| Posted by: Bob in Texas 2003-9-5 4:48:38 PM |
| #5 diareahrossa- Go FUCK yourself. |
| Posted by: Craig 2003-9-5 4:43:18 PM |
| #4 I'm surprised as many victims were identified as there were, considering what 100+ floors of skyscraper must weigh. Those ME's did a remarkable job. |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-9-5 4:24:49 PM |
| #3 With the broadcast media virtually ignoring the anniversary, project such as Michele's VOICES become even more important. I have made it the title banner on my blog. I have also set up a web page just for my September 11 anniversary blog entries, which I am calling NO ORDINARY DAY. I'm sure that many other bloggers will have commorative posts, and collections on their blogs as well. If you have connections in the news media, it wouldn't hurt to point out to them that September 11 still means something. I have. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2003-9-5 3:26:17 PM |
| #2 Steve, you have just established, irrefutably and for all time, that you have absolutely no class. |
| Posted by: Mike 2003-9-5 2:58:26 PM |
| #1 ahahah screw them men, who cares ,get over it. If the guatemalans and Nicaraguans got over the American backed contra terrorist killing their kids so should those Newyorkers. Shit happens. How many people disappeared in Guatemala and Nicaragua alone. Never to be seen again , just vaporised: kind of like Newyork 9-11. I remember Newyorkers with placards looking for relatives in the Newyork rubble, just like those Guatemalans who to this day hold placards and march in their cities looking for their dissapeared relatives and children. What goes around comes around. Americans just got a taste of their own medicine in 9-11. |
| Posted by: steveerossa 2003-9-5 2:29:15 PM |