Groneman - A Memoir

Captain (retired),
Engine Company 308

Fire Department of the
City of New York

Goldminds Publishing, LLC.
1050 Glenbrook Way, Suite 480
Hendersonville, TN 37075

September 11: A Memoir
Copyright William Groneman III, August 2011.
Cover photo copyright Lt. John Levy, courtesy of
The Fire Department of the City of New York.
Printed in the United States of America Without limiting the rights under the copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
www.goldmindspub.com

This book is dedicated to the Brothers and Sisters of the Fire Department of the City of New York.

Especially the 343.

Acknowledgements

I sincerely thank the following:

Jean (Ma) and Mikey Novak for their assistance in getting this project in print. Steve Law, good friend from the Western Writers of America (WWA), and Goldminds Publishing. Ryan Crawford and the team at Goldminds. Nancy Plain, award winning writer, also of WWA who kindly offered her considerable proof-reading skills. Kirk and Sheila Ellis of WWA. Kirks interest in part one of this memoir last year inspired me to bring it to completion. In fact I thank all of my extended family in the WWA for their encouragement.

A number of people generously provided photographs and permission to use them.: Director Stephen Paul Antonelli, and Productions Manager Thomas Ittycheria of FDNY Publications; FDNY Assistant Council Tayo Kurzman; and Deputy Commissioner Francis X. Gribbon. Gerald and Joyce Cereghino. Gerald was on the scene at Ground Zero, providing and supervising heavy equipment in the rescue effort. He also captured some unique photographs. Finally Steve Spak, the photographer of New York City fire and emergency scenes for many years.

I thank the guys from Engine Company 308 and Battalion 51. It was a pleasure to have served with them, and to have completed my career with them: Lieutenants Joe Mills, Cliff Payan, Bob Urso. Firefighters Tom McAllister, Tony Bonfiglio, Steve George, Gregg Lawrence, Chris Simmons, Craig Moore, Wayne Slater, John Ostrick, Bob OHara, Kevin Crosby, Randy Rodrigues, Jimmy Ferretti, Mark Presti, Tom Gathmann, Paul Sokol, Al Merk, Joe Gick, Phil Lanasa, and Tom Lynch. The probationary firefighters who were detailed in at the time, Matt Swan, John Barone, and Brian Cross, and those who were detailed out, Steve Cox, Jim Moody, Steve Kelly, and Terry McShane (rest in peace). From the Battalion: Chiefs Thomas Narbutt, Ken Grabowski, and Mike Borst, and firefighters Ralph Scerbo, Joe McCormack, Ralph Nichols and Johnny Mazzullo. I also want to single out Joe Gick, Mark Presti, Randy Rodrigues, and Chris Simmons who provided some last minute fine-tuning of facts.

Finally, I thank Kelly, daughter Katie, son Billy and brother Michael. They were there and went through it all from the beginning. Thanks for helping me through dark days.
And, I thank Weimaraner Brooklyn Dodger Groneman for keeping me company while I wrote and typed.

Introduction

I began writing this account on September 11, 2003. It is an account of my experiences on September 11, 2001, during the terrorist attack on America, and in the weeks and months following. Originally I wrote down some experiences and observations about ten days after the attack but never followed it up to completion. I started again in 2003 so I would have a record of what I did and observed that day. Much time had passed already and there was the danger of too many little details being lost or forgotten. I believe that anyone who was a witness to the attack on the World Trade Center or the Pentagon or to Flight 93 in Pennsylvania should write down their memories of the event in detail in order that a living history is preserved for the future. I also realize that this may be impossible for many since their experiences were too traumatic. This is not to say that I did anything outstanding or noteworthy. I did not. I was just a very small player in a very big drama.

Some things may have been lost. Outside influences may have affected my memory of things. Comparing my reminiscences to someone elses, even someone who was right beside me, could reveal discrepancies. As John Steinbeck wrote in Travels With Charley, [T]he memory is at best a faulty, warpy reservoir.

I attempted a follow-up to this original record beginning writing on September 11, 2007, but never got past the title. I revised my original in July, 2010, in order to tighten it up and remove much of which was repetitive. Part I is my revision of the original. Part II is what happened afterwards.

I was a captain of the Fire Department of the City of New York (hereafter FDNY) in 2001. I had been assigned as company commander of Engine Company 308, Battalion 51, Division 13, in the borough of Queens the year before. I had twenty-four years on the job at the time, previously having served in the ranks of firefighter, fire marshal, and lieutenant.

A few things happened during the spring and summer of 2001 that seemed unremarkable at the time. One was the demolition of two oil storage tanks in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn during the spring. These two large tanks had been a part of the New York City landscape for years. If one watches the film The Godfather these tanks are visible in the background during the cemetery scene of Vito Corleones funeral. They were imploded during the spring of 2001 in a much publicized event. Many members of the FDNY were present as the two tanks collapsed.

A few weeks prior to September 11, my daughter Katie and I attended a party at a friends home in Pennsylvania. The party was some distance from our home on Long Island so we stayed overnight at a hotel in Pennsylvania. As we drove through Patterson, New Jersey, on the ride home the following morning I noticed a flock of birds flying frantically from left to right across Route 80, maybe fifty to seventy-five feet up. Suddenly two birds detached themselves from the rest, plunged down and smashed into my windshield. I have no idea why that happened but I had never seen anything like that before or since.

Besides working in my own fire company, I also worked a special assignment once a week at FDNY headquarters in Brooklyn. Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen had asked me to write an article for our magazine WNYF (With New York Firefighters) about the changes in the FDNY under Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. I had helped bring this magazine back into print after a two year hiatus a few years before and then served as its technical editor. I left headquarters late on Monday, two weeks prior to September 11, walking through the lobby and passing the Memorial Wall. The Wall is on the left-hand side as you leave the lobby. It is made up of small bronze plaques with the name, rank, company, and date of death of all members of the FDNY who had died in the line of duty since the FDNY became a paid department in 1865. As I was leaving I noticed Commissioner Von Essen, First Deputy Commissioner William Feehan, Chief of Department Peter Ganci, civilian Roy Katz, in charge of Fire Department buildings, and maybe one or two others gathered at the wall and discussing something. At the time there were 782 names on the wall and only room for about six or eight more. It later occurred to me that they were discussing how to increase the size of the wall in order to accommodate more names in the future.[1]