Joe LaPointe: Organizing 9/11's Funerals

FDNY Ladder Company 114, nicknamed Tally Ho, heroically served on 9/11. We hear from four of the six on-duty members who responded to the attacks in a unique group conversation, which they had not yet done before. Out of this crew, three have gotten cancers from Ground Zero's toxic environment and two have gotten multiple cancers. Our host Niels Jorgensen was a proud member of Tally Ho.

Alison’s son Welles was 24 years old on 9/11 and saved at least 12 people in the South Tower before it collapsed on him. She didn’t know about his heroic actions that day until several survivors said that a stranger wearing a red bandana saved their lives, and she knew that it had to be her son who always carried one. He’s famously been called “The Man in the Red Bandana” ever since.

After 911, Major League Baseball temporarily postponed its season. With several iconic moments, its return helped America to heal. Arizona Diamondbacks’ principal owner and managing general partner Ken Kendrick tells this story and in particular President Bush’s first pitch in their first World Series game at Yankees Stadium, only 49 days after the attacks.

FDNY firefighter Joe LaPointe was off-duty on 9/11 and raced down to Ground Zero. After the attacks, so many funerals needed more leaders to coordinate them, and Joe was suddenly thrust into a new calling. Since 2007, he's been the Commanding Officer of the Ceremonial Unit, organizing every wake and funeral of all FDNY firefighters & EMS personnel and all those who've died from 9/11 related illnesses.

Nancy Carbone felt compelled to do something after 9/11 and started by collecting items that firefighters needed. They later told her what was most needed is a counseling center that their work wouldn’t know about. “Friends of Firefighters” was born inside of a former firehouse. The group has helped countless firefighters heal from the trauma of 9/11 and other tragedies.

Michael Daly is the author of “The Book of Mychal”, the biography of the most loved FDNY Chaplain, Father Mychal Judge. Father bravely entered the World Trade Center with those he served and died with them. One of the most fascinating characters in our history, he was close friends with firefighters, AIDS patients, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, alcoholics, and the homeless.

Today we give thanks for your loyal listenership, for the opportunity to preserve these tragic and beautiful stories, and for every American whose served this great country.

After the World Trade Center's North Tower was hit, Michael and his colleague John Cerqueira physically carried wheelchair-bound Tina Hansen down 68 floors to safety. They escaped just minutes before the building collapsed. Reluctant to be recognized as a hero, there's so much more to his story that the media doesn't cover, but we do here.

Sonia is a former EMS technician, and Joe is a police officer who responded on 9/11 (his birthday). She didn't see him until 9/12 and thought he had died. They both helped with the cleanup of Ground Zero for months and have both contracted illnesses & cancers from the toxic environment. Despite all of this heartache, they share their story as volunteer tour guides at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum and refuse to have the terrorists steal their voices.

Tim Brown is an elite first responder who served in the FDNY for 20 years and was a founding member of the Department of Homeland Security. He said a final goodbye to several of his friends right before they went up the World Trade Center and knew they wouldn’t be coming down. Through a series of miracles, Tim survived 9/11 and believes he was kept alive to honor the stories of these fallen heroes.