This is an excerpt from an email I received from a friend of my cousin who is a volunteer with the Red Cross.

This email was sent twelve days after the attack.

He has experienced ground zero first hand.

 Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2001 08:31:48 +0000

 Dear Family, Friends and E-Mail Buddies,

Since my initial note about arriving and the work I am doing with the Red Cross in New York City, I have received several queries about what it is like in the hot zone. I spent part of Thursday there and have formed some impressions. Before passing it on, I want to make clear that these are my PERSONAL observations and are not meant to reflect the thinking of the Red Cross, the government or anyone else.

 First off, the security of the whole state is the primary concern of everyone. In New York City, the police are working twelve hour days, seven days a week and can be seen all over the place. It is hard to drive a block or two without seeing a patrol car or policemen on foot in busy areas. Having had an earlier career in military counterintelligence, I can fully appreciate this as the thugs who are involved want to destroy our way of living and create fear in everyone. They will not stop with the World Trade Center and Pentagon disasters but may try to do the same thing in other parts of the US. If they cannot do it in a large visible city, they may try in a smaller, more isolated place. And, I believe that is why there is so much visible enforcement of security. It is reminiscent of government buildings that housed a lot of classified material. Here in New York, there are state police guarding rural isolated water reservoirs around the state as well as the office buildings in the capitol.

I have been issued five badges to date, each for entrance into a given area. Although my primary badge has a green stripe saying 'Full Access to Ground Zero' on it, that does not allow me into that area. A second badge was issued on site after I showed the first badge, my red cross identification and drivers license.

Two of the badges have my photograph and one of those has a second photo made into a holograph so that it cannot be duplicated or altered. There have been problems with untrained well wishers wanting to come in and assist, with do-gooders who frequently get in the way of the disaster relief firemen and police, sightsee'ers wanting check out the action or of thieves trying to gain entrance to steal things.

I went down into the Ground Zero or 'hot zone' area on Thursday to see what additional assistance the Red Cross might provide to the crews working there. My driver is a native of NY City who knows his way. There is an area that extends across the lower 1/3rd of Manhattan, roughly along Canal Street to the Brooklyn Bridge which is called a restricted area. For that one, I needed the first badge. It has restricted vehicle and pedestrian traffic and encompasses several hundred city blocks. We had to pass through a check point manned by National Guard troops who checked our identification. It is immediately noticed that about half the people who live or work there are wearing breathing masks as the air is becoming thick with smoke and putrid.

In the center of this restricted area, there is an approximate 50 square block area which constitutes the Ground Zero area or 'hot zone'. No traffic is allowed in there so we had to park outside and walk through another gate manned by National Guard troops who once more examined our identification badges, cards, etc.

The huge piles of rubble can be seen two blocks away.  Then, we went to another National Guard tent where we showed all the above identification and were issued still another badge which allowed us access and movement in the 'hot area'. We then began talking to the firemen, police officers (who seemed to be on every corner in twos or threes), and other service personnel allowed down into that area. We were trying to determine what they needed in addition to what the Red Cross is already providing. We stopped at several RC tents and sites, manned by RC volunteers, where workers could get quick snacks, drinks, water, earplugs, raincoats, ponchos, gloves, batteries, dog food for the specially trained dogs, etc.

We then walked down to the site of the former World Trade Center buildings and observed two huge piles that appeared to be at least 10 stories high. Twisted beams and rubble were sticking out. Having probably seen the buildings pancake on television many times and the pictures of the piles does not do it justice. When seen in person, the collateral damage to the surrounding buildings for up to two blocks away is a devastating sight. Many of the nearby buildings will probably have to be raised as the visible damage is enormous. The buildings are scorched and every window that remains has been blown out/in. One can see buildings two blocks away that had blown windows and chunks knocked out from the resultant explosions of the two large planes filled with high fuel had caused.

It was reminiscent of Germany after World War II where whole blocks had been reduced to rubble from carpet bombing late in the war. I lived in Hamburg, Germany from 1956-58 and there still were areas of that type of devastation. The World Trade Center disasters reminded me of that. The smell at the site reminded me of Vietnam and rotting dumps sometimes seen in third world countries.

About a dozen huge tracked shovels were scooping up debris from the sides and dumping it into waiting trucks to be hauled off. Special teams in disposable white Tyvek suits were moving into the area with dogs trained to smell for bodies. The dogs had special booties on which protects their feet when walking and crawling over the piles. Nearly everyone is wearing protective breathing masks and goggles. We were wearing them as well but I left the area after a couple hours with a headache and raspy throat from the smoke and stinging eyes reminiscent of Los Angeles smog in the mid-50's.

I have great respect for the disaster workers, firemen, police and service people who stay down there all day doing their jobs, often for days on end.

We went to a high school nearby, which had been turned into a respite center for the disaster workers to come and eat, relax, doze on a cot in a quiet area or just talk to others. Mental health workers are there to help them out when needed. The hallway is lined with tables of waterproof clothing, rain gear, boots, gloves of all sizes, flashlights and other equipment which the workers are encouraged to use.

There were also large cranes which were removing things from the top of the piles. The smell was reminiscent of Vietnam when a lot of bodies had lain in the heat for several days, a sweet unpleasant odor or rotting material. The estimate of missing victims now exceeds 6,000 so there are many still in these huge piles. The fires were supposed to have been at least 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit which burned up many of the bodies. The visibility was limited as it was raining and the smoke continued to be released from the piles. I was told that the fires underneath could continue for months.

Having spent two tours in Vietnam, seeing places that were devoid of foliation from bombing and looked like the moonscape and participating in some smaller actions. I thought that I was immune to having strong feelings about such things. But I came away from there praying that it never happens again in our world. Although we discussed in the military 25-35 years ago that sabotage could occur in the US with ease because of our open society, we never thought that it would really happen like this. Or, we might have taken more precautions. It is difficult to explain how I was impressed by what was seen but the enormity of it really brings it home. When we watch it on a TV, the piles do not seem to be as big as a ten story building but they are, and the smoke and are powerful.

It is now 4:30 AM and my eyes are getting bleary as I am working the night shift and things were going slow so decided to get this out. Should their be typing or grammatical errors, please ignore them. Especially those whose investigative reports I use to correct back in our days in the Marine Corps.

And that's my thoughts for today.

First Email dated September 20, 2001

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