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Published Dec. 30 in the Glasgow Daily Times A visit to ground zero is life changing experience for Hart EMS director By
STACY L. NEITZEL GLASGOW — After visiting ground zero in New York City, a Munfordville man has been left changed by the experience. Steven D. Carver, emergency management director for Hart County, and firefighter for the Munfordville Volunteer Fire Department, along with eight other area firemen, traveled to New York three weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorists' attacks. The firemen made the 16 hour trip to deliver $21,000 in person to the fire house of George Johnson, a New York fireman, who donated bone marrow to a Munfordville boy in 1996, saving his life. Five fire departments collected donations along Hart County roadways over the course of two weeks. The city of Munfordville raised $16,000 in three days, while the county raised a combined total of a little more than $30,000. On Oct. 4 firemen from three fire departments including Munfordville, Horse Cave, and Cub Run drove to New York to present Engine Company 255 and Ladder Company 157 (Johnson's company) with the funds they had raised. Carver said the people of Hart County and Munfordville generously opened their wallets and pocket books to help the fireman and his company who had once helped a Munfordville family. "People were putting in $50's and $100 dollar bills," said Carver. When the group of Kentucky firemen arrived in New York they were treated to a meal and then went to the Emergency Operation Center where they then loaded into vans destined for the World Trade Center. It took the firemen three hours to complete the two mile trek to the Trade Center because of the various security checkpoints through which they had to pass. "They were so efficient with their security checks, they go around the vehicles with mirrors and look under them," said Carver. On the way to the World Trade Center, Carver said they passed large groups of people standing behind concrete columns holding signs with the names of loved ones who were missing. "Along side of them (columns) are thousands of people even way up into the night and they've got big signs saying "I've lost my brother I've lost my sister.' It would just give you goose bumps," said Carver. The group, escorted by New York City Mayor Giuliani's office, walked the remaining five or six blocks to where the Twin Towers once stood. "We got around the first four blocks or so, about two blocks from the World Trade Center, where we first made our turn, then you could start to see the debris and we started to realize just how overwhelming this area was. You could smell the stench pretty quickly," Carver recalled. He described the smell of decay and smoke which lingered in the air and the odor of decaying human remains buried beneath the piles of rubble. The deserted ruins of businesses in lower Manhattan were an eerie sight. "It was like the world ended at that particular point," said Carver. "Things were still sitting right where people left them. And this was three weeks later," he explained. Carver said desks with coffee cups neatly sitting and overturned chairs, or purses atop tables and counters in surrounding restaurants or cafes, gave a glimpse into the last moments leading up to attacks and the aftermath that ensued as people fled. "People just walked off. It reminds me of these war movies you see on T.V.," said Carver. "I got a little sick to my stomach. I've never been involved in any type of war situation and this looked like war to me. You start to realize just how bad it all was," he said. Johnson led them to the site where a group of NYC firemen were buried alive beneath a 20 foot pile of debris which swallowed up their fire trucks. After the tragic death of the firefighters, Johnson and two other firemen surveying the scene, spotted an American Flag through a clearing in the smoke, which waved gallantly from a yacht in the harbor. They made their way to the to yacht and carried the flag back to the site of their fallen comrades and raised the flag atop the 20 foot pile of debris, as a symbol of freedom and the unwavering American spirit. By the time Carver and rest of the Kentucky firemen arrived in New York, the flag had disappeared, but the picture is recorded for all of history. When the group was standing at the site where the flag once flew from the mountain of rubble, body number 249 was discovered about five feet away. The remains of a female victim were found, including a hip, three fingers, a thumb, and about 30 pounds of flesh. Carver began to lose his composure and felt tears in his eyes. "I turned away from everybody because I didn't want these other guys to see me. Then I realized that the other guys were doing the very same thing," he said. "We were all terribly bothered by it." "The terrorists used the one thing we weren't trained on," said Carver. He explained emergency service personnel are trained in handling acts of bioterrorism such as small pox or anthrax and have procedures in place if attacked by weapons of mass destruction, but said no one expected U.S. aircraft to be used as weapons. Carver, so moved by what he had witnessed, said he scrawled a poem on a pad of paper. "I hadn't written anything in quite some time. I was watching everything unfold," and said the words just came to him "out of the clear blue." The poem entitled "The Day Our Nation Cried" first circulated throughout Kentucky to various county emergency medical directors, and on to the state emergency management office. From there it was sent to Gov. Paul Patton's office who requested a signed copy, then it was forwarded to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and finally it made its way back to the city which inspired its sentiment, New York City Mayor Giuliani's office. While in New York the group visited a NYC fire house that lost 15 of its firemen and was featured in "Time Magazine." Carver was struck by the willingness of the people at the fire houses to talk with them. "They would come out and talk to you and ask is there anything you would like to know. They never once said that they were dead. They would always say they were missing," when referring to the firemen. "I gave up drinking along time ago and after spending all those hours at the World Trade Center I have to admit I did have a couple of drinks. I needed it," said Carver. "When you take the smell and the visual and then you think that in that pile of debris (approximately 17 acres) there are more people dead and buried than what live in the City of Munfordville or the city of Horse Cave," said Carver, the devastation became apparent. "That huge pile of debris that everybody is used to looking at is a giant graveyard. They were still pulling out huge chunks of steel that were glowing red. There was a massive fire going the whole time underneath there." The Kentucky fire fighters returned home early Oct. 7. "I wanted to get back home to Kentucky so bad," said Carver, overwhelmed with the sights and sounds of the trip. "As soon as we got back into Kentucky I pulled over at the first exit. I just want to plant my feet down," he said. "The whole trip really effected me," said Carver. "It really took its toll. And even now it still bothers me. Once in a while I still feel like I'm gonna break down and cry," he said. Carver said he could not sleep for nearly two weeks following his trip to New York. "It is time to start looking forward," said Carver adding, he knew it would not be an easy task. Despite the enormous loss he believes Americans have united in the face of a national tragedy. "There are not any Americans who are separated. There is no more south and north. We're all combined now and never been tighter," he said. "The Day Our Nation Cried" Where was Jesus, On that mournful day, At the gates of heaven, As the people prayed. His eyes were saddened, As the angels went by, And down on earth, He could hear the people cry. They wore angelic uniforms, That showed how brave, Along with the people, They tried to save. Those policemen-Firemen, The ones that died, Let us not forget, The Day our nation cried. Dedicated to the New York Police and Fire Departments, By: Steven D. Carver
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