Closure: The Untold Story of the Ground Zero Recovery Mission - Hardcover

Keegan, William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0743291867 ISBN 13: 9780743291866

Publisher: Touchstone, 2006

Synopsis

One of the four Operations Commanders of the World Trade Center site chronicles the rescue and recovery mission at Ground Zero from September 11, 2001, through the end of operations on May 30, 2002, while telling the story of his own struggle to make peace with all that he saw there. On the morning of 9/11, the Port Authority Police Department was the first uniformed service to respond to the attack on the World Trade Center. When the towers collapsed, thirty-seven of its officers were killed -- the largest loss of law enforcement officers in U.S. history. That afternoon, Lieutenant William Keegan began the work of recovery. The FDNY and NYPD had the territory, but Keegan had the map. PA cops could stand on top of six stories of debris and point to where a stairwell had been; they used PATH tunnels to enter "the pile" from underneath. Closure includes many never-before-told stories, including how Keegan and his officers recovered 1,000 tons of gold and silver from a secret vault to keep the Commodities Exchange from crashing; discovered what appeared to be a black box from one of the planes that hit the towers; and helped raise the inspirational steel beam cross that has become the site's icon. For nine brutal months, the men at Ground Zero wrestled with 1.8 million tons of shattered concrete, twisted steel, body parts, political pressure, and their own grief. Closure tells the unforgettable story of their sacrifice and valor, and how Keegan led the smallest of all the uniformed services at the site to become the most valuable.

About this title

About the Author:

Lieutenant William Keegan, Jr., is a twenty-year veteran of the Port Authority Police Department. He was awarded the highest medal for his contribution as Operations Commander of the WTC Rescue/Recovery Teams. He was also awarded the Medal of Valor for his rescue of children trapped in an elevator during the 1993 WTC bombing. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and three daughters.

Bart Davis is the author of thirteen books and two feature films. He lives with his family in New York.

From Publishers Weekly:

What makes this personal account of the post-9/11 recovery effort at the World Trade Center site particularly moving is the willingness of Keegan, an operation commander at the site, to delve into unsettling issues. The 20-year Port Authority Police Department veteran understandably lauds the work of his fellow NYPD and FDNY officers as they sifted the rubble from the terrorist attacks: "In the midst of hell we found the face of God," he writes. But he freely discusses the emotional strain of looking, day after day, for bodies—or parts of bodies—of the victims, many of them colleagues and friends. At the same time, Keegan is critical of the therapists sent to counsel the workers as "too eager and intrusive," aggressively pursuing those who simply wanted to be alone for a few minutes. He also discusses his campaign to win public recognition for PAPD recovery workers, who had a much lower profile than those of the NYPD and fire department. In the end, his efforts succeeded: it was Port Authority officers who raised the steel-beam cross that became the site's symbol. Only those made of something stronger than steel will fail to be deeply moved by this book. 16 pages of b&w photos. (Sept. 11)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Touchstone
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0743291867
• ISBN 13: 9780743291866
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256