I remember walking into the Pond Deli in Ronkonkoma and seeing the Twin Towers on fire on TV.

I remember jumping into my truck and speeding off into the city, thinking how bad it was.

I remember doing over 100 mph on the Long Island Expressway… And being passed on either side by firemen as I saw the FDNY stickers on the backs of their cars.

I remember arriving at PSA 9 and grabbing my uniform and gear from my locker. Everyone was stunned, horrified, and pissed off as we crammed into a van. It was 10:50 a.m. as we began to mobilize at the Rodmans Neck Range in the Bronx.

I remember the backup lights and the sirens.

I remember crossing over the Throgs Neck bridge, thinking that southern Manhattan looked like it was hit with a nuclear bomb.

I remember the total mayhem, the smell, the dust, the heat, and millions of papers littering the ground.

I remember a Church's graveyard filled with dust and debris.

I remember seeing three sides of one of the Towers, rising from that burning pile like giant skeletons.

I remember all that destruction.

I remember being pulled away by a sergeant and being assigned to the Medical Examiner's temporary headquarters. It was in an office building on the corner of West and Liberty Streets

I remember people coming back to work at that office building that now also served as a temporary morgue to thousands of body parts.

But mostly, I remember a young doctor/chaplain who was delivering last rights to the people we had found.

I remember him crying hysterically.

I remember saying, "Doc, C'mon, we gotta work through this." So he pulled himself together, and worked through it.

I remember that we all worked through it.

I'll never forget how we all worked through it.

NYPD
Officer Kevin Gierloff
Shield # 23192
PSA Precinct 9

Through The Ashes

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