From firefighters to nurses, ironworkers to seafarers, the men and women who rescued the victims of Sept. 11, cared for the wounded and went about the business of mending a broken nation showed what it means to be an American—and what it means to be a union member.
As the nation looked skyward Sept. 11, the autumn-blue heavens filled with horror. Within moments of the three airplane collisions into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., and a fourth plane crash in the fields of western Pennsylvania, thousands of lives were taken. Lost in the destruction: a restaurant worker’s dream of a good life, a flight attendant’s chance to see her children grow, the music from a pilot’s guitar.
Yet seconds after the initial catastrophic crash, rescue workers—disregarding personal safety—were on the scene. From those first moments and throughout the long and chaotic days that followed, countless stories have emerged of selfless courage and tireless struggle: The sacrifice of firefighters, 343 of whom lost their lives. The round-the-clock care of wounded victims by nurses, doctors and medical technicians. The relief efforts by food and restaurant workers and the thousands of building and construction trades crews, steelworkers, transport workers, Teamsters, seafarers and mariners who traveled from around the country to remove 1.2 million tons of debris from New York City and more from Washington, D.C.
The story of America’s tragedy is shown in the collective effort of workers who share a common bond—a union bond. When the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Red Cross needed immediate mobilization of skilled workers, they called the nation’s unions for help. When citizens around the country witnessed the nonstop efforts of workers shoring up cities, caring for the sick and beginning the process of mending a wounded nation, all eyes were on the men and women of America’s unions.
For each of the stories on the following pages, there are hundreds more examples of workers who demonstrated what it means to be a union member—what it means to be an American.
