BOX 8087 FDNY - 911

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

Theodore Roosevelt 1910

To my friends and brothers whose lives were tragically lost in the line of duty - You are ALWAYS remembered, not only for the great sacrifices you made to save others, but also for your tremendous contributions to the fire service during preceding years.

'When I reflect back on the whole thing , what I think is really important to bring out is that the courage and the bravery of the firemen was more outstanding than I thought it possibly could have been. You could look in their faces and you could see the fear. They knew what they were getting into. They knew what they were going to. They knew they were going to have the worst fire-fight of their lives, yet they all went, without question. You could almost see the relief on some of the people that we didn't send in, put in the staging area. You could almost sense the relief in their faces that we weren't sending them across the street at that time. All we had to do was say 'you're up next....you're on your way' and they would have gone in. 

There's been such tremendous talk about how many firemen came to the WTC on their own and these did contribute to our fatalities because they themselves became fatalities. The answer is yes it's a shame and it's unfortunate that we didn't have better discipline within the department, where we would have assured they would have all reported to a staging area or a central location, but when you think about it, it's part of our culture as firefighters to do exactly what they did. That's why they did it. It's that mental attitude that enables a normal person, which is what a firefighter is, just a normal person, male or female, to go into a burning building. That's what keeps the fire department running, that mental attitude. The same thing that caused those people to leave what they were doing when they were off and report to that site, that's the attitude that enables them to enter burning buildings on an everyday basis. Obviously, in the future, the department is going to have to demand more discipline from people, but somehow not stifle that attitude that enables them to do their job'.

Chief of Safety FDNY - Al Turi - WORLD TRADE CENTER 11th September 2001

Eleven men of Rescue 1 who answered the initial call on Sept. 11 died in the line of duty. The men who gave their lives that day include Joe Angelini, a genuine piece of New York firefighting history. At age 63, he was the oldest fireman in New York City and was grudgingly, facing retirement. Then, there was Captain Terry Hatton, who loved this city so much that his men called him "Captain Man-Hatton." Upon entering Tower One, fireman Tim Brown says Hatton "wrapped his arms around me, and said, ‘I love you, brother. Don ’t know if I’ll see you again........."

Beth Petrone-Hatton, an assistant to former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani who found out she was pregnant a day after her firefighter husband was killed in the World Trade Center attack, has given birth to a daughter.

Petrone-Hatton delivered the 7-pound, 5-ounce baby at 7:11 p.m. Wednesday and named her Terri Elizabeth Hatton, a Giuliani spokeswoman said.
Fire Capt. Terry Hatton of Rescue 1 was killed Sept. 11 while leading firefighters in the north tower shortly after the terrorist attacks. Petrone-Hatton, Giuliani's longtime executive assistant, and her daughter "are doing beautiful," spokeswoman Sunny Mindel said. When asked who the baby looks like, Mindel related that Petrone-Hatton said:"'I look at the baby, and I see Terry.'" "Beth said the baby has incredible stamina and appetite - just like a real rescue worker," Mindel said.