World Trade Center “Ground Zero” Cross and Shield Responds To the Terror Attacks of 9/11

This is a view out of my hotel room window looking at the Empire State Building. At the time I had just finished my first shift at the DumpSite and was feeling a little depressed by all that I had experienced. I started to wonder if God was even in such a place as NY City. I happened to look out the window and saw this. Please note the cloud behind the spire that forms the shape of a cross. I felt this was the Lord’s way of letting me know that, Yes indeed, He was in NYC.

From my hotel room I could also see this church. You may remember that on 9-11 a Fire Dept. Chaplain was killed. This was his church. The Chaplain was killed as he knelt to pray beside a dead Fire Fighter. One of the people who jumped from the Tower building landed on the Chaplain.

This is a photo of some of the remaining Heroes from Ladder Company 24. They lost half their company on that morning.

My assignment while in NYC was to serve as Chaplain for the FBI at the DumpSite on Staten Island where all the debris from the WTC was taken to be searched. 250 acres were set aside to handle the rubble was piled up until it could be examined by the investigators.

The Chaplain with some of the Police detectives that were assigned at the DumpSite.

At the start of each shift there was a briefing. Instruction on where each officer was to work and other issues were covered. Then the microphone was handed over to the Chaplain. I would start by reading scripture, then share some thoughts and close in prayer. This was a great opportunity to share the grace and love of Jesus Christ with many who normally did not hear about Him.

This is one of the large machines that was use to separate the debris. The smaller pieces went onto a conveyor belt where they were looked at by officers.

The larger stuff was moved to a cleaned off area and spread out so other officers could rake through it looking for anything that could be identified as evidence or remains.

Hundreds of Emergency Service vehicles were destroyed that morning by the falling buildings. Some still had officers in them when they were recovered.

This is an aerial photo of the dump site taken from an FBI helicopter.

At the end of the shift everyone had to go through a decontamination process before they could leave.

This is part of a Bible that one of the FBI agents recovered from the rubble. Satan has never been able to destroy God’s Word. It will endure!

Although my assigned area was the dumpsite I did go down to ground zero. This is what that area looked like before

This photo shows the large gapping hole in the skyline where the Twin Towers were.

As I walked into the area I passed these EMS personnel. They were just waiting to help remove any bodies that were recovered.

These are off-duty NYC Firemen. After they finish their shift at their regular station they come back down to ground zero to wait for the remains of their buddies to be recovered.

The destruction from 9-11 is far more than just two buildings. This photo was taken three blocks from the Twin Towers.

This picture shows you the size of the equipment that is being used to remove the debris.

Some of the structural destruction and devastation that was there.

Smoke still coming from the ruins.

Remember these photos were taken six weeks after the event.

I was told that 3 weeks after the event, a hole was drilled down into the rubble and the temperature was still 3,000 degrees then.

When I was there it was still burning at 1,100 degrees down inside the pile.

Words can not describe the scenes that I saw. These pictures do not even start to convey the magnitude of the trauma that happened that day.

In this scene the body of a Fireman had just been found under a large slab of concrete. When this happens everything stops and everyone comes to the spot while the body is removed in a very somber ceremony.

Here is the large cross that you may have heard about or seen on TV. It was formed when the building collapsed. It has given a lot of comfort to many of the rescuers and others at ground zero.

This is a photo of Chaplain Northcut standing in the middle of what was the World Trade Center Towers. Below his feet there is still 100 feet of rubble packed into what was the basements of those buildings.

This may be the most difficult picture of all. Near ground zero there is a makeshift memorial set up where friends and family can leave flowers and other things. There are lots of teddy bears, some have notes with them. The bear in the lower left hand corner of this photo has a note pinned on it that says, “Dear daddy. Mommy says you can’t come home but we can see you in heaven. I miss you. Love David.”

We close with an aerial view of the site. As you look at this be reminded that there is tremendous need in our world, a need that only the Lord Jesus can meet.