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Former NYPD lieutenant Bill Cosgrove remembers carrying Father Mychal Judge, the first official victim of September 11th, out of the World Trade Center.
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Related Pieces
Broadcast History
NPR Morning Edition 9/9/11
Transcript
Bill Cosgrove (BC): I went a couple of steps and hit something. And I told the fire chief that someone was on the floor. And he put the light on him and I remember him saying, "Oh my god, it's Father Mike."
He checked his vital signs and he said, "He's dead." So, we all picked him up. We went up the steps. And I remember looking up because one of the firemen was yelling at a photographer. He was telling him in no uncertain terms, get out of the way. I didn't even think about that picture being taken. I was just doing my job. It's just… so many other heroic acts were being done all around me. It's just that no one took a picture of it.
The next day, when I came back into the precinct, somebody showed me the picture. And uh I got a lot of calls from people that knew Mychal Judge, firemen. They assumed I knew him, you know, but I didn't until that day.
He's always been on my mind e...
Read the full transcript
Intro and Outro
INTRO:Yesterday on this program, our series StoryCorps, brought us the voices of people who lost loved ones on 9/11. This morning we hear one more story.
From people who remember the man who's death certificate was the first of all those issued in connection with the attacks. Father Mychal Judge was a Franciscan friar and chaplain to the New York City Fire Department. He was also a true New York character. He was a native of Brooklyn, and he seemed to know everyone in the city... from the homeless to the mayor.
On the morning of September 11th Father Mychal arrived at the World Trade Center shortly after the first plane hit.
Bill Cosgrove, a police lieutenant, was also there.
And when the first tower collapsed… Cosgrove and a group of firefighters emerged from the dust carrying Father Mychal's body.
At that moment a photographer snapped a picture which would become an iconic image of that day -- five men carrying a fallen priest, slouched in a chair, the tragedy's first official victim.
Here's Bill Cosgrove talking about the events leading up to that famous photograph… Followed by Father Michael Duffy remembering Judge's funeral service...
OUTRO:The homily from Father Mychal Judge's funeral September, 15, 2001 by Father Michael Duffy. Before that you heard from Bill Cosgrove one of the men from the iconic photo of Father Mychal taken on 9/11. You can see it on npr.org.
Musical Works
| Title | Artist | Album | Label | Year | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horizon Variations | Max Richter | The Blue Notebooks. | Fat Cat Records | 2004 | 00:14 |
Additional Credits
NPR, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Principal Financial Group
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