Robert Pesce

On September 11, 2001, New York City Fire Department (FDNY) Lieutenant Robert Pesce of Engine 157 was off-duty. He had gotten up early in the morning and was watching television when he saw the attacks. Having been on-duty during the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing, Pesce understood the magnitude of what was going on.

Pesce arrived at the firehouse and collected his gear, then he and his colleagues boarded city buses that took them to the Staten Island Ferry. During the ferry ride to Downtown Manhattan, he recalls thinking of the U.S. Marines on Omaha Beach or Normandy when they were crossing the water via boat, not knowing what they were about to endure. The only facts that Pesce and his colleagues knew were that the Twin Towers collapsed, and that hundreds of first responders and thousands of civilians were victims of the attacks. When they disembarked from the ferry, Pesce recalls being met with five to six inches of pulverized ash, with nothing of structure left of the Towers but about ten stories of mangled steel. The only thing that Pesce remembers floating through the air was paper, which was surreal to him.

Pesce and his colleagues could not reach the Towers as the streets were filled with iron, steel, and debris. They were equipped with only a couple lengths of hose and no nozzles or water supply; the pumpers that supply water were buried with ash and debris. Pesce recalls walking by St. Paul’s Chapel in Downtown Manhattan when they realized that although the church was very close to the World Trade Center complex, not a single pane of glass was affected by the attacks earlier in the day. Their department chaplain, Father Judge, served St. Paul’s, so Pesce and his colleagues went in, hoping to speak with him before beginning their work. Upon walking up the aisle, they were met at the altar with Father Judge’s deceased body, draped with the altar sheet and his shield and I.D. placed on his chest. They later learned that while assisting and praying for victims at the World Trade Center, Father Judge was hit by falling debris and was killed. They knelt by his body and asked Father Judge for his blessings to keep them safe, and went on their way.

Pesce recalls being about ten minutes into their operation when they began getting hit with debris from the building where Merrill Lynch was located. When Pesce turned around, he saw a piece of black steel falling down from the building, coming straight towards him. It hit him across his back and Pesce recalls it feeling like someone hit him with a hardball bat in his back. He sustained a broken back and six broken ribs. Later at Bellevue Hospital, Pesce recalls a nurse telling him, “You are the luckiest guy on Earth today,” because he was alive and his organs were not compromised.

There were seven men lost from Engine 157. In all, 343 members of the FDNY lost their lives that day. To Pesce, “Never Forget” means that you never leave your people behind. As he reflects on his experience, Pesce notes that the events of 9/11 changed the dynamic of not only New York City, but the world.