Everyone who served at the World Trade Center site will have indelible personal memories. For me, this statue holds particular significance. It took a long time to find a photo. I don't know if this photo was taken days earlier, or days later. Im told the remembrances it displayed evolved with time.
Several days following the attack, I was assigned to the FDNY*EMS paramedic unit stationed at Liberty St and Trinity Place, on a construction site on the edge of Ground Zero. Our assignment was providing standby coverage for Fire, Law Enforcement, EMS and Construction personnel working the pile.
The next 16 hours were difficult - coming to terms with the images I had only watched from the roadway of the Verrazano Bridge as the first tower collapsed, and then from a pier overlooking New York Harbor where I was assigned the remainder of that day. Numbing views repeated over and over on every TV station for the last 6 days.
On the other hand, here I sat in an almost campfire like situation..sharing a log or a paint bucket, passing the time with a volunteer ambulance crew that responded to NYC from distant upstate New York, and The Statue.
The Statue, was a both a witness and a survivor of the attack. Dust covered, he sat on the steps, watching over all that had transpired, now safeguarding the personnel on the pile. He had been covered head to toe in various EMS, Fire and Police unit patches -pieces of uniforms and helmets from those that had manned this post before me. For a time I sat beside him, as if he could explain all I was witnessing. But when my tour was done, he remained to console the next crew. The photo on this webpage shows only a small degree of how he appeared that day.
It took me years to locate a photo of this image that has remained with me, longer to discover his true identity. The Statue, Double Check, was created by J. Seward Johnson and had been sitting on the park bench in Liberty Plaza Park for 20 years, a companion to Wall Street personnel seeking a brief respite.
The park had been undergoing renovation on September 11 when the Towers were attacked. Double Check was found covered in debris, sitting on his bench.
The damaged sculpture with all its "enhancements" was eventually returned to Mr. Johnson, who repaired and returned it to the park. Understanding the emotional attachment shared by many of the rescuers, he created a companion - Makeshift Memorial, cast complete with many of the tributes that had been placed on it by other emergency service personnel. Makeshift Memorial now resides in Liberty State Park, overlooking the WTC site from across the Hudson in New Jersey.
