Deaths of 9-11 Responders Continue to Rise

From the September 12, 2019, Chicago Tribune  "Deaths of 9/11 first responders from related illnesses on rise" by Cindy Dampier.

New York City detective Tom Frey talks about the most devastating assignment of his career.  "We were going down there, just trying to find anyone who was alive," he says of the hours and days after the attacks.  "We were digging in, moving concrete with our hands, basically just trying to find anyone who was alive.  I was never lucky enough to find a survivor, but we did all we could."

Instead, he found himself tending to the dead, sifting through the debris brought to a Staten Island landfill looking for any trace of evidence that could shed light on the horrific attack.  He searched for plane parts and human remains, all parts of a landscape rendered unrecognizable by pulverizing destruction and a pervasive layer of gray dust.

"On the job, I've seen plane crashes, people jumping out of windows, hanging themselves, subways derailed -- all sorts of things.  But you're never prepared for something like this."

America never would be the same.  Neither would Tom Frey.