25 years on: 'Nothing could prepare you or any human being' for 9/11

At his home in Yonkers, New York, it’s 6:45am and Peter McCormack is sharing a look at one of his framed photographs.

The photo was taken in September 2001, after the Twin Towers collapsed, of Peter and his brother Paul, with their father, Peter Snr, at what was to become known as Ground Zero.

At 8:46am local time on September 11, 2001, the crisp, blue Manhattan skyline, without so much as a wisp of a cloud, would change forever.

American Airlines Flight 11 was hijacked and flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center and with dark smoke billowing on the horizon, 17 minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower. Both 110-story skyscrapers caught fire and subsequently collapsed.

Al-Qaeda, a militant Islamist extremist network, was officially blamed and held responsible for the attacks.

In all, 2,753 people died in the New York attack, of which 147 passengers and crew aboard the two hijacked planes. Some 184 people lost their lives in the attack on the Pentagon at Arlington, Virginia, and 44 people died on United Airlines Flight 93, which was taken to ground in a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

It was the only one of the four hijacked planes that failed to reach the terrorists' intended target, believed to be the US Capitol or the White House in Washington, after the passengers and crew bravely fought back, forcing the plane to crash.

By Wednesday, September 12, Peter, a detective sergeant in the New York Police Department (NYPD), 33, and was sifting through the debris of the World Trade Centre for forensic clues and body parts.

His colleague and younger brother by a year, Captain Paul McCormack, was commanding 250 officers policing the "frozen zone", set up in Lower Manhattan. Eight months beforehand, Paul had been appointed Precinct Commander of the 41st Precinct in the South Bronx, famously nicknamed ‘Fort Apache.’

Another brother, Brendan, who was 30 although not in the photograph, was an ironworker out of Local 580, involved in highly dangerous work, cutting steel girders in an attempt to release bodies from the ruins.

Their parents moved back to Donegal from the United States to raise their seven children in 1973. Teresa, their mother, was the eldest daughter of David Hanna of Hanna Hats, from Donegal Town, and she and Peter Snr from Ballybofey had met at a skate-bowl in New York City in the 1950s.

When their children were reared, the couple moved to New York. Peter Snr passed away in 2017 and Teresa, who turned 93 in February, is living in a retirement home near her daughter Siobhan in South Carolina.

The family had grown up at Meencarrigach, Ballybofey, just below McGrory's Brae, or, as Peter, who was born in Philadelphia, recalls, “a four-mile walk into town.”

They would play football with Séan MacCumhaill’s, and Peter represented Twin Towns Boxing Club in Ballybofey before deciding to move to New York, as some other siblings would too, in 1986.

There, like many before and after him, he worked in construction before joining the police force in 1991. In his 25 years' service, nothing would compare to 9/11.

Niall McCready from Ballyshannon, best known as a former Aodh Ruadh and Donegal footballer, was working nearby on Nassau Street when the planes struck.

“People were saying that a plane hit the WTC and immediately we assumed that the pilot had made a mistake,” he told the Donegal Democrat on Thursday, September 13, 2001. “Then we saw people jumping from the windows and when we were about one block away from the WTC, we found the wave of heat as the second plane exploded. I thought for a second, ‘this is a terrible way to die’.”

Frank Molloy from Ardara, who was the Donegal New York Association Person of the Year at the time, was based on 57th Street having also worked at the World Trade Center as a carpenter for six months the year beforehand.

“The second one was like something from Star Wars,” he said at the time. “It was a real, well-drilled hit on the building.”

"Peter could have been killed at the World Trade Center, but he had to take the day off because his wife was ill," Teresa told The Irish Independent two weeks after the attacks in 2001, the article headlined ‘Brothers McCormack now superheroes of New York’. She told of how she would sprinkle holy water on her children as they left home.

“When the towers fell, everybody was in complete mayhem,” Peter told DonegalLive from Yonkers. “Nobody knew where anybody was. You know, it was one of those things where you're down there and you're looking for someone that might be trapped under here. You went into dust.”

Peter joined in the search and rescue operation until his work took him to the landfill site on Staten Island. He sifted through the debris removed from Ground Zero.

“That's where all the debris was taken to the morgue,” Peter added about Staten Island. “We were assigned to assist through the rubble, looking for any type of identifiable means: beads, a driver's license, someone's necklace, a ring, a body part. A database was built from families’ DNA from hair, teeth, anything like that, and we were trying to provide anything for a match, to at least give some closure. It would take years.

“Basically, it was conveyor belts. Non-stop. It's almost like something that you would see in science fiction movies. You're sifting through it, and you're checking everything- any type of thing that might be identifiable. Then, there were these cadaver dogs - they would go after anything that was dead.

“You're there as security, making sure there is nothing untoward going on and then, all of a sudden, you would have someone coming in and everybody would be dead silent. You would stand at attention. Because a car or an ambulance would be coming in with a body part. At the morgue, it would stick in your nose, the smell of death.”

As late as 2011, 10 years later, Peter recalls climbing five flights of stairs to an apartment in the South Bronx, with a short letter to inform a man’s family of his confirmed passing, courtesy of DNA on a toothbrush.

“I knocked on the door to let them know that there was identifiable DNA recovered,” Peter said. “It was a Spanish family, and they had lost their son and brother, who was in his thirties at the time. When they opened the door, I went in, and they had candles, and they had his picture. It was almost like a memorial for the young man who died. They were still grieving. I was there to notify them. It was just letting them know that it was confirmed that their son was …”.

NYPD precinct commander Paul said at the time: "When I got to the scene after it happened, the place was like a complete warzone. We're all grieving for friends and colleagues who were killed.”

Paul joined the force in 1990 and made an exceptional rise through the ranks, becoming the youngest police captain in NYPD history at just 27 years old. The toxic conditions at Ground Zero severely impacted his health, ultimately causing progressive vision loss that left him registered blind. This forced his retirement from the NYPD in April 2010.

“I know I did have some respiratory problems,” Peter added. “Thank God, it was not bad. But I get tested each year with something called the World Trade Center Monitoring. Paul is making the most of life.”

Paul has since moved back to Ireland with his family, settling in Sutton, North Dublin. Refusing to let his visual impairment slow him down, he took up blind golf and has achieved remarkable success, competing internationally and remaining an active figure in both the blind golfing community and the 9/11 remembrance projects.

That Donegal Democrat that week in 2001 told the tales of those from the county who were in New York that Tuesday morning.

“Among those who got out was the former Noreen McGee from Meenmore, Dungloe, who was working on the 94th floor,” they wrote. “She was working her last week – she’s due to retire tomorrow.

“Her sister Mary, who works in Teach Jack in Glashagh, said Noreen and other workers headed for the stairs after the first attack, but at one stage on the way down they were told their building was secure and they could return to their offices. However, they decided to go on down.”

They added: “Joe McGinty of Donegal Town, who had a restaurant across the road from the World Trade Center, said they had a lot of customers and friends who worked in the centre, and they didn’t know yet what had happened to them. They believed the restaurant was destroyed.”

Nuala McGowan, also from Donegal Town, was 27 in 2001 and these days serves as the Senior Director of Research Finance and Compliance at Harvard University. Twenty-five years ago, a change in job perhaps saved her life.

The paper read: “Nuala McGowan, up till a week ago, had worked with the TJX Company in Boston as a senior Financial and Operational Auditor and would have travelled to different parts of the US regularly. On Tuesday’s flight, she lost seven colleagues.”

Una McLaughlin from Buncrana disembarked her train at Wall Street after the two towers had already been hit. As people stood at the New York Stock Exchange taking photos, she made her way towards work, where she met a Federal Security Officer, who advised people to run in the direction of the water at Battery State Park because the area was sealed off.

“We went there, and I asked a gentleman whether he thought the buildings would collapse,” she told the Democrat. “He said, ‘No way, it was impossible as they were structurally sound.’

“A few seconds later, the first tower came tumbling down. There was a major panic. At that stage, I could not see. We were in complete darkness. We were covered from head to toe in a creamy grey substance. People were hysterical. We finally walked what seemed to be miles to the Williamsburg Bridge and walked over. No one was speaking because our fear was that it was going to be bombed.”

Damian Meehan, whose parents were from Donegal Town, was not so fortunate.

A trader for Carr Futures, he was in his office on the 92nd floor of World Trade Center, Tower One, when it was struck. A talented footballer, he played for the Donegal club and also represented New York at inter-county level.

An exhibition celebrating his memory was recently unveiled at the GAA Museum inside Croke Park. The exhibition includes his New York senior football team jersey from the 2000 season, his New York U21 football championship medal, his 9/11 missing poster, a 9/11 memorial etching, and a framed memorial sculpture by the artist Nicola McLean, who is Paul McCormack’s wife.

“Damian was one of the nicest gentlemen you could ever meet in your life,” Paul said at the unveiling. “He always had a big smile on his face; he was a tremendous sportsman, a tremendous family man, a wonderful friend, just a tremendous human being.

“It means a lot to have Damian honoured on the 25th anniversary of 9/11 by having his items now on permanent display in Croke Park. There's just no better place for it.”

Seóg Campbell, a first cousin of Damian, spoke on behalf of the family. He said: “It’s a privilege and a pleasure to be here on such an occasion, and we’d like to thank Paul McCormack and everybody else who helped pull this together.

“My Uncle Mike emigrated to New York in 1961 along with Auntie Peig to make a better life. They had 10 children, eight of them boys, and Mike's big focus was always GAA and he was heavily involved in New York GAA. Damian was such a lovely lad with a big smile and to do this for him and for us as a family is just tremendous. Uncle Mike in particular would be smiling from ear to ear. Auntie Peig is 93 now, and she's very grateful.”

GAA President, Jarlath Burns, added: "We are commemorating one person out of 3,000 who lost their lives in 9/11 and as long as we remember that one person, we remember every person.

"Damian loved the GAA and was somebody who always wanted to give back, and the GAA is the place where we all belong. It is about giving; it's not about taking. That's what's so special about the GAA, and that was what was so special about Damian. He never wanted to be famous; he would never have wanted this. All he wanted was to play GAA, represent his county, and work for his family."

Peter McCormack remembers Damian well. They played for and against one another.

These days, Peter is the owner of Blue Skies Home Inspections, providing comprehensive property inspections across Westchester County, New York City, and parts of Connecticut.

In September 2001, his then father-in-law Al Edwards joined him and Paul at Ground Zero. Peter’s first wife, Al’s daughter, Christine, an executive for Aero Quality Sales, passed away in 2007 with cancer. She and Peter had a baby daughter, Hanna, in 2000.

In 2011, Peter met Karyn, who has family connections to Mayo and Fermanagh and having married, it’s a busy house and Hanna now has five younger siblings: Mairead (12), Peter Jnr (11), Noah (9), Evelyn (6) and Orla (2).

Peter enjoys refereeing Gaelic football and has taken charge of four New York SFC finals and is the current treasurer of St Barnabas GAA Club in the Bronx.

A total of 343 firefighters and 71 law enforcement officers were killed in the attacks in New York City. After losing so many friends in 2001, the annual Gaelic football matches between the NYPD and the Fire Department saw their friendly rivalry on the football field help establish an even stronger bond off of it.

“There are so many times you think about it, and it's like, what the f**k?, Peter said of thinking back to 9/11. “Nothing could prepare you, any human being, for what happened, the landfill, the morgue, everything in Manhattan, any of this stuff.

“When it comes to New York City, a lot has definitely changed. It's like you'd be a lot more careful. Like, for me and the people that lived through it, you think that anything can happen at any time. But you get on with it. You've got to do it. You've got to put one foot in front of the other.”