My City September 2021

bandages, splints and many other EMS supplies,” he re members.They left at 9pm on 9/11 and arrived at 7:30pm the next day to find mass chaos. “It was a crime scene,” Ludwig says.The FBI, Secret Service, and military were all there. Fire and EMS assets

were pouring in from all over. At the time, we thought it would be a massive rescue ef fort. As we all know, it turned into a massive recovery.” Ludwig, Smith and Her ron remained in NYC for five days.They spent the first few days trying to get information

on Smith’s father, Kevin, who was a FDNY firefighter from Station 288/HazMat 1 and was missing. “Tom was a probationary firefighter and my responsibility. Knowing his level of stress regard ing the status of his dad, I couldn’t let him in the pile.

I went in.We were assigned to the South Tower and also worked around the temporary morgue and the perimeter.” Kevin Smith’s body was never recovered. He was one of the 343 firefighters who died on 9/11. “It was over whelming,” Ludwig says. p

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