REMEMBERING 9/11: ‘We have to look back at history to know what the future might be’

In the wake of 9/11, Winter Garden resident Norman Rein worked at Ground Zero with the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team. He was a lifelong volunteer firefighter and had been elected Long Island fire commissioner after retiring from the Homicide Bureau of the Suffolk County Police Department in 1998.

Twenty years have passed, but the memories of those long days are forever etched in his mind.

“I began working as part of the task force that organized about 250 pieces of fire apparatus to stage at Shea Stadium,” Rein said. “Because they lost so much equipment in New York, we just deployed all of it. Later, I went to Ground Zero and I started helping. It was initially chaotic. The next couple of days I was at Ground Zero and I met up with some some disaster mortuary team members, and from that point, for that next five weeks, I was either at Ground Zero helping out, transporting bodies or actually working with the morgue.”

“It was treacherous terrain and very hot,” he said. “You had to be careful you didn’t burn your feet — even though you wore very protective boots. When it rained it became very slippery. It was toxic. For weeks, you smelled nothing but what you would smell in a morgue. It was very noisy, with the cranes and helicopters above. But when a body was found a hush came over like you were under water. And just deep respect … they weren’t just finding the whole body, they were finding parts. And you’re trying to make this an objective mission, but it’s very hard not to realize that you’re walking on people who died.”

Rein lost more than 50 friends when the towers fell; many were in fire departments and law enforcement. But additional dangers were not immediately understood.

“I didn’t think about it the first day,” Rein said of his respirator. “Then I realized, ‘This could be toxic.’ I had that equipment in my car so, I wore it until one day someone was having a problem breathing, and I gave him my mask... and I never got it back.”

To this day, the 9/11 death toll continues to increase because of the airborne toxins.

“I’ve lost a number of friends in the ensuing years because of that,” Rein said. “And I’ve had cancer now, probably as a result. I’ve had two of the 67 types of cancers that are associated with being at Ground Zero.”

Ten years ago, Rein organized and presented the Remembrance 9/11 Tribute Exhibit in Winter Garden. And this week, it will be open Sept. 8 to 11 inside the  Commission Chambers at the Winter Garden City Hall. 

More than 200 pieces of memorabilia and 50 collages are arranged in a timeline spanning the attacks, investigations and memorials. There is a special area honoring all first responders and essential industries. And posters made by schoolchildren decorate walls and tables throughout the room.

The collection is compelling, heartbreaking and inspiring. And was made possible by people with firsthand knowledge.

The exhibit honors victims, survivors and helpers. It also acknowledges the fellow responders whom Rein met more recently.

Lt. Mike Mason, of the Winter Garden Police Department, loaned Rein his U.S. Army fatigues and memorabilia from his three tours of duty in Iraq. Winter Garden resident Jimmy Brown — who served as a New York City firefighter and was buried in ash and debris when the North Tower collapsed — also has an exhibit table with photographs and mementos.

A nine-minute video was contributed by Winter Garden resident and former FBI agent Peter Yachmetz.

On Sept. 11, 2001, Yachmetz was part of the FBI Field Office in Newark, New Jersey. He was among many agents to assist with interviews and leads associated with the attack. When the hijackers were identified, agents conducted interviews with anyone who had any association with them.

“We worked 12-hour shifts for more than a month,” Yachmetz said. “This is how we found out they took flying lessons but only wanted to learn to take off. 

“And they had flown around on the airlines just to examine the boarding process and the in-flight process.”

Yachmetz shot the video from a helicopter while retrieving reports from teams near Ground Zero.

“You really don’t get the overall of impression of the magnitude of what happened until you get a bird’s-eye view,” Yachmetz said. “You can’t put it into words, at least not words that you could print.”

Yachmetz, currently a security consultant specializing in physical security and access control, teams up with Rein to conduct comprehensive security risk assessments for private and parochial schools, houses of worship, health care facilities, and special venues. They continue serving their community with a belief the lessons learned 20 years ago never should be forgotten.

“Never forget what happened on 9/11,” Yachmetz said. “Or, at the time, how we let our defenses down.”

“We’re exposed to the potential for something like this to happen again,” Rein said. “We have to look back at history to know what the future might be.”