Photos by Robert Davi, New York 1L

Construction workers, firemen and other rescue workers work in the smoke from smoldering subterranean fires to rescue anyone left alive in the wreckage of the two 110-story towers that collapsed as the result of the attack.

A lone rescue worker walks amid the rubble at ground zero.

In the minutes and hours after the terrorist planes crashed into the World Trade Towers in lower Manhattan on Sept. 11, New York 1L and the office staff set up an informal relief station to help the victims.

As described by Local Pres. Patrick LoPresti and Vice Pres. Joe Curto, the local union office, located directly on the route that panicked workers from near the trade center were using to escape, became an impromptu relief agency for hundreds.

After the two terrorist-controlled aircraft crashed into both the north and south towers of the huge trade tower complex, officials urgently spread the word for all persons in the area to evacuate and seek safety far away from the badly damaged 100-story skyscrapers.

With roads out of lower Manhattan clogged with rescue vehicles and the venerable New York City subway lines inoperable because of damage, fleeing on foot became the only alternative for thousands. As workers charged up University Avenue, they were closely followed by the smoke and soot from the intense flames and airborne debris from collapsing sections of the towers and nearby structures where the fires had spread.

Their panicky flight was complicated further by blacked out telephone operations, especially cell phone communications, that would have given the evacuees phone access to their loved ones at home so they could assure them they had survived.

Fleeing Wall Street bankers and investment industry executives joined their staffs and workers from the southern tip of Manhattan island in an exodus up the avenue to escape.

"Many were shaken and almost in shock," LoPresti reported. "Our office staff gave them coffee and soft drinks and, most importantly for many of them, telephones to call their homes and let their loved ones know they were safe," LoPresti said.

"For some who had run through the smoke and soot, they just wanted a place to wash up. So, we let them use our rest rooms. The staff did everything we could to help," LoPresti added.

Curto told the Graphic Communicator about two 1L members who join the list of unsung heroes after the terrorist attacks. Bob LePore and Stan Nastalick, are both employed at a shop a block away from the twin towers.

After the first plane crashed into the north tower at 8:45 a.m., they were ordered to evacuate their building. When they reached the sidewalk minutes after the second terrorist plane hit the south tower, they raced toward the tower complex to see how they could help.

But as the inferno grew and people trapped on the upper floors started to jump to their deaths, the two were ordered out of the area, just as the towers started to collapse.

Both men ran all the way to Local 1L headquarters with the smoke and debris from the disintegrating buildings following them. They cleaned themselves up and heard radio reports detailing the complete collapse of both towers and severe damage to many nearby buildings.

And all through the long day, the GCIU office served as a haven for those who fled the scene.

In the wake of the terrorist attacks, about 345 firefighters with the New York Fire Department and scores of New York Police Department and Port Authority policemen lost their lives, along with upwards of 6,000 other people from the planes and those who were working in the buildings at the time.