New York's 'Time To Pay Back'

Remembering 9/11, NYC Search And Rescue Team Visits Gulf Coast

(CBS)  New York City's Urban Search and Rescue Team is on the Gulf Coast to help out... and to say thank you.

CBS News Correspondent Jim Acosta reports on repaying a debt from 9/11.

When storm survivor Russ Anderson met some of New York's finest, he had the perfect tribute in mind.

Out in the Mississippi rubble, there is a sound that became familiar four years ago: "Amazing Grace."

"We appreciate them. The whole nation does," said Anderson, who lives in Gulfport, Miss.

On September 11, 2001, America came to help New York City. When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, it was time to give back.

Joe Downey leads New York City's Urban Search and Rescue Team.

"We were getting inundated with calls from all these firemen and policemen that wanted to come with us," Downey said. "Everybody wanted to come."

This is the team's first deployment outside New York since that September morning.

The team lost almost everything that day: rescuers, equipment, and its leader – Joe Downey's father.

Acosta asked Downey if he recognized how choked up people get when they see him and his team.

"The first person we met, she just broke down and cried on our shoulder," Downey said.

Everywhere they go, they are struck by images they've seen before.

Just as rescuers from across the country answered the call at ground zero, they've come to the Gulf Coast. Many of them have not seen each other since around this time four years ago.

So, dinner becomes a reunion – with "brothers" and "sisters" from Florida to California.

It's a time to reflect on the task at hand.

"We look at this as Mississippi's World Trade Center," said Stuart Willig of the Miami Fire Department.

"It's a hundred times worse as far as the geographical area," said Tony LaFemina of the New York Fire Department. "Sixteen acres of land was destroyed in New York City. This is over 150 miles."

"It's our time to pay back," he said.

For these New Yorkers, the mission has changed. But their sacrifice is always remembered.