Rescue 1 Heads To The Towers

On Sept. 11, Lt. Dennis Mojica had just run the overnight shift with five of the men. Because of an injury, Joe Angelini was on light duty at another firehouse. Weiss, Geidel, Kenny Marino and four others were about to start the day shift, under the command of Captain Terry Hatton.

On that morning, Katrina Marino stopped by to switch cars with her husband, Kenny. She was with their two children and arrived just before 9 a.m. He was happy to see them. As she was leaving, she felt something.

"He went to each car door and instead of just leaning over and kissing Tyler, he went around, opened the door, gave him a big hug and a kiss and same with Kristen and then same with me."

Driving away, the former flight attendant heard something. "A big airplane went overhead. And I said, 'Look at the airplane, Tyler.'" It was low and loud.

It took less than two minutes for the alarm to sound. Had this been in the middle of a shift, six men would have responded, but since the shift had just changed everyone, all 10 members present piled on the truck and sped off to the World Trade Center.

Fireman Tim Brown, from another unit, is Terry Hatton's best friend. He was in the lobby of Tower One when Hatton arrived. It seems clear now the commander of Rescue 1 knew what he and his men would soon be in for. Says Brown: "I went over to him. And he wrapped his arms around me with his tool and gave me a kiss on the cheek. And said, 'Love you, brother, don't know if I'll see you again.'" And he went off into the stairwell to do his job."

As they were trained to do, Capt. Hatton and his men, each lugging some 60 pounds of oxygen tanks and tools, started climbing the stairs up Tower One.

Joe Angelini also heard the call. On light duty elsewhere that morning, he grabbed some gear, hopped on a truck and headed downtown. Joe's oldest son, Joey, with whom he was very close, was also a fireman. He was also working that day. He was also killed.

When the towers collapsed Capt. Hatton, Lt. Dennis Mohica and nine firefighters from Rescue 1 were killed.

"They and the vast majority of the rest of the New York City fire department were trapped in two largest building collapses that ever happened. They were doing what we do," says Hashagen.

That day, 343 New York City firefighters died doing their job.

"To me, it felt like the world as I had known, it had come to an end," says Duddy.

Those who died left behind mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, seven wives, 16 children.

The body of Katrina Marino's husband, Kenny, has not been found. His son Tyler is 1; their daughter Kristen is 4.

The other heroes lost that day were firefighters Michael Montessi, Gary Geidel, Brian Sweeney, Patrick O'Keefe, Dave Weiss, Lt. Dennis Mojica, Gerry Nevins and Bill Henry and Joe Angelini.

When Angelini started fighting fires, John F. Kennedy was president. Add his years on the job to the others on Rescue 1, who died Sept. 11, and the total is ore than 200 years of firefighting experience lost. Then there was Capt. Hatton, who loved the city so much and knew it so well that his men nicknamed him Captain Manhattan.

A few days after Sept. 11, Hatton’s wife found out she was pregnant. The baby will be called Terry whether it's a girl or a boy.

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