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US National Guard
Ground Zero by Bobb Vann World Trade Center, New York City, September 2001 -- In New York City, the beautiful morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, was transformed instantly at 8:46 a.m., when a hijacked airliner crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. When a second airliner struck the South Tower 16 minutes later, what many assumed was a terrible accident was quickly shown to be a deliberate act of terrorism. Within an hour shock turned to horror as first one, then the other, of the Twin Towers collapsed. Together with a third plane that struck the Pentagon and a fourth that crashed into a Pennsylvania field as passengers struggled with the terrorists, nearly 3,000 Americans perished that morning. Many members of the New York National Guard did not wait for a formal mobilization order, but rushed instantly to their armories. Closest were three battalions from the 3rd Brigade, 42nd Infantry Division: the 1st Battalion, 101st Cavalry from Staten Island; the 1st Battalion, 258th Field Artillery from Queens; and the 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry, headquartered in Manhattan a little over two miles north of what would quickly become known as "Ground Zero." Also responding were B & C Companies of the 1st Battalion, 105th Infantry and New York's 2nd Civil Support Team (Weapons of Mass Destruction), which sampled the air for chemical, biological, or radiological elements.
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