'A Lot to Live Up To'

Out drinking with New York's bravest, my name brought me undeserved honor.

A New York City firefighter calls for 10 more rescue workers to make their way into the rubble of the World Trade Center, Sept 15, 2001. (U.S. Navy)

FROM THE ARCHIVES
The Wall Street Journal, Sept. 24, 2001

By Michael Judge

A few nights after terrorists brought down the World Trade Center I spent the night drinking with a handful of New York’s bravest. They were firemen from Harlem and the Bronx just coming off a grueling, 12-hour search-and-rescue shift. All day they'd been tearing through the mountain of concrete and carnage where the towers once soared.

Between beers and shots at a dive called Milano’s, they told my two friends and me of the horrors they’d witnessed and the hope they had of saving more lives. They were determined. They were heartbroken. This was no casual drink; this was self-medication by the pint.

They, sadly, were the lucky ones. They were beaten and bruised, their uniforms still covered in the white, asbestos ash that blanketed lower Manhattan. But they were alive. T…