E35 - The 911 Terrorist Attack: A First-Hand Account with Stacey Goodman

First responders are the unsung heroes of any disaster. They are the ones who rush into danger while everyone else is rushing out. They are the ones who risk their lives to save others and also the ones who see the horror and devastation up close and personal. 

For disaster specialists, the events of September 11 were unlike anything they had ever dealt with before. The scale of the disaster was massive and the emotional toll was immense. For many, the 9/11 terrorist attack was a day of tragedy and heartbreak. But for some, it was a day of courage and heroism.

In this episode, Jim and Dan are joined by Stacey Goodman. Stacey was a female police officer with federal disaster training who was pulled out of the suburbs of Long Island and thrust into the heart of the 9/11 mayhem of the World Trade Center devastation. She worked at the very center of the rescue and recovery efforts on the Pile for 23 days. Stacey witnessed firsthand the horrific details of the terror attacks that decimated the world’s financial center. Her book, The Dust Never Settles, is a firsthand account of her experience at Ground Zero and the aftermath she faces along with thousands of other survivors.

Stacey shares with Jim and Dan how she got involved as a disaster specialist during the 9/11 terrorist attack, what it is like to work on the Pile, and how she is still fighting for her medical benefits.

In This Episode

01:11 - Backstory of Stacey Goodman

04:39 - The story of how Stacey was called upon to respond to the TWA Flight 800 tragedy

11:32 - What it's like to identify the bodies of dead people

15:41 - What the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT) does

20:56 - Where were Dan and Jim during the 9/11 attacks

24:25 - How Stacey was spending her day on the day of the attack

35:33 - What Stacey's role was at the Pile

48:00 - Why Stacey isn't in the police yet

55:59 - What Stacey has to say about people who believe 9/11 is a conspiracy

59:44 - The tale of Smithtown

1:02:47 - An overview of Stacey Goodman's book, The Dust Never Settle

Favorite Quotes

05:33 - "So, when TWA Flight 800 happened, my lieutenant knew that I had worked for the Red Cross and he immediately said, all right you're going to work in the medical examiner's office because you trained for plane disasters." - Stacey Goodman

21:39 - "And all of a sudden it starts coming in and we all start chattering and we're listening to it through basically Howard Stern talking about it. And I'm getting all pissed off. I'm telling the boss, I'm like hey, I got to go to the house, man. It's time to lock and load. We're under attack." - Dan Wilkinson Jr.

23:27 - "All these people, all those firemen, all those cops, and everybody's responding, they're all gone. I remember holding my daughter and I was crying. I said, 'I am so sorry that I brought you into this world because I really thought this was going to be the end." - Jim Larkin

47:39 - "There are more people that died post 9/11 than that have died on 9/11. And it's not just first responders. It was utility workers, construction workers, ironworkers, and anybody that was down there cleaning up that got sick. We all got sick from something." - Stacey Goodman

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Stacey Goodman Website

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