By Leigh Ann RutledgeAccent Editor

As the 10th anniversary of the9/11 attacks approaches, PastorMike Doak wants us to“re”member those who lost andgave their lives for the UnitedStates of America.

Pastor Doak of Church ofChrist Christian Disciples ofCarrollton is the featuredspeaker at the 912 Project Cere-mony set for Sept. 10 at 7 p.m.in Carrollton High School gym.The 912 Project was establishedto remind citizens how the USwas united as a nation the dayafter the 9/11 attacks whenrace, political choice and religionweren’t the focus.

Pastor Doak has a viewpointon the attacks and how thecountry responded that is differ-ent but also similar to the ma-jority of citizens. He was one ofthe few people to be onsite at thePentagon and Ground Zero theday of the attacks. Reflectingback on that surreal time, he re-members the little things, thatout of a tremendous tragedy, thespirit of the US shows and lifegoes on.

“I remember it was such abeautiful day. The sun wasshining, the sky was clear, justbeautiful,” he said.

SEPTEMBER 11, 2001Mike Doak, special agent in

charge of the Technical Surveil-lance and Forensic Science Divi-sion of the US TreasuryDepartment, and his unit werein Norfolk, VA, participating in ajoint training exercise with theNaval Amphibious Group, whichbegan at 7 a.m. “As odd as itseems now, the cooperativetraining was aimed at assessingasymmetrical (not governmentsponsored) terrorist organiza-tions and evaluating their elec-

tronic capabilities,” said Doak.“These training sessions are heldperiodically. Sort of a ‘war gameswith electronic devices.’ Eachpart of the group has a part toplay. We were trying to see howquickly we could lock onto theirsignals and ei-ther decrypt ordisarm them.”

At 8:50 a.m.a steady cas-cade of partici-pant pagersbegan to go off.“The early re-ports we re-ceived said alight commer-cial aircraftstrayed offcourse andstruck thenorth tower ofthe World TradeCenter,” ex-plained Doak.“Within min-utes, the as-sessment wasupgraded, in-t e r c e p t o r slaunched andthe Federal Avi-ation Adminis-tration (FAA)ordered all pri-vate and com-mercial aircraftto land imme-diately.” Doaknoted it is hisopinion whenthe FAAgrounded allaircrafts, theyprobably savedmore lives.

At 9:20 a.m.,the Secretary ofTreasury ad-vised Doak’sEmergency Re-sponse Team(ERT) to respond to the Pentagonand initiate the continuity of op-erations plans (COOP) restoringcommunication on a local, stateand federal level.

Doak arrived at the Pentagon at11:45 a.m. His group deployed“CP-Majestic,” which was theirrolling communications fleet. By3:30 p.m., secure communica-tions and a rescue/recovery planwere in place at the Pentagon andDoak and his ERT were sent toGround Zero at the World Trade

Center in New York City. The AT&T Telecommunica-

tions Building is located acrossthe street from the Twin Towers.The entire communication sys-tem for Manhattan and its Bur-roughs is located in the AT&T

building. When the towers werehit, a large beam from one of thetowers was propelled into theside of the AT&T building. AT&Tofficials knew how to get theirsystem up and running if therewas water damage, but had noidea how to protect and restore itafter fire damage. Officials de-cided to shut the entire systemdown, thus knocking out allmodes of communication, result-ing in no landline or cellularservice inbound or outboundfrom Manhattan for two weeks.

Plus the damage to theTwin Towers severely de-graded the Secret Ser-vice’s ability to managesecure White Housec o m m u n i c a t i o n s .

Tower 7 in the World Trade Cen-ter Complex housed SecretService offices. Doak and histeam were needed to set up acommunication system for alllevels of government, which be-came known as the “switch-

board for Ground Zero.” The Lincoln Tunnel is a 1.5-

mile long tunnel under theHudson River, connecting Wee-hawken, NJ, and the borough ofManhattan in New York City.Three tubes carry six lanes oftraffic, close to 120,000 vehiclesper day, making it one of thebusiest vehicular tunnels in theworld.

The ERT group traveling inCP Majestic, entered the Lin-coln Tunnel at 11:30 p.m. “Itwas eerily surreal. We werethe only vehicle in the tunneland that never happens,” saidDoak. “The only sound wasour siren.” A member ofDoak’s team is a Vietnam vet-eran and was among the sol-

diers treated badly upon his re-turn from the war. “When we ex-ited the Lincoln Tunnel, we weregreeted by your average-Joe NewYorkers standing there offeringbottles of water, waving flags andcheering us on. My friend was

astonished. Seeingthe response of thepeople, he was pow-erfully overcome. Itwas a healing forhim, he had comefull circle.” This wasone of many of the“little pockets ofwonder sprinkledwithin” tragedy.

Once on-scene,the team estab-lished a repeater siteat the FBI JointCommand Post Fa-cility and workednon-stop for thenext 72 hours es-tablishing encryptedsatellite, cellularand landline com-munication links.Being the “Switch-board of GroundZero,” they had theonly fax machinesand burnt up threeof them processingmessages from 39federal agencies.Doak and his teamwere responsible forgetting communica-tions up and run-ning to have asecure landing zonefor President GeorgeW. Bush when hevisited Ground Zero.For the next 12weeks, they helpedwith rescue and re-covery efforts, gath-ered and processedforensic evidenceand recovered files

and evidence lost in the collapseof Building 6 (US CustomsHouse Resident Agencies) and 7,the Secret Service offices.

Doak noted the site was a“cloud of dust” that gave it an“air of unbelievability.” All debrisfrom the area was transported toa forensic facility at Staten Is-land where it was sifted and

searched for remains and perti-nent information needed byfamilies of those killed in the at-tacks. Members of Doak’s teamassisted in this process.

His team also helped gatherfiles and evidence from theTreasury office in Tower 6. Theexplosion at the Twin Towerscaused a reaction that practi-cally sucked the insides out ofthe building, stairwells weregone, along with drywall andceiling tiles. Doak was one ofthe men who went inside theunstable building. “We knewwhich offices were on what floorand where to look for items,” hesaid. “We were gathering infor-mation on one of the floors, andthe walls are gone, but there sitsthe secretary’s Rolodex on thecorner of her desk, unscathed.And the window blinds were bil-lowing in the breeze. The win-dows were gone but the blindswere intact.” Doak calls theRolodex and window blindsmore of those “pockets of won-der” or so-called normalcy inthe scope of the situation.

He feels these “little pockets ofwonder” were signs that life goeson. “I went to find coffee for mycrew about 6 a.m. Sept. 12 andwas walking along and saw awheel assembly from an air-plane lying on the ground neara building. I looked at it in akind of disbelief,” Doak ex-plained. “Then I looked directlyacross from the wheel assem-bly and saw a bagel cart coveredwith soot and ash with the ro-tisserie still rotating and bagelson it.” (The rotisseries in bagelcarts run off a car battery.)

Doak admits he and his team,along with a lot of respondersare somewhat desensitized tothe situation at the time be-cause they are there to do theirjob. “We were used to living outof a suitcase, not knowing whatis coming next,” he said. “It allgoes to back to those littlethings. We received passengerlists from the planes, mani-festos, so much information.Then a fax came in telling aworker his wife had given birthand they were both fine.”

See ATTACKS, C-2

ACTIVITIESSept. 10 - Agriculture, Natural

Resources & Conservation Expoat McClester/Kenwood Farm,4701 Meter Rd., Mechanicstown.Exhibits, demonstrations, youthevents. For info call 330-627-9852.

Sept. 10 - Dancing on theBridge, Malvern. Arts & crafts,food, entertainment, vehicleshow. For info, call 330-863-1316.

Sept. 12 - Carroll Co. Board ofElections regular board meetingat 9 a.m. in the board office.

Sept. 12 - NOTE DATECHANGE! PERI meeting at noonat Ponderosa. Speaker is OllieHawkins, superintendent of Car-roll Golden Age Retreat.

Sept. 14 - Carroll Co. HumaneSociety Rabies Clinic 5:30-7 p.m.at Carroll County Fairgrounds.Cost is $7 for dogs, cats and fer-rets. No pregnant animals. Allanimals must be on a leash orcaged.

Sept. 17 - Car Seat Check 10a.m. to 1 p.m. at HuebnerChevrolet, 1155 Canton Rd.,Carrollton. For info, contact Car-roll Co. Health Dept. at 330-627-4866.

Sept. 17 - Carrollton Class of1943 reunion at Ponderosa from11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Sept. 18 - Turkey Shoot atLeesville Property Owners, 5480Autumn Rd., Carrollton. Doorsopen at 10 a.m.

Sept. 18 - Lake Mohawk FallFest - Open to public 11 a.m. to5 p.m. Crafts, demonstrations,entertainment. For info or re-serve your craft space, call 330-863-1031.

Sept. 24 - Scarecrows on theSquare, Carrollton. Fun activi-ties! For info, visitwww.carrollcountyartscenter.org.

See EVENTS, C-2

Mike Doak recalls horrifying days at Ground Zero, asks community to remember...move on

FREEPRESS

STANDARD Section C Sept. 8, 2011

Contact the Accent Editor on the web at:

lrutledge@freepressstandard.comAccent

UpComingEvents

A “Civil War Tea” is planned for Sept. 11 from 1-5 p.m. atthe McCook House Civil War Museum in Carrollton.

Guests will be seated outside on the back porch, weatherpermitting, and will be served by members of the 1860sLadies Study Group in period clothing.

Cost is $5 per person and includes a tour of the museum,hot and cold tea, open face sandwiches, cookies and sweets.Reservations not required. The event is open to the public.

From left is Shirley Anderson, curator of the McCookHouse Civil War Museum, Kay Gotschall and Haley Leslie, 4,of Carrollton.

Pixie Furbee, (left) and Marjorie Sanderson hold the “Pay ItForward” quilt being auctioned at the Sept. 18 Hospice event.

The second annual “Treasuresof Time” will take place Sept. 16at Days Inn of Carrollton.

This event raises funds forCommunity Hospice patient carein Carroll County. Everyone isencouraged to bring one itemfrom the following categories tobe appraised: glassware, coins,jewelry, watches, military andfirearms, pottery, china and col-lectibles. Appraisals can be doneon toys, linens, quilts, primitivesand small furniture.

A “pay it forward” quilt will beauctioned during the live auc-tion. The family of a patientserved by Community Hospice ofCarroll County several years agodonated the quilt. The quilt win-ner will have the option to keepthe item for him or herself orhold the quilt for a year and do-nate the quilt to a non-profit or-ganization of their choice to useas a fundraiser. This is the sec-ond time the quilt has made itsway to a Community Hospicefundraising event.

The event features a silentauction from 1-2:30 p.m. fol-

lowed by a live auction at 3 p.m.While tickets are required for thesilent auction and to have an

appraisal, the live auction isopen to the public.

See QUILT, C-2

‘Pay it Forward’ quilt will beauctioned during Hospice event

Tea time at McCook House

‘Lest We Forget’ istheme of 9-11 event

A 9-11 remembrence cere-mony is Sept. 10 at 7 p.m. atthe Carrollton High Schoolgymnasium.

The theme for the event is“Lest We Forget.” This eventcoincides with the 10th an-niversary of the 9-11 attacks.

Speakers include PastorMike Doak, Rick Eddy, AllanFurbee and Chuck Pearson.

Those attending are askedto dress in red, white and blue.

For more information con-tact Lisa Walker at 330-739-0025.

HEALING BEGINS. Americans began the healing process and watched in awe as the twinlight beams lit up the New York skyline following the September 11 attacks. This photo, pro-vided to Pastor Mike Doak by one of his crew members, shows the Statue of Liberty taking ona unique glow.

AT LEFT: The AT&T Communications Building sustained dam-age as a result of a beam from one of the Twin Towers piercingthe other side of the building. An American flag showed thecountry’s resiliance.

CENTER. Four days after the attack on the Twin Towers, crewsworked round the clock to search for victims. The South Tower,still partially standiing, is shown the background.

ABOVE. Members of Mike Doak’s crew sort through the rubblefour days after the attacks.

Remembering 9-11