Terrorist attacks on the U.S. touch Ukrainian community (09/23/01)

Terrorist attacks on the U.S. touch Ukrainian community

by Andrew Nynka

NEW YORK - The devastation of last week's terrorist attacks has touched the Ukrainian community, directly in Washington and New York, and indirectly throughout America, Canada and Ukraine. From individuals who narrowly escaped a tragic end to those aiding in the efforts to re-establish what once was, to those who simply felt the dramatic emotional toll - Ukrainian Americans also have felt the impact of what analysts have called the world's worst terrorist act to date.

In Washington, Capt. Stephen Szyszka of the U.S. Navy, branch head for Russia, Europe and NATO on political and military affairs, was at a meeting on the first floor of the Pentagon near the fourth corridor at the Navy Command Center at the time the first plane hit the World Trade Center's north tower. Once the meeting at the Navy Command Center had been informed of the event, Capt. Szyszka recalls that all those present watched on TV as the second plane hit the south tower. According to Capt. Szyszka, once participants of the meeting observed the second plane steer into the World Trade Center it became obvious they were not watching an accident. The group immediately adjourned, returning to their respective offices throughout the Pentagon.

Just minutes after Capt. Szyszka returned to his office on the fourth floor near corridor three, he heard a loud, violent explosion and felt the building shake. The impact was American Airlines Flight 77 which, upon flying into the Pentagon, destroyed all five floors between corridors four and five and penetrated into four of the Pentagon's five rings where, only minutes before, Capt. Szyszka was attending his command center meeting.

Capt. Szyszka estimated that upon impact he was no more than 25 yards away line-of-site, and noted that "When I was evacuating the building, just around the corner I could see smoke and flames from the attack."

"We've lost a large portion of the Navy Command Center personnel," Capt. Szyszka explained, "but the functions of the command center still have to be carried out." Capt. Szyszka acknowledged that some 26 individuals have been lost from his department alone.

Bohdan O. Gerulak is an architect and project manager with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and was working at his desk on the 72nd floor of the north tower, just 10 to 20 floors below the initial impact of American Airlines Flight 11, when the plane crashed into the tower. "The initial impact almost threw me off of my chair. I saw the building sway almost 20 degrees off vertical," Mr. Gerulak noted, continuing, "It didn't sound like a regular explosion. It was extremely loud, forceful, and it became obvious that something was wrong."

Mr. Gerulak noted that the immediate evacuation was orderly going down the stairs. Although there were occasional stops to allow those injured quicker passage and some congestion in the stair wells, all of his friends and associates did make it out of WTC Tower 1 safely. Mr. Gerulak estimated that it took 35 minutes to reach the bottom and said he noticed wreckage strewn throughout the tower.

After reaching the lobby, Mr. Gerulak noticed that service, police and fire personnel were stationed approximately every 15 feet in order to encourage a swift evacuation and help those who needed assistance. "Unfortunately, I'm left to believe that all of those service personnel have perished staying to the very end in order to help us get out safely," Mr. Gerulak commented.

After clearing the towers Mr. Gerulak walked until a stranger offered him shelter, a TV to watch the events and some refreshments. "I was stunned to see what was happening and to imagine that not more than an hour earlier I had been in those towers," Mr. Gerulak remembered. "I was a member of the World War II generation. I've seen and remember the sights of destruction. This event brought back many of those memories," he commented.

The Hryckowian and Romaniw families have jointly owned the Beekman Street Deli, located at 140 Nassau St. in New York for over 20 years. Many of the area's police and fire units are frequent customers of the store, located just two blocks away from what rescue workers have dubbed "ground zero," the site of the collapsed Twin Towers.

Stephanie Hryckowian remembers hearing someone outside her store scream that a plane had just flown into the north tower. After walking out of her store to get a better look, Ms. Hryckowian saw smoke spewing out of the building; she said the fire coming from the building was burning "red hot."

"At that point you could see something falling out of the building - I didn't know it at first, but then realized they were actually people. It was so terribly sad to see and know that there's nothing you can do. It is an extremely helpless feeling," Ms. Hryckowian recalled.

Ms. Hryckowian related that the next thing she remembers is an intensely high-pitched, missile-like sound. As she looked up, she could see the impact of United Airlines Flight 175 as it dipped one of its wings and flew directly into tower 2. She described seeing the resulting "red-hot flames - unimaginable red hot flames."

"I don't know if I can describe it any better than saying that the resulting fire was not normal. You could see the intensity of the flames from down on the street," Ms. Hryckowian stressed.

Hundreds of people were running down the streets, Ms. Hryckowian recalled, away from the trade center. Between 50 and 75 people came in to the store in order to use the phones, buy water and watch the events on the TV. Ms. Hryckowian recalled: "You could hear so many of the people as they were watching the events exclaiming: 'Oh my God, I was on the 48th floor,' or 'Oh my God, I was on the 72nd floor." Ms. Hryckowian said she did not hear anyone mention a floor above the 80th of the 110- floor structure.

As the tower of dust, debris and smoke moved through the area, many individuals found shelter in the Beekman Street Deli where workers kept the doors open for people to, quite literally, pile in.

People began stacking up outside the storefront window; many of them could not breathe or see because of the dust and smoke outside. "We couldn't see more than a foot in front of us. It was pitch black and we continued to try and pull as many people inside the store as we could," Ms. Hryckowian noted. "We wet as many towels as we had in the store and began passing them out to people so that they could breathe and protect themselves in case of fire."

Once the workers in the deli realized that the buildings had collapsed, they began taking stock of their own damage. In the coming hours the deli supported the FBI, fire, police, doctors and rescue workers by providing them with food, water, shelter and a place to find comfort. "Amazingly we still had water, power and gas until we evacuated late Tuesday night. So, many of the workers came here when they needed some time away from the rescue work," Ms. Hryckowian remembered.

Once evacuated, the deli's employees did not return until Saturday, September 15, to evaluate the damage and begin the process needed to re-open the deli. As of Monday, September 17, at 6 a.m., the deli was once again opened and filled with customers. Ms. Hryckowian noted that they're selling to tourists, rescue workers, and business and financial employees returning to New York's financial district.

Aside from these personal stories of persons affected by last week's terrorist attacks, it is worth noting also that many Ukrainian American, Ukrainian Canadian and Ukrainian organizations, among them churches, religious, political and community groups, have held memorial services, supported relief work and contributed in various other ways to the effort to aid the victims of this calamity and re-establish what once was.

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