generalspeaking

Of the 2,977 people who died on September 11, 2001, as a result of a four-pronged terrorist attack that took place in New York City, Washington and Pennsylvania with terrorists hijacking commercial planes to force pilots to fly the planes full of passengers into key U.S. sites including the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon -- the plan to hit the White House foiled by American courageous patriots on that plane who aborted it to a field in Pennsylvania, there are 1,111 whose remain have not been identified -- leaving their grieving families in a state of pained uncertainty.

The New York Medical Examiner's Office pledged that it would somehow manage however long it might take, to identify remains of those missing. Yet 40 percent of the people who lost their lives to an incendiary terrorist message of contempt for all the free world stands for and American democracy in particular, remain unidentified. Not that this is an easy task, to sift through the charred remains of human detritus from the massive collapse of two tall occupied towers that fated morning.

Most of what was recovered was shards of bone fragments degraded by the action of jet fuel from the hijacked planes that were recovered. Degraded as well by the presence of other chemicals released from the collapsed buildings. The Manhattan Medical Examiner's Office swore to the families it would embark on a pledge to do "whatever it takes for as long as it takes" to relieve their state of suspended animation in the expectation they would find peace and solace in answered questions.

There can be no question that this pledge was meant to be pursued and brought to a successful conclusion. Nothing is ever as simple as it may seem to be. Over the succeeding two decades testing took place and some identifications were produced. And then the pandemic intervened and the dedicated team at the Medical Examiner's Office was reduced to four people, grinding progress to a near-halt. This week the Examiner's Office announced two new victim identifications. Those previously identified date back to 2018.

 

Sally Regenhard wants to know how her son Christian died, where he died, and where his body now rests. There are no answers for her, and there may never be any. Irregardless, she will mourn the youngest of the 343 firefighters who died that day, for the rest of her life. She yearns to receive information about her son, to be able to possess even a shard of bone identified as his. The chief medical examiner was given her son's toothbrush and razor blade years ago for DNA matching.

 

The office is in receipt of 22,000 recovered fragments. None has yet been identified as those of her son. The fragments have all undergone tests -- some repeatedly. One of the toughest materials from which to extract DNA is bone. Of the approximately 150 DNA profiles made each year, explains the agency's assistant director of forensic biology, most wind up matching 9/11 victims that have been previously identified; others see no database matches. 

The prospects for further identification appear as bleak as the event that took those lives.