Rest easy BCM.
Posted on 08/25/2003 1:38:36 PM PDT by medscribe
The remains of more than a thousand people who died in the attack on the World Trade Center will be preserved in a memorial space built at ground zero, in the hope that science will advance to the point that they can be identified, according to city and state officials.
Many relatives of victims killed in the attack have asked that unidentified remains be interred at the former World Trade Center site. The challenge was to accommodate that wish in a way that did not complicate the project design but did preserve the remains for future scientific study.
Investigators have been unable to identify more than 12,000 remains from body parts weighing as much as 100 pounds to those as small as a tooth or a bone chip because in most cases the DNA, the genetic code unique to each individual, was too badly damaged, Shiya Ribowsky, the deputy director of investigation for the medical examiner's office said yesterday.
Faced with the limitations of modern science, the medical examiner's office has adopted an approach similar to one relied on thousands of years ago. The remains are being slowly dried, and when they are free of moisture, they will be vacuum-sealed individually in white opaque pouches, Mr. Ribowsky said.
This will relieve the memorial designers of having to include a refrigeration or freezer system in their plans and will ultimately do a better job of preserving the remains for future study, he said.
"Our job isn't to inter them and forget about them," Mr. Ribowsky said. "Our job is to inter them and if technology changes in the future, and we have a better chance to identify them, we will have to keep and preserve the remains in such a way that we can use this new technology."
"This is a very respectful and practical way for caring for these remains in perpetuity," he added.
In the nearly two years since the collapse of the trade center towers, the medical examiner's office has worked to match the 19,936 remains recovered with the 2,792 people listed as missing.
The main tool they used was DNA. Relatives brought DNA samples of loved ones for example, hair collected from an old brush to match against samples taken from the remains. As of Thursday, 12,471 remains, or 63 percent, and 1,271 victims, or 46 percent, had not been identified.
"Nobody is happy with the thought of leaving so many people unidentified, not the families, not us," Mr. Ribowsky said. "It's the reality."
Many of those who lost family and friends in the terrorist strike said that they understood the situation and welcomed the plan to preserve the remains and to store them at a permanent memorial at ground zero.
"Right now I can look up at the sky and talk to him, but I can't go anywhere and reflect on his life,' said Lorie Van Auken, 48, whose husband, Kenneth, was on the 105th floor of the north tower on Sept. 11. His birthday is in a few days, and she said she yearns to have a place to visit on that day. "I go outside and I don't know where to look for him. You feel lost. This would give me somewhere to go."
In its memorial design competition, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation required every entry to include a suitable space to store the remains. The contestants were not required to actually design the storage that will be done later. There were 5,200 design entries from 62 countries; a winner is to be selected this fall.
The memorial will not just store unidentified remains. It will also house remains that have not been collected by victims' relatives. Families, not surprisingly, have reacted in many different ways to news of a positive identification of a relative's remains, which sometimes are made up of dozens perhaps hundreds of pieces. Relatives are given the choice of being notified when the first identification is made, or at any point over the course of the investigation. Some buried or cremated the first remains, only to face the task of dealing with remains identified later.
Some victims' families have chosen not to retrieve any remains, while others have asked that after a certain point, they not be notified if additional remains are identified.
The remains of Dee Ragusa's son, Michael, a 29-year-old city firefighter, have not been located. Ms. Ragusa said yesterday that she told the authorities that if nothing is found by the end of this month, she does not want to be notified. She has come up with a vial of blood that her son had given for use as a potential bone marrow donor, she said, and plans to bury that at a memorial service in September.
"I wish that they will be interred at a proper and fitting memorial at ground zero," she said of the unidentified remains. "It is the only proper thing to do. At this point my family is content to bury his blood and to know that he is finally at rest."
Initially some Lower Manhattan residents were concerned about the possibility of keeping the remains at the memorial, but several residents said yesterday those concerns had been resolved.
It has been clear since shortly after the attack that it was highly unlikely that every victim would be identified. Many DNA samples were damaged by the thunderous forces that caused the two towers to collapse, in the ensuing fires, and in some cases the many months it took for recovery.
The medical examiner's office continues to identify remains, officials said, but most of them are from victims who have already been identified. The preservation process for all uncollected remains will be complete long before the memorial is built. The remains will stay with the medical examiner's office until a final resting site at the memorial is completed.
The decision to preserve the remains by drying and sealing them was reached after refrigeration, chemical preservation and burial were rejected as failing to provide the best chance for future identification, Mr. Ribowsky said.
"Those remains would not have kept as well even if they were frozen," he said. "We have gotten DNA from mummies that are 3,000 years old. Drying is a great way to preserve things for a long period of time."
The footprints of the buildings themselves are already a memorial to those who died. I doubt anything other than a representation design (like the Vietnam Wall) will be put in the space of those footprints. Many people, including family members of those who died, want to be able to visit the space itself, as opposed to a new building complex on the site, IMO.
10-4. I'm confident those victims will be included in the designed memorial. The design is to be announced this fall, BTW.
I think Bin Laden and the other scum who did this terrible deed had this in mind when they planned it. They planned to strike at a symbol of our national pride. If we do not restore it better than before, the message we send is one of fear and cowardice. If we instead choose the path of defiance and fortitude, we have the chance to show the barbarian that his will not be the victory.
You make a good case for new buildings to replace those destroyed. However, the decision has apparently been made that the memorial will occupy the two towers footprints.
I'm looking forward to seeing what proposed designs will make the final five. I know one designer who has submitted a proposal. Her design would create a special place people would choose to visit, remember in an appropriate and respectful way those who died in the attack.
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