From NJPBS studios This is "NJ Spotlight News" with Briana Vannozzi.

>> Hello, and thanks for joining us tonight.

I'm Joanna Gagis.

On this special edition of "NJ Spotlight News," we reflect on the 25th anniversary of September 11th.

We lost nearly 3,000 people on 9/11/2001.

About 750 of them were from New Jersey.

In this next half hour, we talk with responders who remember the tragic events that unfolded that day and hear how they and others are still working tirelessly to ensure we never forget and to bring comfort and answers to families who lost their loved ones 25 years ago.

Major funding for NJ Spotlight News is provided in part by NJM Insurance Group, serving the insurance needs of residents and businesses for more than 100 years.

25 years after 9/11, the painstaking work to identify those killed at the World Trade Center continues.

A woman was recently identified through a forensic technique used in the 9/11 effort for the first time, offering new hope to families still waiting for answers.

I recently spoke with Mark Desire, who leads the World Trade Center DNA Identification Team at New York City's Office of Chief Medical Examiner.

Mark, thank you so much for taking some time to be with us today.

It's really hard to believe that it's been 25 years.

Take us back to that day and why you were first called to the scene.

I was a member of New York City's crime scene reconstruction team.

This is a unit that does advanced forensics at certain homicide investigations.

So typically, we don't go to crime scenes until the fires are out, bad guys are caught, booby traps are disarmed, but this was all hands on deck.

We got activated and we went.

Uh, from that day, things didn't go, I guess, as planned.

Um, your work and your mission changed.

Can you talk about the work that you started doing since then?

Um, and how you've been working to help identify those who were killed.

We made a promise 25 years ago to identify every single one of those 2753 homicide victims and return them to their families.

And that commitment is as great today as it was in 2001.

But we've had to evolve.

We had to advance the science, push forensics into the future to make those identifications because everything present at Ground Zero destroyed human tissue, destroyed DNA, making our job impossible.

I should mention you were injured that day.

You were there when the second tower fell and I just want to acknowledge your work and the danger that you put yourself in that day.

But talk to me about the forensic investigative genealogy, excuse me, genetic genealogy work that you're doing and how that field itself has evolved in 25 years to impact the work that you're doing to keep that promise.

Yeah, it's been an excellent technique for us to use in our everyday cases, as well as recently, we started using it with World Trade Center.

And it's another tool that we have in our toolbox.

Whatever it takes, whatever method that is needed, we're either going to develop it in New York City, or we're going to find a way to bring it here to use it.

And genealogy allows us now to take that next step to be able to have that methods and techniques to help us locate families and who this victim is.

In layman's terms, how?

What is the process?

What are you doing?

How are you able to identify those who were killed that day?

It's multiple.

We've evolved all of the science.

We're the largest crime level of its kind in North America.

We use the most advanced techniques in the world, but it wasn't enough.

We had to find a way.

We knew those things that grounds air, the fire, the water to put out the fire, the jet fuel, the diesel fuel, the sunlight, the mold and bacteria, chemicals in the buildings, chemicals that were already in the ground, all of those things destroy DNA, making it impossible for some of the remains to be able to generate a DNA profile.

So every time we can't make an identification, I push the team can't make an I. D. today?

Why not go back and try again find a better technique, do something different, evolve, be able to do things that no one else can do.

So these new techniques are several of them.

Every year we make advancements.

We go back to the remains that we previously been unable to identify.

We make identifications every month.

We've made probably 20 identifications just this past August, but the public doesn't hear about it because these are previously identified.

These are victims where there might be hundreds of remains recovered.

There are almost 22,000 pieces of those victims, of those 2,753 victims.

So there was a lot of work, a lot of fragmentation.

But the techniques are to how do we get DNA that are so badly burned or so badly degraded.

The genealogy comes into play recently when we have complete DNA profiles and we don't have a reference sample to compare to.

So part of our job is to have the samples from the families.

There were 17,000 reference samples collected from World Trade Center victims, toothbrushes and razors.

And we didn't have an item that they touched.

We would take a sample from a family member.

But there, unfortunately, were some victims that didn't have any family, or the family hadn't come forward.

Over 80 countries were represented in that victim pool.

So that job to collect the reference samples was equally as challenging as getting DNA from the bone.

And that's where the forensic genealogy comes in to help take that DNA where we have a full profile.

I could probably make 47 identifications today if we were able to have a DNA sample from all the families back then in 2001.

We know that about 40 percent of those who were killed that day remain unidentified.

How many samples are you still working to identify as of right now?

Thousands.

We have upwards of 4,000 that we keep going back to.

And if we can't get DNA with this, the most latest technology, we'll bring in, we'll apply more advanced techniques and we'll try again.

Some of these recent identifications, we've tried 10, 15 times over the years, and we're finally able to push the science and be able to return that loved one to their family.

Yeah, for so many families who are mourning the loss of a loved one, they have no place to bury their loved one or a place to go to grieve.

How can families who may not have identified the remains of their loved ones connect with you?

How can they find out if perhaps you are working with one of their family members?

Please, that is the importance of the media.

You're going to let your audience know that we're still working on this.

Most people like you're still, why haven't you finished this, Mark?

We have, we just keep going back and making identifications where it was impossible the year before.

So if you have a family member and what we're seeing today is a lot of the children of those adults that died, mom and dad died in the, in the towers and now they were in diapers in 2001.

Now they want to know why haven't my parents been found.

Reach out please contact us we can go over what samples we have, we can explain the identification process how we're able to make IDs.

We work a lot.

This is a, this is a very unique investigation.

This is unlike anything we've ever done.

I actually pushed my scientists to meet with the families, explain the process, and see the importance because the families still want us to keep going and return their loved ones.

Yeah, I know this work is ongoing for you, but I can see it's clear that you're committed to the work and committed to getting answers for these families.

Mark Desire, Assistant Director of Forensic Biology in the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in New York City.

Thank you so much for the work you're doing.

Thank you for continuing.

Thank you for getting the word out for us.

We really appreciate it.

Our next guest, John Field, was a construction worker who rushed to ground zero after 9/11 to aid in the rescue efforts.

He suffered injuries on the site about a week later and has since become a key voice for other responders and families of victims advocating in Washington for health care and compensation.

Phil joined us to reflect on the 25th anniversary and his new book, I Will Follow You Anywhere.

John, thank you so much for joining us today.

It's great to have you on the show.

I know you've been fighting for decades now to get Congress and our federal government to support all those impacted by the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Can you just give us an update on where that fight stands right now?

Yeah, well, one, thank you for having me again.

And you know, as we get closer to the remembrance of 25 years, the 9/11 community is evolving for the worse.

We're a finite number.

We're not getting any bigger.

We're actually getting smaller by the day.

Horrifically, over 3,000 people roughly lost their lives on that horrific Tuesday morning.

And heroes ran into harm's way and never went home.

But since then, over 9,500 people have died from a certified 9/11 related illness.

We triple that number now.

And this is about 155,000 plus people in the World Trade Center Health Program, and 57,000 plus have a certified 9/11 related cancer.

One in three have a 9/11 related cancer, and we're evolving for the worse.

And we continue to advocate.

We just got a bill passed in April to ensure that the World Trade Center Health Program, which treats these men and women, uniform and non-uniform, continue to get the help and the treatment that they deserve.

These bills are in place until 2090 and while I might not be here, those bills will be there and that will be our legacy.

I know part of your work has been advocating for more illnesses to be added to the list.

Can you laundry list a few of those that have recently been added?

Yeah, so we've been advocating and fighting for the last couple of years while we're trying to get legislation passed that heart, autoimmune and cognitive illnesses need to be added to the James Zadroga Health and Compensation Act.

And they eventually will be added to the bill.

Heart just got shot down.

And now autoimmune and cognitive will go up for a vote.

And they most likely will get shot down.

Every illness that goes up for a vote to get added usually gets shot down the first time around.

And then they get added.

You know, when we got the bill passed in 2010 for the first time, there was no cancers in the bill.

Now we have 69 cancers covered in the bill.

So while it's hard to tell people who are suffering from these illnesses to wait, it's coming.

The federal government just does not work as fast as we do in Main Street America, and these men and women, uniform and non-uniform, are sick and dying.

And it's only going to get worse.

I know you've talked to us in the past about the students who went to schools in the area where the air was still so toxic and so contaminated after the buildings fell.

Have you have you contacted or communicated with any of those families?

Do we know if any of those students have come down with any illnesses at this point?

Yeah those who lived or worked or went to school in Lower Manhattan, especially those kids that went to school in the 13 or 14 schools that were in the geographic map.

You know a lot of these kids are in their 20s and 30s now and I say that because I'm in my 50s but um a lot of them have cancer, a lot of them have serious respiratory illnesses and you know I just had a meeting with the mayor two days ago and employed him to do a PSA for those who lived in Worth, went to school in Lower Manhattan to get into the World Trade Center Health Program.

You know while we're being decimated with illnesses and cancers, the 9/11 community has a higher survival rate than the general population against cancer because we have early screening protection and we do physicals all the time, head to toe, soup to nuts, blood work, urine, chest x-ray, and you have a better chance of survival.

So we employ everybody who lived within the geographic map, which was south of Houston Street to the water to the Brooklyn Bridge.

If you were down there, you're eligible, then get in the program and get free health care.

And if you're sick, you would get compensated.

And if you were to die, your family would get a wrongful death claim.

John, you just released a book titled "I'll Follow You Anywhere."

It really tells the story of how you turn trauma into action, into advocacy.

You lobbied in D.C.

more than 450 times to get this bill passed that you just talked about.

What is the recipe for success that you've put in the book that you want to share?

Yeah, you know, I wrote the book for a couple of reasons.

One, I wanted America to know it wasn't just John Stewart and John Feild.

It took a village.

And the story is about 12, 13 people who got sick at Ground Zero, uniform and non-uniform, and joined me in D.C.

and helped get legislation passed for the masses.

And it's my way of saying thank you.

But it's also for me to find my way home after 25 years, 'cause I haven't been home.

And trust me, I wanna go home.

But you know, everybody was writing books and telling my story.

I, Senator Gillibrand wrote a book, John Stewart wrote a book, Dr.

Law from Stony Brook Center of Excellence wrote a book.

And there's a chapter on me in all of those books.

And I wanted to make sure that my story was told along with those 12 or 13 people, so there's an accurate decision of the last 25 years.

And at the end of each chapter is our blueprint and our guide, how to get legislation passed at the state, local, federal level.

And I know people are going to laugh, read, or laugh, cry, or get mad when they read the book.

But I hope somebody gets engaged because we're giving you the actual blueprint that works because we're 20 for 20 in getting legislation passed, whether it's Albany, DC, New Jersey, or Michigan.

And I hope it helps somebody.

And the first real advice I can give somebody is never take no for an answer when human life is at stake.

John, 25 years later, what is your message to Congress, to the federal administration and to all the individuals and families impacted by 9/11?

Well, that's an hour long answer for you.

Take 9/11 out of the equation.

This country is on fire right now.

You know on 9/12 we all came together.

After we were in shock and sorrow and grief from the devastation of 9/11 on the 12th it was empathy, compassion, love.

We put aside our ideologies, our religions, our beliefs and we became united.

And then because of poor leadership and bad politics, we lost that.

I'm never going to lose that.

You know, three days ago, I just celebrated my 19 year anniversary donating a kidney to a stranger.

I'm never going to lose my humanity or my empathy.

But I pray this, this, this day of remembrance next week, that we all put aside our differences and stop what we're doing and remember those that we lost, remember those who are still suffering and those who have died since then from their illnesses because they're heroes just as much as those who passed away on that day.

And I think we can do better and we we need to do better and I think I truly believe humanity is going to make a comeback.

John Feal you've been a great example for what advocacy looks like.

Compassion, hard work, never taking no for an answer.

Thank you so much for joining us today.

Thank you for having me.

A decade after the September 11th attacks, the Empty Sky Memorial was built in Jersey City's Liberty State Park to recognize the space where the World Trade Center Twin Towers once stood.

But 15 years later, that memorial was never completed and some parts are falling into disrepair.

In August, the Gary Sinise Foundation pledged more than $40,000 to help clean up the memorial, but there's still more work to be done.

Earlier this summer, I spoke with the Empty Sky Memorial co-designer Jessica Jamras about the ongoing efforts to finish the project.

Jessica, thanks so much for being with us today.

Can you explain the design plan that was put in place for this memorial from the start?

Sure.

Thank you for having me.

It's a pleasure to be here.

The memorial design was a design competition from a request for proposals back in 2004.

It was a two-stage process.

It was a blind design competition.

It went through a stage of jury members that were professional artists and architects and landscape architects.

And what, Jessica, if I could jump in here, what was it meant to look like when the state awarded the plan to you?

It's a, it's, the memorial is a two acre site.

It's integrated into the park as a kind of land art and a sculpture.

The memorial is, is predominantly two stainless steel walls that are centered on the centerline to where the former Twin Towers once stood.

And on the approach to the memorial, you see symbolically where the towers once stood in the background.

The walls are 208 feet long, 10 inches, and that's the exact proportion of what a facade of a trade tower once was.

And the proportions and the geometry have been addressed to make it seem like the the two twin towers have fallen onto the site.

The entire memorial is much larger than that.

There's several aspects.

The mound is symbolic of the heart of New Jersey.

The walls are symbolic of the wound in the heart and then the reinforcement of the heart.

The names inside the memorial walls.

There's many names, some names are missing.

> Yeah, we're going to talk about that.

767 names and they are very large, four inches and they are randomly placed and organized as loved ones were lost.

There's also an unbuilt aspect in the northern part of the site which is a grove of trees and plaza area that has been unbuilt.

Yeah that's what I want to get to.

Can you talk to us about the elements that remain unfinished today?

And I want to point out before you answer this that this has been several administrations, gubernatorial administrations.

I believe it's been through four and now we're in a fifth with the Sherrill administration.

But before we get to that, can you just explain what elements are unfinished today?

So there's a number of issues that need to be completed and a number issues that need to be restored.

So there's been three phases of construction to get us to where we are now and there once you know the items that need to be restored there is one there was once 65 trees that embraced the memorial on the on the landscape that were autumn flowering cherry trees, a symbol of rebirth and renewal at the time of the September 11th attacks.

Those need to be replaced.

There are broken kiosks that tell you where a name is located on the wall and the stainless steel on the outside of the memorial, what I call and refer to as the face of the memorial is completely missing.

Those, that stainless steel needs to be erected and installed and upon it, it carries two different inscriptions.

One that says, "Never forget," and one that says, "Always in our hearts."

And this is, you know, the transformation of that one aspect alone will move empty sky from where it is into what I call a beacon of hope.

It is the... Why has it never been completed?

Through all of these administrations, you say it's six.

Why has it never been completed?

Well, there's always reasons.

In government, I would say, you know, there's a lot of... there's a lot of finger-pointing as to why that has occurred.

I think it's because of the nature of the memorial.

It was born from three executive orders, and the memorial has always been an interdepartmental project, and it requires leadership and accountability from the governor's office to see it through.

And so when the memorial was first selected, it was selected by family members under the Jim McGreevy administration.

Four months after it was selected, Governor McGreevy resigned, and then we fell into acting Governor Cody.

And then, you know, when the Christie administration came around, I'm skipping past Corzine.

But when the Christie administration came around, he really put someone in charge, a man by the name of Charlie McKenna, who really took it upon himself to make sure that it moved forward.

But by the time that the Christie administration did that, we had eight short months until the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

And so we got as much done as we could within those short eight months.

Hurricane Sandy happened shortly thereafter, and then we fell.

We had eight years under Governor Phil Murphy.

And now, of course, in the beginning of the Sherrill administration, we did reach out to her for comment.

I'm curious, just very shortly, what happened that this was never finished under Governor Murphy?

And what have you heard so far from Governor Sherrill?

I can say about the Murphy administration is that I think that they were well intentioned back in 2018-2019.

The pandemic hit, so that's another, you know, major thing to have focus on.

After that, there's no excuses.

I think the Murphy administration just simply dropped the ball and didn't have leadership or accountability for making sure that it happened from the governor's office.

This obviously was not funded.

I'm sorry to interrupt you.

We don't have a lot of time.

I just want to make sure we get this.

There was no additional funding, as I understand in this first budget the Governor Sherrill put forward.

We did reach out to them for comment and their response was that they are committed to the Empty Sky Memorial and ensuring it befits and honors the victims of 9/11 in New Jersey and their families.

They say they will continue working with the families and stakeholders to find the best path forward.

They have our unwavering commitment.

I'm just curious your thoughts and what unwavering commitment looks like in your mind.

I mean, that's wonderful.

You know, that's, that's, I'm very touched by that statement.

I think it's all in the actions, right?

It's like, we've gone through so many administrations.

This pain, sorry, this pain is like, just get it done.

At this point we just got to get it done.

So, um, this is an emotional, an emotional issue for you.

I mean really what has to happen is that Sherrill needs to move the ball forward.

I've heard people promise me that they were going to complete it in the past, including the previous administration.

So I hope she sees it through.

Yeah we hope so too.

Jessica Jamras, Memorial Designer for Empty Sky, New Jersey's 9/11 Memorial, thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you for being with us as we remember the victims and the heroes of 9/11.

I'm Joanna Gaggis for the entire team here at NJ Spotlight News.

We'll see you next time.

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