Isabel George - The 9/11 Dogs - The heroes who searched for survivors at Ground Zero

Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Epigraph Foreword Chapter 1: Guiding to Safety Chapter 2: Final Expression of Unconditional Love Chapter 3: Salty, My Friend and My Hero Chapter 4: Comfort for the Dying Chapter 5: Chaos in the Ruins Chapter 6: The Search for Life Chapter 7: ‘Duty. Honour. Country’ Chapter 8: Healing for the Heroes Chapter 9: Brave Dogs Will Not Rest Chapter 10: Carrying a Nation’s Hope Chapter 11: Canine Therapy Chapter 12: Remembering the Loved and the Lost Why not try … Also by Isabel George Coming soon from Isabel George … Moving Memoirs eNewsletter Write for Us About the Publisher

Certain details in this story, including names, places and dates, have been changed to protect the family’s privacy.

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First published by HarperTrueFriend 2014

FIRST EDITION

Text © Isabel George 2014

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Source ISBN: 9780008105099

Ebook Edition © September 2014 ISBN: 9780007584369

Version: 2014-12-17

‘A dog comes into its own when the chances of survival are against it.’

New York firefighter

Cover

Title Page Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Epigraph Foreword Chapter 1: Guiding to Safety Chapter 2: Final Expression of Unconditional Love Chapter 3: Salty, My Friend and My Hero Chapter 4: Comfort for the Dying Chapter 5: Chaos in the Ruins Chapter 6: The Search for Life Chapter 7: ‘Duty. Honour. Country’ Chapter 8: Healing for the Heroes Chapter 9: Brave Dogs Will Not Rest Chapter 10: Carrying a Nation’s Hope Chapter 11: Canine Therapy Chapter 12: Remembering the Loved and the Lost Why not try … Also by Isabel George Coming soon from Isabel George … Moving Memoirs eNewsletter Write for Us About the Publisher

Copyright

Epigraph

Foreword

Chapter 1: Guiding to Safety

Chapter 2: Final Expression of Unconditional Love

Chapter 3: Salty, My Friend and My Hero

Chapter 4: Comfort for the Dying

Chapter 5: Chaos in the Ruins

Chapter 6: The Search for Life

Chapter 7: ‘Duty. Honour. Country’

Chapter 8: Healing for the Heroes

Chapter 9: Brave Dogs Will Not Rest

Chapter 10: Carrying a Nation’s Hope

Chapter 11: Canine Therapy

Chapter 12: Remembering the Loved and the Lost

Why not try …

Also by Isabel George

Coming soon from Isabel George …

Moving Memoirs eNewsletter

Write for Us

About the Publisher

Lower Manhattan, New York, March 2002. I stood on the waterfront just a stone’s throw from Ground Zero. Inadequately dressed for the bite of a New York winter, I clenched the short stack of press packs I had been carrying for the past two hours closer to my chest. That morning, the CNN weather reporter announced that this would be the coldest day of the year so far, yet I had still managed to leave my hotel room without gloves and a scarf. I quickly discovered that a bundle of slim paper folders and my thin English wool coat were no match for a minus-twenty wind chill.

Trying hard not to visibly shudder, I looked into the crowd ahead for a distraction. There must have been around 300 people gathered to watch this unique medal ceremony. Television crews and photographers were taking up their positions by the stage, where the soon-to-be-honoured guests included City of New York police and fire officers, alongside search-and-rescue teams and their counterparts from all over the United States. As they mingled with the dark-suited civilians, including representatives from the British Embassy and the Mayor’s office, the gold braid on their dress uniforms glistened in the flashes of winter sun. And at their feet, the canine heroes of the hour obediently sat, wondering what all the fuss was about.

German Shepherds, Labradors and spaniels accounted for the majority of the four-legged guests. Some of the dogs were in their dress uniform too, with coats bearing the emblem of the organisation they were representing. For two Golden Labradors – Salty and Roselle – six months earlier the walk into Lower Manhattan would have been a daily part of their routine. These two guide dogs knew this place well, as their masters had worked in the World Trade Center and the dogs had accompanied them into the city every day. If they had any memory of the last time they were in this part of town it would have been a traumatic recollection of leading their owners down over seventy floors of the North Tower and running through a cloud of thick, grey ash surrounded by screaming people fearing for their lives.

That day they were meeting colleagues, police and rescue workers they had not seen since 9/11, and the dogs were enjoying the praise and attention of everyone around them. This was, after all, their day – a presentation ceremony devoted to acknowledging the courage of the dogs who played a vital role during and after the terrorist attack on 11 September 2001. Dedicated search dogs now stood beside devoted guide dogs, and the canines who came to offer comfort and solace to the exhausted and the bereaved. Warm breath rose from the dogs’ damp muzzles and drifted into the icy air. Everyone gathered that morning was there to see one thing – the dogs honoured for their loyalty in the face of human tragedy.