Ed Beyea, Beyea's aide Erma Fuller, and Abe Zelmanowitz
On Sept. 11, 2001, I was working as a general assignment reporter in Upstate New York. A couple of days later I was told to go interview the mother of Ed Beyea, who perished on the 27th floor of the World Trade Center’s North Tower.
It was not my ideal assignment. The thought of shoving a microphone in the face of a grieving mother had always made me cringe. But I was a new reporter with strict marching orders.
On the way, my cameraman urged me to hurry things up to make air. Ed’s mom lived in Upstate New York but her town was a few hours away from the station. We had a short window before having to rush back and edit the story in time for the 11 o’clock news.
“Do not turn on that camera until I say so,” I told him. We weren’t going to rush her.
To my surprise, Ed’s mom, Janet, welcomed us with a warm smile. I sat down on her living room couch and asked to tell me about her son, never taking the camera out of its case.
“Are you sure you’re up to this?” I finally asked. It was a risky question to ask. If she said no, I would have to explain to my bosses why I came back empty-handed. It was my first on-air job at a tiny station. I was not only the lead reporter that night, I was the ONLY reporter. There would be no piece to head the night’s broadcast.
Before I knew it, Ed’s mom was telling me one of the most incredible stories I’d ever heard, one that comes to mind every 9/11.
Ed, his mother told me, had become disabled decades earlier after a diving accident at age 21. He was a large man who used a wheelchair. He had an aide who would bring him to work every morning and help him get set him up in his cubicle before heading to her job on the 43rd floor. When the plane hit the tower, she rushed to Ed’s side. She found him with his friend Abe Zelmanowitz. Zelmanowitz told her he would stay with Ed until the firefighters arrived and urged her to leave. She barely made it out. Zelmanowitz had saved her life.
Ed called his mother that morning to assure her that he was fine. Zelmanowitz dialed and held the phone to Ed’s ear.
“He said he was calling to tell me he was OK,” she told me. “I was so relieved. I thought he was telling me he was going to make it. I now know he was calling to tell me he was OK with the fact he was going to die. He was calling to say goodbye.”
Zelmanowitz and Ed had worked together for 12 years. They became close friends. Even though Zelmanowitz could have saved himself, he decided to stay by his friend’s side until the end.
That selfless act would cost him his life. Zelmanowitz would perish with Ed as the towers came down.
Three days later, President George W. Bush mentioned Zelmanowitz during a prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral as an example of courage and heroism.
“We have seen our national character in eloquent acts of sacrifice,” Bush said. “Inside the World Trade Center, one man who could have saved himself stayed until the end at the side of his quadriplegic friend.”
Ed’s mom never cried as she spoke about her son. She was dignified and strong, despite her incomprehensible tragedy. She then told me she had suffered another unbelievable loss, when her other son died years earlier.
“How do you keep going?” I asked her.
“It was hard the first time,” she replied. “I never thought I’d survive. But time does help. The pain never goes away, but you learn to live with it. You realize that, like it or not, life goes on.”
How 22 Movies and TV Shows Portrayed 9/11 (Photos)
Saturday marks 20 years since 9/11, and Hollywood has struggled all that time with how to address it. Here's how 22 films and TV shows tried to tell stories tied to Sept. 11, 2001.
"South Park" (2001)
The first episode of the always topical dark comedy to air after 9/11 revolved around America's invasion of Afghanistan.
Comedy Central
"The West Wing" (2001)
Creator and showrunner Aaron Sorkin wrote this special episode, about a fictional terrorist attack, and it aired just three weeks after the attacks.
NBC
"Law & Order"
The 9/11 attacks occurred during Season 12 of the long-running drama, and several later episodes revolved around it, including one episode where a woman's remains were dumped at Ground Zero in order to cover up a murder.
NBC
"24" (2001)
Shot a few months before the attacks, the Fox spy thriller became more timely and relevant than it ever intended to be.
Fox
"Third Watch" (2001)
This drama about New York City's first responders remembered 9/11 with a non-fiction episode, followed by two episodes putting its main characters directly in the aftermath of 9/11.
NBC
"25th Hour" (2002)
Spike Lee's drama, featuring a pivotal scene within sight of Ground Zero, was the first major film to confront 9/11. It premiered in December 2002.
Disney
"Rescue Me" (2004)
The Dennis Leary dramedy focuses on a firefighter who lost his best friend in the 9/11 attacks. The events of that day would reverberate through the entire series.
FX
"Tiger Cruise" (2004)
This Disney Channel original movie saw Hayden Panettiere's character dealing with the events of 9/11 as they happened, while on a cruise with military members and their families.
Disney Channel
"United 93" (2006)
Paul Greengrass took a straight, fact-based approach to tell the story of the passengers who tried to take back the plane.
Universal
"World Trade Center" (2006)
Oliver Stone's drama portrayed the events of 9/11 from the perspective of first responders.
Paramount
"Reign Over Me" (2007)
Adam Sandler played a man struggling five years after the 9/11 attacks killed his wife and daughter.
Sony
"Postal" (2007)
Uew Boll's crass comedy opened with a scene joking about fictional 9/11 hijackers - suggesting that they flew into the North Tower of the World Trade Center by accident.
Vivendi
"Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay" (2008)
The comedy threequel followed the best friends as they're detained and sent to Guantanamo Bay, after a paranoid fellow plane passenger mistakes Kumar's bong for a bomb.
New Line
"Fringe" (2009)
The season one finale of the sci-fi drama featured an alternate world, where the 9/11 attacks hit the White House instead of the Twin Towers.
Fox
"Julie and Julia" (2009)
Set in 2002, Amy Adams' character Julie starts cooking as a way to get away from her stressful day job of fielding calls from 9/11 victims during the rebuilding of the World Trade Center.
Sony
"Remember Me" (2010)
The Robert Pattinson drama had a twist ending that culminated in the 9/11 attacks. Many people found it an odd fit.
Stephen Daldry's adaptation of the Jonathan Safron Foer novel followed a kid who lost his father in the 9/11 attacks.
Warner Bros
"Homeland" (2011)
Set in a distinctly post-9/11 world, the series started off mirroring the themes of paranoia and terrorist threats present in the US in the years following the attacks.
Showtime
"The Reluctant Fundamentalist" (2012)
Mira Nair's thriller is based on Mohsin Hamid's novel about a Pakistani man (Riz Ahmed) who's a rising star on Wall Street until 9/11 upends both his career and his personal life as he becomes the subject of suspicion.
IFC Films
"9/11" (2017)
Charlie Sheen, Gina Gershon and Whoopi Goldberg star in a flawed adaptation of a play called "Elevator" about people trapped in the World Trade Center that fateful day, but it never becomes the tacky exploitation exercise that you might expect.
Atlas Distribution
"The Looming Tower" (2018)
The Jeff Daniels-led Hulu miniseries spent much of its run depicting the events leading up to the Sept. 11 attacks, with the finale episode diving into the day itself and the immediate fallout.
Hulu
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From ”United 93“ to special episodes of ”The West Wing“ and ”Law & Order,“ here’s how Hollywood has portrayed the terrorist attacks on screen
Saturday marks 20 years since 9/11, and Hollywood has struggled all that time with how to address it. Here's how 22 films and TV shows tried to tell stories tied to Sept. 11, 2001.