September 11, 2001
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This image is copyrighted by the artist and all reproduction rights are held by the U. S. Coast Guard Academy Alumni Association. Reproduction or other use without the permission of both parties is strictly prohibited.
Theme September 11, 2001
Period 1997—2001
Artist Tony Falcone, Prospect, Connecticut
Size (framed) 7’-3” wide x 9’-0” high
Champion Bob Williams, Class of 1962
Sponsor Bob Williams
Story This mural depicts various floating units of the New York area Coast Guard responding to the disaster at the World Trade Center towers on the morning of September 11, 2001. In addition to an immediate need to secure the port of New York and to assess and meet possible waterborne attacks, there was a need to assist in the evacuation of thousands of people who were unable to travel northward in order to leave lower Manhattan. These frightened citizens headed south toward Battery Park and the conjunction of the Hudson and East Rivers.
Coast Guard activities in the area quickly saw the need to evacuate these masses by water. Immediately following the attack, the Atlantic Area command set up the Incident Management Team (IMT) and initiated a mass rescue operation in New York Harbor. Coast Guard cutters, boats, aircraft, and people were reassigned from their normal duties in response to the crisis. This mural shows a 41-foot utility boat, the 175-foot buoy tender Katherine Walker, a 22-foot orange-colored rigid-hull inflatable boat (RHIB), Hawser (WYTL 65610) and PILOT #1 of the Sand Hook Pilot's Association which, because of communications problems caused by the collapse of the twin towers, served as a platform for Coast Guard radio relays as well as an asset for a Coast Guard boarding crew.