Digging Out

Even as New York City buries its dead and carts off its rubble, it also begins to rebuild

There's an arm or a foot or sometimes just a tooth, and they put that tooth in a bag. And they will match that tooth to a victim, and it will be placed in a coffin because it is a human being, or at least part of a human being, and human beings bury their dead. So instead of using backhoes and bulldozers to clear the remnants of the World Trade Center, hundreds of men scoop out the remains with their hands. They put them in 5-gal. buckets and pass them hand to hand down a 200-ft. line before they are...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!