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In the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, journalist Jeff Goodell documented the experiences of New York City ironworkers as they undertook the grim task of dismantling the wreckage of the Twin Towers. Among those workers was 34-year-old Larry Willett, who found himself confronting unimaginable horrors during the recovery effort. Having witnessed the second plane strike the towers from his work site in Queens, Willett descended into what he described as hell itself—surrounded by twisted steel beams, acrid smoke, and the overwhelming stench of death.
For sixteen hours, Willett worked alongside fellow ironworkers, cutting through massive steel structures and searching through debris in hopes of finding survivors. Instead, the team repeatedly encountered human remains as they lifted beams and cleared rubble. The emotional toll was severe for Willett, who had never before seen a dead body outside of a funeral setting. Each discovery was followed by workers collecting remains in white plastic buckets, a stark reality of the catastrophic scene.
The collapse held particular significance for the ironworkers, many of whom had family legacies connected to the Twin Towers’ original construction. George Goodleaf, Willett’s foreman, worked alongside him during cleanup and reflected on the towers’ representation of their profession’s achievements. For ironworkers—descendants of Irish, Newfoundland, and Native American heritage—the buildings symbolized accomplishment and the pride of creating structures that defined the skyline.
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Originally reported by Rollingstone →
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