NATIONAL GUARD BUREAU

Historical Services Branch

Interview NGB-13

INTERVIEW OF

SSG THEODORE ANDRYSIAK

HHC, 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry

CONDUCTED BY

MAJ LES’ MELNYK

National Guard Bureau

Monday, September 17, 2001

Transcript reviewed and corrections made by MAJ Melnyk. 

Editorial comments appear in brackets []

TAPE TRANSCRIPTION
2

P R O C E E D I N G S

1 MAJ MELNYK: This is MAJ Les’ Melnyk, Army 

2 National Guard Historian for the National Guard Bureau, 

3 Historical Services Division, and I am speaking to SSG 

4 Theodore L. Andrysiak of Headquarters, at Headquarters 

5 Company, 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry, at the 

6 Regimental Armory at 68 Lexington Avenue, in New York 

7 City, on the 17th of September 2001. 

8 SSG Andrysiak, you've read and signed the 

9 access agreement for oral history materials and --

10 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes. Yes, sir.

11 MAJ MELNYK: Okay. I need that out loud.

12 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir.

13 MAJ MELNYK: And you understand that whatever 

14 you say may be -- will be accessed into the archives of 

15 the Army and may be used for later histories and used 

16 in that manner, and you have read all the materials and 

17 signed, with no reservations in terms of withholding 

18 anything.

19 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir.

20 MAJ MELNYK: Okay. SSG Andrysiak, if you 
3

1 would begin by telling me, again, for the record, your 

2 name, your rank, the unit you belong to, and your duty 

3 position in the unit.

4 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir. My name is Theodore 

5 Louis Andrysiak, Staff Sergeant. I'm with Headquarters 

6 Company, 1st of the 69th, and I am the Headquarters 

7 Company Communications Platoon Sergeant.

8 MAJ MELNYK: And on Tuesday, the 11th of 

9 September, where were you when you found out about the 

10 attack on the World Trade Center?

11 SSG ANDRYSIAK: I was at work, sir. I work 

12 for a -- I'm a technician. I'm a full-time technician 

13 with [New York State] Department of Military and Naval 

14 Affairs. I was at Staten Island, at our direct support 

15 shop at the time that we found out about the attacks.

16 MAJ MELNYK: And how did you find out about 

17 the attack?

18 SSG ANDRYSIAK: By television. By television, 

19 by news. At first, I heard one of our employees had 

20 gone around and was telling everybody that an airplane 

21 had crashed into the World -- One World Trade Center, 
4

1 and my first thought was that it was a small, maybe a 

2 small Cessna, the pilot might have had a heart attack, 

3 made an error.

4 And we didn't think much of it, until we heard 

5 a second plane had crashed into Two World Trade Center, 

6 and that's when we went to the TV to get the update and 

7 find out that it was an actual terrorist attack.

8 And with much disbelief and sorrow in my 

9 heart, and I'm sure all my coworkers, the horror that 

10 we had just witnessed was just unbelievable. Just 

11 unbelievable. 

12 MAJ MELNYK: The maintenance station at Staten 

13 Island, is that your normal duty station?

14 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir.

15 MAJ MELNYK: Okay.

16 SSG ANDRYSIAK: I'm an electronics technician 

17 there, working on all communications equipment for the 

18 lower downstate Army National Guard.

19 MAJ MELNYK: How long have you been part of 

20 Headquarters Company and part of the battalion?

21 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Since March of 2001, sir.
5

1 MAJ MELNYK: And previously, your military 

2 experience, if you could briefly sum it up?

3 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Sure, sir. Eighteen years, 

4 the past 18 years, I've been with Headquarters Company, 

5 1st of the 101st CAV. 

6 MAJ MELNYK: Which is on Staten Island.

7 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Which is on Staten Island, in 

8 their communications section.

9 MAJ MELNYK: A lot of COMMO experience.

10 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir.

11 MAJ MELNYK: Okay. What did you do upon 

12 coming to the realization or did you come to the 

13 realization at that time that --

14 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Sir, my first thoughts were of 

15 the battalion and what our mission was going to be 

16 through this, in my eyes, horrible times. That was my 

17 first thought is of what our unit, battalion, 1st of 

18 the 69th, was going to do, what our mission was going 

19 to be. That's where my thoughts first turned.

20 MAJ MELNYK: You assumed that you would be 

21 called up.
6

1 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir.

2 MAJ MELNYK: Okay.

3 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir. At the time, I 

4 could not make it into the battalion due to the 

5 inaccessible access through the freeways and the 

6 bridges, till things had calmed down.

7 So I had reported to the 101st CAV, which is 

8 on Staten Island. I called the 69th, called the 

9 battalion, notified them where I was, and I would make 

10 it in as soon as possible, and which I did that night.

11 MAJ MELNYK: About what time?

12 SSG ANDRYSIAK: I got -- arrived here at the 

13 69th about 10:30 that evening. 

14 MAJ MELNYK: And what did you do at that 

15 point? Did you -- you fell in with the rest of 

16 Headquarters Company. And what were they doing at the 

17 time you arrived?

18 SSG ANDRYSIAK: At the time I arrived, the 

19 company was preparing all the equipment necessary to 

20 move out for the mission at hand.

21 I had gathered up all my communications 
7

1 people.

2 MAJ MELNYK: How many did you have?

3 SSG ANDRYSIAK: At that time, sir, I had six, 

4 at that time.

5 MAJ MELNYK: Normally, you would have?

6 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Normally, I would have 15.

7 MAJ MELNYK: Okay.

8 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Normally, at that time. At 

9 the time, I could not make it into the unit and I 

10 called to the unit and I found out that I had -- in the 

11 morning, I had four of my soldiers, COMMO Platoon 

12 soldiers here at the unit. I was at rest because I 

13 knew my platoon could handle the situation until I got 

14 there.

15 So I was very much at ease, as I'm sure the 

16 company was, that my platoon could handle and assess 

17 the situation, what equipment we needed, until we 

18 arrived on scene.

19 And when I did arrive on the scene, they did 

20 have all -- they had equipment ready and communications 

21 established for the battalion and I was very proud of 
8

1 them, very proud of them.

2 MAJ MELNYK: So your men had -- your six men 

3 had already distributed radios for battalion vehicles.

4 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir.

5 MAJ MELNYK: What other jobs were they 

6 required to do?

7 SSG ANDRYSIAK: At that time, they had already 

8 set up an antenna on the roof of the armory, with a -77 

9 radio. So we had -- one of my soldiers had manned the 

10 antenna and the radio for about, I think, three hours, 

11 until relieved by somebody else, to try and keep some 

12 established communications between the vehicles that 

13 were already down at the site, at the World Trade, 

14 ground zero, and in the surrounding area. 

15 MAJ MELNYK: And at what point did you deploy 

16 forward with Headquarters Company? 

17 SSG ANDRYSIAK: That was Wednesday morning, on 

18 the 12th. That's when we actually went down to ground 

19 zero.

20 MAJ MELNYK: And you went as a company or did 

21 you go with your platoon?
9

1 SSG ANDRYSIAK: No. I went down --

2 (Interruption to proceedings.)

3 MAJ MELNYK: This is MAJ Melnyk. We had a 

4 brief interruption. 

5 We were about to ask you, you deployed 

6 downtown with your platoon or as an entire company or 

7 how did you --

8 SSG ANDRYSIAK: As an entire company, sir. 

9 MAJ MELNYK: And how did you get downtown?

10 SSG ANDRYSIAK: City -- New York City Transit 

11 buses were provided for us.

12 MAJ MELNYK: You went down the West Side 

13 Highway or you went down the FDR Drive?

14 SSG ANDRYSIAK: No, sir. FDR Drive, sir. 

15 Yes, sir.

16 MAJ MELNYK: And where did you stage before?

17 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Our staging area was Battery 

18 Park, down by the South Ferry. 

19 MAJ MELNYK: And, again, the time that you got 

20 there? 

21 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Approximate time we arrived 
10

1 was 0830 that morning.

2 MAJ MELNYK: Wednesday morning.

3 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Wednesday morning, yes.

4 MAJ MELNYK: What tasks did you need to 

5 accomplish at that time? 

6 SSG ANDRYSIAK: As soon as we hit the ground, 

7 I touched base with the company commander and found our 

8 COMMO mission and that was to establish the 

9 communications -- the command post communications as 

10 soon as possible, which we did.

11 We took an OE254 antenna and actually strapped 

12 it to a signal lamp.

13 MAJ MELNYK: Street light?

14 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Street light. A street light 

15 pole, and got communications up in very short time, I'd 

16 say within a half an hour.

17 MAJ MELNYK: Was the battalion command element 

18 already down there Wednesday morning when you arrived?

19 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir. I believe the 

20 battalion commander and the staff were on that 

21 location.
11

1 MAJ MELNYK: And how were they communicating?

2 SSG ANDRYSIAK: They were communicating via FM 

3 through their Humvees at that time.

4 MAJ MELNYK: And how was COMMO for them? Were 

5 they having problems? Did they need the extra boost 

6 from the antenna?

7 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Well, with the geographic area 

8 that we were in, it was very hard for the buildings 

9 that were involved in the line of sight for 

10 communications.

11 So they were receiving and transmitting 

12 somewhat, to some areas, with antennas off the vehicle 

13 radios and antennas, but the antenna that we did put up 

14 gave them a broader shot, a wider shot, and we were 

15 able to get all the way up to ground zero with -- once 

16 we established our communications. 

17 MAJ MELNYK: (Inaudible.)

18 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir.

19 MAJ MELNYK: What happened then? Continue the 

20 story. What further missions did you and the COMMO 

21 Platoon have to accomplish?
12

1 SSG ANDRYSIAK: At that time, again, basically 

2 standing by for communications, until our mission had 

3 changed and that's when the 1st battalion 69th took 

4 over the escorting of civilians to their homes to 

5 retrieve their personal items and animals.

6 MAJ MELNYK: About what time was this?

7 SSG ANDRYSIAK: I would say Wednesday was the 

8 first day that we took over, I would say it was 

9 sometime mid afternoon, approximately mid afternoon.

10 MAJ MELNYK: Where did people arrive to be 

11 escorted?

12 SSG ANDRYSIAK: They were established right --

13 there was a train station. I would say maybe two, 

14 about 200 feet to the rear of our command post, where 

15 we had set up barricades and fencing, so the civilians 

16 could gather into one local area.

17 MAJ MELNYK: In Battery Park.

18 SSG ANDRYSIAK: In Battery Park, yes.

19 MAJ MELNYK: And how did they get down to 

20 Battery Park?

21 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Sir, most of them walked.
13

1 MAJ MELNYK: Really.

2 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Most of them walked for miles. 

3 Yes, sir. Most of the people that I had talked to in 

4 the crowd, there was some sort of a management 

5 corporation that was set up down at Pier 40 on the west 

6 side, Houston and West, and that's where most of them 

7 had gone for information to get back into the

8 buildings. 

9 But they were told to come down to Battery 

10 Park to be escorted by the National Guard. And most of 

11 them, I would say all of them walked to that location 

12 that we were at Battery Park. 

13 MAJ MELNYK: Coming down the FDR Drive. The 

14 Guard had cordoned off the west side surrounding.

15 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir. They had to go 

16 around -- they would have had to walk around ground 

17 zero.

18 MAJ MELNYK: Right.

19 SSG ANDRYSIAK: The whole west side and some 

20 of the east side and then down and around to us, which 

21 was some miles and time for them to walk. 
14

1 MAJ MELNYK: And about how many people do you 

2 think gathered down there Wednesday afternoon?

3 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Sir, Wednesday afternoon, I 

4 couldn't give you an approximate number for the one 

5 day, but between the three days that we had the 

6 mission, which was Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, was 

7 it -- yeah, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and 

8 yesterday, Sunday. 

9 Yeah. I believe it was all of those days. We 

10 must have processed, between those days, I would say 

11 anywhere upwards between 2,500 to maybe 3,000 citizens, 

12 if not more. There was not an exact count that was 

13 estimated. 

14 That we did -- that did gather at any certain 

15 point and were processed through by us into their 

16 homes.

17 MAJ MELNYK: And what was entailed in the 

18 process? Who did the processing? What did they have 

19 to do in order to be able to go to their homes?

20 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Well, how we had it 

21 established was most of them had arrived with addresses 
15

1 the first day, with their addresses written on cards 

2 already. So when they had arrived into the area that 

3 we had set up, I basically had them or asked them to --

4 you know, for internal cooperation, to help keep the 

5 crowd motivated, was to work internally and gather by 

6 address and by building, which was fantastic, because 

7 they were very cooperative.

8 They were very, very cooperative. And as they 

9 did that, as they gathered into address and by 

10 building, we were able to process them. All we had to 

11 do was once we found out the frozen zone and the free 

12 zone, accessible zone for them to move into, all we 

13 needed to do was look at an address and we were able to 

14 ask them is this above the frozen zone or is this below 

15 the frozen zone.

16 MAJ MELNYK: So the people in the crowd 

17 actually helped you determine --

18 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir. The crowd helped us 

19 to determine. We had the area mapped out of which was 

20 frozen and not frozen. 

21 But, again, we were not familiar with a 100 
16

1 percent of all the addresses that were in that area.

2 MAJ MELNYK: Right.

3 SSG ANDRYSIAK: So we asked the cooperation of 

4 the crowd, of the citizens and residents to give us 

5 their address and asked them to point out on the map, 

6 if we were not familiar with it, where exactly were 

7 they located.

8 If one or two buildings had the same entrance, 

9 so we could bring two -- as long as they were in the 

10 same entrance, and there would maybe be two separate 

11 addresses, which, in some cases, we had, that we could 

12 put them all in that same group and bring them down, as 

13 long as they were all going to one entrance.

14 MAJ MELNYK: Who was -- who on the military 

15 side was in charge of the organization down there and 

16 escorts? Who was the overall commander?

17 Was that a Headquarters Company mission? Was 

18 that -- was there more than that?

19 SSG ANDRYSIAK: That was a Headquarters 

20 Company mission.

21 MAJ MELNYK: Only? The line companies were 
17

1 not involved.

2 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Sir, we did -- no, sir. We 

3 just -- yes. It was a Headquarters mission. That was 

4 our mission as Headquarters.

5 MAJ MELNYK: So your commander, CPT Daniels, 

6 was down there on the scene.

7 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir.

8 MAJ MELNYK: Or was that delegated to somebody 

9 else?

10 SSG ANDRYSIAK: No, sir. CPT Daniels was --

11 CPT Daniels and the first sergeant were on the scene 

12 and they were the overall coordinators of the mission.

13 MAJ MELNYK: Okay. About how many soldiers 

14 did you have working this mission, providing escort, 

15 containing the crowd?

16 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Between the two team leaders, 

17 which was myself and SSG Maybar (phonetic,) with --

18 which, without him, working together as a team, we 

19 would not have been able to pull this off.

20 Possibly an amount of anywhere, I would say, 

21 between 15 to maybe 20 escorts at each different time. 
18

1 And, again, without all of the escorts and SSG Maybar, 

2 this mission would not have been able to be 

3 accomplished.

4 I can't imagine the miles that each of these 

5 escorts had walked back and forth.

6 MAJ MELNYK: It was all done walking. There 

7 was no vehicles taking --

8 SSG ANDRYSIAK: All foot, sir. All by foot.

9 MAJ MELNYK: Now, an escort would take a group 

10 of, what, 15, 20 people back to their apartments?

11 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Sir, we had groups in excess 

12 of 26 to 30 in a group. With that size of a group, two 

13 escorts would go with that group to that location, into 

14 that one building. 

15 They knew the residents, how much time limit 

16 they had, they were asked to please gather only what 

17 was necessary to take out, the important items, which I 

18 had said to the crowd, I had told the crowd, I says, 

19 "Please, look to your left and to your right, and front 

20 and back of you." I said, "Everybody here is in the 

21 same boat. So, please, gather up whatever you need, 
19

1 because we do need the escorts back at the location to 

2 help us and your neighbors and get everybody through in 

3 a fair and equitable time."

4 And, again, the crowd was very cooperative 

5 with that.

6 MAJ MELNYK: So people didn't overstay. The 

7 soldiers didn't have to go in and hunt them out of 

8 their apartments.

9 SSG ANDRYSIAK: No, sir. The citizens were 

10 cooperative, very cooperative. The escorts did have to 

11 wait sometimes upwards of two hours at one location, 

12 depending on the crowd that they had and the situation 

13 in the building. 

14 Some buildings they had to escort in one 

15 apartment at a time, depending on the situation with 

16 that particular building and address, you know, on the 

17 damage -- you know, how much damage was done to the 

18 building, if any, depending on if there were cleanup 

19 crews down there in OEM, Office of Emergency 

20 Management.

21 MAJ MELNYK: Thank you.
20

1 SSG ANDRYSIAK: And some -- because one 

2 building we had that we took down a large group of 

3 about 26 residents and Office of Emergency Management 

4 was with the cleanup crew at that time.

5 My soldier, one of my soldiers, PVT Gonzalez, 

6 had called me and had explained the situation to me, 

7 they have cleanup crews there and they weren't letting 

8 anybody into the building at that time, until they had 

9 more of their crew come down to escort.

10 I told PVT Gonzalez, I said "You can handle 

11 the situation. I have no doubt in my mind that you are 

12 handling what's going on down there at this time." I 

13 said, "Use your judgment," and, sir, he used his 

14 judgment 100 percent as all the escorts did that took 

15 residents down.

16 But those were the type missions and type 

17 escorts. It did take quite some time, because then we 

18 had to eventually just escort one apartment at a time, 

19 one apartment at a time.

20 MAJ MELNYK: So not in every case, but in some 

21 cases.
21

1 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Not in every case, yes, sir, 

2 but in some cases. 

3 MAJ MELNYK: Did you have problems with people 

4 trying to pass themselves off as residents to go into 

5 other folks' apartments? Were there any kind of 

6 looters or other criminal activity?

7 SSG ANDRYSIAK: No, sir. We had explained to 

8 the crowd before we would start and kept a constant 

9 brief that identifications would be checked. We were 

10 doing a 100 percent ID check. If they did not have 

11 their ID, because some residents did have to run and 

12 they did not have any identification with them, we 

13 asked them if they agreed to show the escort or an 

14 officer, if there was one around, police officer, their 

15 proof of address coming out of that apartment, that we 

16 would let them go.

17 So they would go down with no identification 

18 and then as they were leaving, they had to show proof 

19 of identification, identification for that apartment, 

20 and which they all did, which worked out fantastic.

21 We were not going to leave anybody behind with 
22

1 no identification, because we understood in that 

2 situation that some did have to evacuate quickly, 

3 without any of their personal items.

4 MAJ MELNYK: During the escorting process, 

5 were buildings having to be evacuated at that time?

6 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir. At some times our 

7 escorts were in the area, the sound, the horn would 

8 sound, which would -- which was saying that maybe there 

9 was a chance of a building collapse, and then we would 

10 have to evacuate the area and all civilians out of the 

11 area until there was an all clear for us to start 

12 escorting back in.

13 And I have to say, sir, that without police 

14 presence, which we did not have, we did have some, but 

15 we ran the operation.

16 MAJ MELNYK: Down at Battery Park.

17 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Down at Battery Park, yes, 

18 sir. It was requested by myself and by CPT Daniels to 

19 not have any police presence or involved in our 

20 operation, because this was not a riot crowd. These 

21 were residents trying to get into their homes to 
23

1 retrieve their personal belongings and animals, and we 

2 did not see it necessary to have a police presence as 

3 security for the operation, because the crowd -- we had 

4 the crowd well under control.

5 They were standing for hours, sir, at a time 

6 in the hot sun. We passed out water and at some times, 

7 when we could, sandwiches.

8 We found where the nearest bathroom was for 

9 them to use, and basically kept them happy as much as 

10 possible. 

11 And it was just an unbelievable feeling, sir, 

12 to have the crowd work together and be so patient at 

13 that time, with everything that was going on, and for 

14 them not to be trying to push forward, not trying to 

15 come through the barricades, not trying to sneak in, it 

16 was just amazing. 

17 I mean, I can't tell you.

18 MAJ MELNYK: You certainly look like you 

19 weren't expecting it.

20 SSG ANDRYSIAK: No, sir. 

21 MAJ MELNYK: Your expectations were that they 
24

1 would be more trouble than they were.

2 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir. And what I had done 

3 was I had listened too -- I stopped to listen to every 

4 question that was asked. All they were being asked --

5 all they were asking us to do was -- is to answer their 

6 questions, find out information for them, and, I mean, 

7 even -- sir, there were some individuals that were 

8 there for four hours, five hours, and they'd find out 

9 that they could not have access to their building, you 

10 know, through the chain, we were trying to find out.

11 When we came back to them with a solid answer 

12 and the reason why and with that, they even stood 

13 there, shook our hands, and hugged us and said thank 

14 you, you have been the most -- this is -- we have been, 

15 as the National Guard, they were saying, the most 

16 cooperative, most informative organization that they 

17 have had and caring, taking care of their needs, that 

18 they have had since the whole ordeal.

19 That, to me, was the best things in the world. 

20 MAJ MELNYK: There are -- I think a lot of 

21 soldiers felt that way.
25

1 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir.

2 MAJ MELNYK: That they got as much back from 

3 the public as they gave in their service. 

4 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir. I mean, some of the 

5 crowd -- between the crying of people in the crowd, 

6 believing that they're not going to be able to get into 

7 their apartments, to see them crying and unsure and 

8 then coming back out of their apartments with their 

9 personal belongs and cats and with smiles on their face 

10 and hugging our escorts and shaking their hands and 

11 their -- just their appreciation, it just us very hard, 

12 sir, very hard. 

13 MAJ MELNYK: So your -- could you expand a 

14 little on your personal role? It doesn't sound like 

15 you were an escort. You were back.

16 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir.

17 MAJ MELNYK: You were a team leader. What 

18 were your responsibilities as a team leader?

19 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Basically, sir, I mean, I say 

20 team leader because it was a team effort. But my 

21 position and sole operation was to gather the crowd or, 
26

1 I mean, organize the crowd.

2

3 MAJ MELNYK: By building.

4 SSG ANDRYSIAK: By buildings, by address, to 

5 calm the crowd, to answer all their questions that they 

6 had. 

7 That was my main mission, my main mission, and 

8 as I called an address, they came -- they came out of 

9 the holding area and then they were turned over to SSG 

10 Maybar. 

11 His operation was to line up, again, by 

12 building, the groups, give them a brief, a safety 

13 briefing, hand out dust masks, okay, and collect all 

14 cameras. We could not allow any cameras into the site.

15 We did not want pictures taken along the way 

16 and, you know, if it was insurance purposes for their 

17 apartments, the escorts themselves collected the 

18 cameras, held the cameras on the way down and the 

19 cameras on the way back.

20 And at that time, again, in that, SSG Maybar's 

21 operation, he briefed them, checked all their IDs, and 
27

1 then explained to them again, as I had did, please be 

2 brief, please gather your belongings that are essential 

3 to you that you need, and animals, and then what was 

4 told to them was please do not leave your escorts.

5 When you get down to the area, please, when 

6 you come out of your building, stay with your escort 

7 and come back with the escort, and that's how the 

8 operation ran. 

9 And I would say by the third day, which was 

10 Saturday -- I mean, the operation was very smooth along 

11 the whole way, but by Thursday, the kinks and whatever 

12 kinks -- it's the only word I can think of at this time 

13 is kinks -- were worked out and we ran smoothly, I mean 

14 very smoothly, and we processed --

15 Every day that we were there, by the end of 

16 the night, we had no residents left in the area. 

17 Everybody was processed through that needed to be 

18 processed through.

19 MAJ MELNYK: What time do you usually shut 

20 down?

21 SSG ANDRYSIAK: The first couple of nights, we 
28

1 ran -- we started when we hit the ground, which was 

2 approximately 0730, 0800. We established our 

3 perimeter, established the area, as a battalion first, 

4 and then we started our operations.

5 Everybody went to their own operations and we 

6 started ours. 

7 MAJ MELNYK: Right.

8 SSG ANDRYSIAK: The first couple of nights we 

9 ran til about 7:30.

10 MAJ MELNYK: In the evening.

11 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Well, we had -- as I said, as 

12 far as kinks, about that time, it started to get dark.

13 MAJ MELNYK: Right.

14 SSG ANDRYSIAK: So the next night, for safety 

15 reasons, to have all our soldiers back in before dark 

16 and the residents, we were cutting it off at 6:00 

17 o'clock in the evening, and that was for safety for the 

18 residents, as well as for our own soldiers.

19 And then even cutting it down to 6:00 o'clock, 

20 we still processed everybody through. Every group we 

21 processed through.
29

1 MAJ MELNYK: What about your COMMO mission? 

2 After establishing that, putting up the antenna down, 

3 were there any other COMMO things --

4 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir.

5 MAJ MELNYK: -- that you all had to take care 

6 of?

7 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir. We -- as the 

8 mission went along, there was a need to establish 

9 another net at the command post, which was accomplished 

10 by my soldiers and the COMMO Platoon. 

11 And then there was also --

12 MAJ MELNYK: How did you do that? 

13 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Basically, what we did was, at 

14 the time, when we had MANPAC [PRC]–77s, at the time. 

15 We could not mount another net into the vehicle at the 

16 time. So my COMMO Platoon had a -77 MANPAC and ran it 

17 off of one of the roof antennas on the vehicle, which 

18 worked out perfectly. Worked out perfectly.

19 Another one of our missions was a Charlie 

20 Company commander's Humvee, which was all the way up at 

21 the top by Embassy Suites, past ground zero.
30

1 MAJ MELNYK: On the west side, on the east 

2 side?

3 SSG ANDRYSIAK: On the west side, sir.

4 MAJ MELNYK: Roughly, around what street?

5 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Right on the river. Again, 

6 sir, I'm not a 100 percent familiar --

7 MAJ MELNYK: Okay.

8 SSG ANDRYSIAK: -- with the area, but it was, 

9 I would say, maybe -- maybe a quarter of a mile or less 

10 past ground zero, on the river.

11 MAJ MELNYK: Okay. So on the west side.

12 SSG ANDRYSIAK: On the west side, yes, sir. 

13 It was Embassy Suites. 

14 MAJ MELNYK: Embassy Suites, you said?

15 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Embassy Suites, sir, yes.

16 MAJ MELNYK: So there was a hotel up there. 

17 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir.

18 MAJ MELNYK: Looking at the map now. 

19 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Okay. This is ground zero 

20 here, sir.

21 MAJ MELNYK: Right. Area one.
31

1 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir. I would say right 

2 along this area, sir.

3 MAJ MELNYK: Which is in the World Financial 

4 Center.

5 SSG ANDRYSIAK: In the World Financial Center.

6 MAJ MELNYK: Okay.

7 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Right up around in the World 

8 Financial Center.

9 MAJ MELNYK: Where they have the marina.

10 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yeah. We went through the 

11 marina, around, and then I would say right here, sir, 

12 just past the World Financial Center.

13 MAJ MELNYK: Just past the World Financial 

14 Center.

15 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir. 

16 MAJ MELNYK: North End Avenue.

17 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Around that area, sir, yes.

18 MAJ MELNYK: Okay. And what was the problem 

19 with the Charlie Company commander's vehicle?

20 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Their vehicle radio was unable 

21 to transmit, only receive. So they had a MANPAC -77 
32

1 for transmitting and they were receiving from the 524 

2 and MANPAC transmission.

3 Three of us, myself, CPL Rolon (phonetic,) and 

4 PVT Gonzalez walked up to the area from Battery Park to 

5 assess the situation.

6 When we got to the area, we established that 

7 it was the radio, in fact, it was not transmitting and 

8 there was not a handset or anything else.

9 MAJ MELNYK: So the radio was broken.

10 SSG ANDRYSIAK: So the radio was down. At 

11 that time, PVT Gonzalez pulled the radio out of the

12 vehicle, out of the mount, put it on the hood of the 

13 Humvee, took the covers off, opened the radio up, and 

14 reset the circuit breaker inside the radio, and put it 

15 all back together, put it back in the vehicle, and had 

16 a 100 percent communications with the vehicle.

17 So it was a mission well accomplished.

18 MAJ MELNYK: Given the atmosphere at that 

19 time, a lot of dust and dirt in the air, I imagine you 

20 probably had a lot of breakdowns.

21 SSG ANDRYSIAK: No, sir. Communications went 
33

1 well, sir. That was, to my knowledge, the only 

2 communications -- real communications problem that we 

3 had. 

4 Again, the area itself and the buildings and 

5 the geographical location of everything was, I would 

6 say, the hardest part to overcome.

7 MAJ MELNYK: Because the line of sight wasn't 

8 established.

9 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Line of sight, yes, sir. Line 

10 of sight was difficult to establish. But between 

11 relaying, if we had to, between companies to other 

12 companies or vehicle to vehicle from the command post, 

13 which we did, if it wasn't a direct contact between the 

14 receiving station, communications worked well.

15 MAJ MELNYK: Did all of your orders come from 

16 CPT Daniels or did you interface directly with police, 

17 fire, other civilian elements that were giving you 

18 orders?

19 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Sir, during the operation with 

20 the residents, I did touch base with the police command 

21 post. 
34

1 MAJ MELNYK: Located where, do you know?

2 SSG ANDRYSIAK: In Battery Park.

3 MAJ MELNYK: They had a command post in 

4 Battery Park.

5 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes. At the museum, I 

6 believe, that's there. There's a museum.

7 MAJ MELNYK: I think that's the Customs House.

8 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Right across the street they 

9 were.

10 MAJ MELNYK: It looks like a museum.

11 SSG ANDRYSIAK: I think it was a museum. 

12 Yeah, well, it was right across the street and that's 

13 where the police command post was set up. And I had 

14 touched base with them. I needed a bull horn, for one, 

15 because by about half the day, my voice was gone.

16 So I finally was able to come up with a bull 

17 horn until HHC was able to -- the 69th was able to come 

18 up with one for me, which they located quite quickly 

19 for me, which helped out.

20 MAJ MELNYK: So most of your communication 

21 with the crowd was being bull horned.
35

1 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir. 

2 MAJ MELNYK: For --

3 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Until I lost my voice, yeah. 

4 But it had to be one of the most uplifting missions 

5 that I have ever entailed in my 18 years of service. 

6 It was just unbelievable. I enjoyed interfacing with 

7 the community 100 percent, as well as Sergeant Maybar 

8 and the escorts that were part of the team.

9 It was just -- as I told the crowd, that was 

10 the best -- that was the best part of our mission, of 

11 what we do, was helping the community and helping the 

12 residents, and I did, I stressed that to the crowd many 

13 times through the days that we were there, that this is 

14 the best part of our mission is to help these people 

15 and get them in and handle their needs, which we did 

16 above and beyond, sir, above and beyond.

17 And, again --

18 MAJ MELNYK: It sounds like you're --

19 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Yes, sir. I'm very proud. 

20 And, again, between the escorts and everybody else, 

21 without one of those, the mission would not have 
36

1 worked. It would not have worked. 

2 MAJ MELNYK: Is there anything else that you 

3 want to add that you experienced, that you think is 

4 noteworthy or interesting?

5 SSG ANDRYSIAK: One thing I'd like to say, 

6 again, as I had told the formation earlier today, that 

7 I am proud to be on the ground. Words can't say how 

8 proud I am to be on the ground with the 1st of the 

9 69th.

10 And for this mission, for any future mission 

11 that comes, that happens, whatever that mission may be, 

12 I am proud to be here with the 1st of the 69th, and 

13 this is my home and this will be my home, if not for 

14 anything beyond my control, this will be my home, and 

15 that's a fact, sir.

16 I am proud to be with these soldiers, I can't 

17 say it enough, and with the command staff, LTC Slack, 

18 CPT Daniels, LT Whaley (phonetic,) all the command 

19 staff, sir.

20 I am very proud to be part of this unit.

21 MAJ MELNYK: Well, thank you very much.
37

1 SSG ANDRYSIAK: Thank you, sir.

2 MAJ MELNYK: Appreciate it.

3 (The interview was concluded.)

4 * * * * *