Providing Assistance at Ground Zero

Wilton Police Officer John Godfrey was driving to work Monday morning when he learned about Osama bin Laden’s death during a firefight with U.S. Navy SEALS in his compound at Abbottabad, Pakistan.

“I turned on the Don Imus show and they were in the middle of what they were saying… I just assumed they were talking about Gaddafi’s son,” Godfrey said Wednesday.

When he was able to process what he’d heard – that the world’s most notorious terrorist, the architect of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, had been slain by members of a top American counterterrorism unit – Godfrey was “incredulous.” 

President Barack Obama, who authorized the “targeted operation,” labeled the killing of bin Laden as “the most significant achievement to date” in the effort to defeat al Qaeda.

The news also brought back a flood of memories to the weeks following 9/11, when Godfrey was among nine Wilton police officers who assisted with the disaster relief effort at Ground Zero.

The nine, Lt. Stephen Bartek, Sgt. James Dempsey and officers Jack Van Deusen, David Collins, Godfrey, Robert Kluk, Louis Reszoly, Stephen Brennan and Joseph Calorossi, performed many functions at the site – from transporting family members of the victims to providing security, escorting funerals and dignitaries, and rendering other assistance as requested. 

Van Deusen is deceased, but the others remain with the department; Brennan is now a lieutenant, and Collins and Kluk are sergeants.

“I went down in a two-man team with Rob Kluk on Nov. 1 and 2. We were the first to go,” Godfrey said. Initially, he was assigned to Port Authority headquarters in Jersey City, but then “Rob and I ended up transporting police chaplains to (Ground Zero). We stayed with them and basically escorted them through the scene.”

Nearly 10 years later, Godfrey, who is divorced and the father of two children, still finds it difficult to remember the devastation he witnessed at the site of the former World Trade Center in lower Manhattan.

“It’s hard to put it into words… It’s just hard to comprehend the depth of the evil,” he said.

Following these efforts, the officers were recognized by then-Wilton Police Chief Randy Mineo, who issued each a citation bar to wear on his uniform. On May 11, Godfrey will mark the 30^th anniversary of his hiring as a police officer.

The current Wilton police chief, Michael Lombardo, issued the following statement relating to the death of bin Laden: “We need to remain vigilant and report suspicious activities to authorities during the course of our daily lives. Working together we will continue to make our lives and that of our family and friends as safe as we can in the future.”