September 21: Bush: 'Justice Will Be Done'

The Lost

Mechanic Fulfilled Wish To Become a Firefighter...Risk-Taker Saved Lives As a Donor and Firefighter...Steamfitter Turned Firefighter 'Built' Towers...'Mr. Ladder 24' Just Wanted to Save Lives...A Caring Son Who Was His Mother's Right Arm...Firefighter Dad Followed In the Family Tradition...She Had a Few More Chapters to Live...'Everybody Loved His Smile'

His Overnight Shift Ran Late

Carpenter Joseph Mistrulli specializes in crafting curved walls and ceilings for wealthy clients, and on the morning of Sept. 11, he was plying his trade inside Windows on the World.

Future Firemen Await Their Dad's Return

When a fire burned the Gies home to the foundation two years ago, people throughout Merrick, including local volunteer firefighters, helped the family rebuild the two-story, five-bedroom home from scratch in six months.

Toll Rises to 6,333

The city's already battered psyche was dealt another jarring blow yesterday when Mayor Rudolph Giuliani revealed the number of missing people has climbed to 6,333 - an increase of 911.

Wives Tell Tales of 2 EMT Heroes

Cicilia Lillo, of North Babylon, said that when she first met the man who would become her husband, he would barely give her the time of day.

Wrestling With Stages of Grief

Denial. Anger. Bargaining. Depression. As the dust began to clear this week, New York City lumbered through the stages of grief like a wounded beast, not comprehending at first, then frothing with rage.

Prayer Service at Yankee Stadium

"A Prayer for America," a service for the families and colleagues of victims of the World Trade Center disaster, will be conducted at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Yankee Stadium and will be beamed across the city.

A Female Captain In Policing's Male World

Two years before Kathy Mazza charged into Tower One as part of Sept. 11's rescue effort, she stood in the Oval Room on the 43rd floor, being honored as New York City's Basic Life Support Provider of the Year.

Displaced Students Make Do in Brooklyn

Thousands of students who were forced out of eight lower Manhattan schools by last week's World Trade Center attacks spent their first day at their borrowed schools yesterday under the watchful eyes of school officials and nervous parents.

Dissipating Vapor of Hope

For several blocks, Lexington Avenue in midtown Manhattan is an avenue of ghosts. Photographs of the missing, who are almost certainly dead, are still taped to every available surface near the armory. It's as if, for the time being, heaven has run out of room.

Missing Brinks Guard Dodged Death at WTC Before

Armored-car driver Francis Joseph Trombino survived war in a far-off land, a notorious 1981 Westchester shoot-out and was lucky enough to dodge death once again in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

AMERICA'S ORDEAL

Yankee Stadium Vigil to Be Broadcast;

"A Prayer for America," a service for the families and colleagues of victims of the World Trade Center disaster, will be conducted at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Yankee Stadium and will be beamed across the city.

AMERICA'S ORDEAL

His Company Cap Hangs at Firehouse

In the absence of firefighter Larry Veling, his brethren at Engine Co. 235 in Bedford-Stuyvesant are quick with a story reflective of the 15-year veteran's outgoing personality.

AMERICA'S ORDEAL

$5B Aid Request For Airlines

Washington - The Bush administration asked Congress yesterday to send airlines $5 billion to recover from the four-day air travel shutdown and use another $3 billion from the attack relief approved last week to pay for immediate security improvements.

AMERICA'S ORDEAL

$15B Aid Package For Airlines

Washington - The Bush administration and Congress agreed early today on a $15-billion package yesterday that would send airlines $5 billion to recover from the four-day air travel shutdown and use another $3 billion from the attack relief approved last week to pay for immediate security improvements.

AMERICA'S ORDEAL

Dennis Duggan: Recall Names, Forget Numbers

Lawrence Joseph Virgilio was born to be a firefighter.

AMERICA'S ORDEAL

Solemn Salutes to Fallen Heroes

Behind the police barriers blocking off the funeral of firefighter Lawrence Virgilio in Woodside, a small girl stood yesterday afternoon with a very urgent question.

AMERICA'S ORDEAL

Confirmed Fatalities

The New York City medical examiner last night released following names of people confirmed dead in the World Trade Center disaster. These names are in addition to those already reported.

AMERICA'S ORDEAL

Hoping to Find a Father

What Akiko Takahashi does know is that her father, Keiichiro, dressed in a business suit and tie, left their Port Washington home as usual around 5 a.m. on Sept. 11.

AMERICA'S ORDEAL

Holland Tunnel Could Reopen

The Holland Tunnel, which has remained closed to all but emergency vehicles since last week's terrorist attacks, could reopen by next week, a top Port Authority official said yesterday.

POLS & POLITICS

Candidates Keeping Low Profile

Democracy is pretty sloppy on good days, but candidates for city office this year are trying to cope with a national calamity and one of the busiest elections in local history.

AMERICA'S ORDEAL

Pace Slows on Commercial Strip

On this stretch of 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights, it seems everybody knows somebody.

AMERICA'S ORDEAL

A Technician Whose Kids Were His 'Hobbies'

Derrick C. Washington, a Verizon technician from Calverton, never worried about working on the top floor of the World Trade Center's south tower.

AMERICA'S ORDEAL

A Dad, a Firefighter, a Fan

Last Sunday, with his father still missing at the World Trade Center, 14-year-old Nick DeMeo took the mound and pitched for the Ronkonkoma Cardinals. Though his team lost a 3-2 game, he persevered the way his father would have wanted, said his mother, Joanie.

AMERICA'S ORDEAL

Praying for Good Fortune

Armored-car driver Francis Joseph Trombino survived war in a far-off land, a notorious 1981 Westchester shoot-out and was lucky enough to dodge death once again in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

AMERICA'S ORDEAL

Jimmy Breslin: Morgue's Empty Receiving Room Dims Spirits of One Here to Help

It made sense for the medical examiner's office to call Dr. Skip Sperber, a San Diego dentist and assistant medical examiner, to come in to help identify bodies. Sperber started an identification system used by the federal NCIC. And years ago, Sperber trained at NYU Medical Center.

AMERICA'S ORDEAL

Across City, Life Is Different

A patriotic John Philip Sousa march played, quietly, amid a subdued crowd of shoppers yesterday at normally bustling Queens Center mall.

AMERICA'S ORDEAL

Roses for a Life-Saving Fire Patrolman

Staten Island's Keith Roma so loved his job as a New York fire patrolman, he would show up at the stationhouse on West Third Street in Greenwich Village the evening before his shift started, carrying groceries for dinner.

AMERICA'S ORDEAL

A New Home, but Without Dad

Even before the paperwork was complete, architect Obdulio Ruiz-Diaz was already planning changes to his family's new home in Valley Stream: an expanded children's room, an extra bedroom, a new color for the interior.

Candidates: Term Limits Should Stand

As a new poll showed that voters are unsure about whom to elect mayor, the four Democratic candidates and Republican Michael Bloomberg agreed yesterday that Mayor Rudolph Giuliani should not have another term in office.

AMERICA'S ORDEAL

City Bars, Garden To Donate Proceeds

Whether sipping beer and wine at three Upper West Side taverns tonight, or enjoying the sights and sounds at the New York Botanical Garden this weekend, patrons will be helping to raise funds for survivors of the Twin Towers disaster, the families of those dead or missing, and rescue workers.