Lt. Michael Warchola - 2996 Tribute
Lt. Michael Warchola was a hero. I’m not just throwing the term ‘hero’ out there because that’s what people are supposed to say about someone who was killed in the horrors of one of the longest days in American history. He really was a hero. A real-life hero.
Lt. Michael Warchola died saving the lives of other people. We know of at least one he saved, another whom he died next to, probably trying to save. He was last seen attending to an office worker who was experiencing chest pain in a stairwell of the World Trade Center, just prior to it’s collapse. Everyone was getting out of the building as fast as they could. One tower had already collapsed and the second was barely standing. He was told that everyone was evacuating and he replied that he was helping a civilian, for the others to go ahead. He stayed with the civilian and died in that stairwell.
With appologies to his family and friends, the following is my inadequate attempt to write a tribute to the life of Lt. Michael Warchola.
Michael P. Warchola was born to Michael and Norah Warchola on February 20, 1950 in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. He grew up in Middle Villiage with his older brother Denis. During their growing up years, Mike and Denis’ grandmother kept British tabloids around the house. It’s said that reading those tabloids is what lead to Mike’s lifelong passion for reading and interest in the strange and bizarre.
It seems he was a man with a wide variety of interests, a sense of the absurdities of life and an intense curiousity about the world. He seems to have been a man of character and courage. He had earned the respect and love of those who knew him in life.
Growing up, the family always made time for summer trips. They often spent summers in the South Hamptons. His mother was a kind woman who loved her sons. She kept Cracker Jacks in the pantry for the neighborhood children. His father kept a garden and cooked out on a hibachi. The boys had a dog named Zero. Denis found their dog while walking home from school one day. Denis asked Mike what he thought the chances were that their mother would allow them to keep the dog. Mike replied, ‘Zero’. And so, Zero was his name.
Mike’s cousin remembers him in comments of a remembrance website:
Mike - I remember you - I remember the time I was at the bus stop and you drove me home in the Karmann Ghia with the holes in the floor boards and we were laughing that I was going to fall through (I wasn’t laughing as hard as you were, not funny!) - I remember how your Mom (my aunt Norah) always had cracker jacks in the pantry for all of the kids, how she was always soooooooooo kind, I miss her still - I remember summers in South Hampton with your dad (my uncle Mike) with the vegetable garden and watching your dad smoke white owl cigars and drink Reingold beer and laugh his ass off and make everyone else laugh - I remember old Zero the dog, who seemed to live forever and eat everything - I remember how much fun it was to be over your house and look at your boxing gloves - I remember you had the Harkin eyes - I remember your dad’s old hibachi’s in the back yard in Middle Village and the great food that would come off those things - I remember that you were quiet in words and strong in actions - I remember you Mike
Your cousin
Stephen Warhola
He was a 1968 graduate of Stuyvesant High School, New York, New York.
He was a boxer and won Golden Gloves Championships. A friend of his older brother’s remembers Mike as ‘tough as nails’ and that in a battle he never took a step back:
I watched Michael growing up as I was a good friend to his older brother Dennis. He was a great kid whowas tough as nails. My greatest memory is the time Michael fought in the Golden Gloves at Sunnyside Gardens. A couple of friends from the neighborhood went to cheer him on and he never took a step backwards. I believe he won his first two matches in the first round and lost the third match in a decision, that also was a War but he never gave up, he never backed down.
Think of him all the time.
May he Rest in Peace,
Frank J. DiMartino
Mike is often described as unique, intellegent, strong, independent, curious about the world. He is described as someone others could depend on, as someone others learned from.
I see a twinkle in his eye and have the sense that he could be mischievous and funny. I also have the sense that he could be serious and carry on interesting discussions on any number of topics. My sense is that he was complex and multi-dimensional. He was an artist who enjoyed drawing and painting and at the same time was a tough-guy who was a boxer and firefighter. He was ‘tough as nails’ yet tender and loved his children with every ounch of his being. I’ve read that he was both reticent and bold. He was a man of few words and at the same time exhibited strength of will and determination. He stayed close to home, living his life in his childhood home yet traveled all over the world.
I have the feeling that Michael P. Warchola was a very interesting and enormously likable man.
Ellen, a friend, writes:
I miss my friend Mike. He had a strong and independent mind, loved experiencing the physical world, understood much about evil, he was sometimes reticent, but that was OK. He was a wacky and wonderful Warchola. His love for his children Amy and Aaron was in his core. He was devoted to Ladder 5. I liked knowing he was around, he said we’d be friends for life. I am so sad he is not here.
His friend Joel writes:
Mike, you were a good friend during the three years (1965-68)we were classmates at Stuyvesant High School in New York City. I remember you as a person of strong intellect, high standards and uncompromising principle. Everyone at Stuy was smart, but you were also a champion Golden Gloves boxer. I will always remember you and cherish the good memories we shared in our youth. My heartfelt sympathies to your family, colleagues and friends. May you rest in peace.
He graduated from the University of Buffalo with a major in English and earned a teaching certificate. He joined the New York Fire Department in 1977, after five years on the waiting list. At the time of his death he was a Lieutenant in New York City Fire Department, Ladder Co. No. 5, 6th Avenue & Houston St., Manhattan.
Mike was divorced after a 13 year marriage. He had a son and a daughter. His former wife writes about him in the comments of a remembrance website:
Mike was my former husband and the father of our children. He was a unique, extemely intelligent and very interesting man. Mike had an inexhaustive curiosity about the world we live in, and a unique perception about life. He was very well-read and loved to travel to the sometimes-obscure places he’d read about. Mike loved his children with his very being and took an active part in their lives and future. For 13 years, he was my husband, and in recent years, my very dear friend.
The children and I are very proud of him. To us, his life meant so much more than his tragic, heroic death portrayed. Yet, September 11th capped his full, yet far-too-short life.
We know that God is holding Mike in the palm of His hand, and we are confident that we will see him again in Glory.
Leslie Terwilliger (Walden, NY )
Mike lived in his childhood home in Middle Villiage, Queens, New York. As he was nearing retirement, he spent more and more time tending his garden at his home. He made elaborate drawings of Venus flytraps and he kept a Godzilla poster on his wall. He was a painter, a history buff and loved traveling to exotic locales to visit places he had read about in books.
On September 11, 2001 Mike was 51 years old and a short-timer, only two shifts away from retirement. His paperwork was done and his plans were made for a retirement filled with adventures, traveling to strange and exotic places around the world.
Lt. Warchola was last seen by members of Ladder 6 as they were decending the stairway of the North Tower.
On the way down, they saw members of Ladder Co. 5 on the 12th floor. They were treating an office worker’s chest pains. Jonas knew Ladder 5’s officer, Lt. Mike Warchola.
“Come on, Mike, let’s go,” Jonas said. “It’s time to go.”
“That’s OK, Jay,” Warchola said. “You have your civilian, we have ours.”
“Don’t wait too long.”
and later, after the collapse:
A mayday message crackled over Jonas’s radio: “Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is Ladder Co. 5, mayday. We’re in the B stairway, 12th floor. I’m trapped, and I’m hurt bad.”
D’Agostino said, “Cap, did you get that?”
“Yeah, I got it,” Jonas said. He recognized the voice of Mike Warchola of Ladder Co. 5, the team that had stopped to help a civilian with chest pains on the 12th floor. No one knew it, but there no longer was a 12th floor.
“The stairway’s in real bad shape,” Jonas recalled. “It’s shaky, it’s twisted, there’s all kinds of debris on it. There’s no stairs to the third floor. So it took a while even to get up to the fifth floor.”
Jonas reached the fifth floor: “And a second mayday comes in from him. And then a third. I got up to the fifth floor and I couldn’t move the debris anymore. It was just too big and too heavy. And I said to him, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you.’ And that was emotional for me because he and I worked together as firemen. ... We’re not that far apart. And I can’t help him. He gave out three maydays and we didn’t hear from him anymore.”
Denis, Mike’s brother is also a retired Fire Fighter. He was there, three days later on Friday, when Mike’s body was found and was able to put his hand on his brothers arm and say farewell.
The men of Ladder 5 carried the body of Lt. Michael Warchola and other Ladder 5 heros out of the rubble of the World Trade Center with their helmets on their chests.
…. when Denis Warchola visited his brother’s fire house, the first story he heard was one describing how Michael had saved one more life in his final hours.
“When I introduced myself as Mike’s brother, a man came over and said to me, ‘I want to thank you. Your brother saved my son’s life,’” he said.
The son is a rookie firefighter in the company. Though his shift ended at 9 a.m. Tuesday, he defied Warchola’s orders to head home and snuck onto the fire truck.
When Warchola saw the rookie at the scene, “my brother went ballistic,” Denis Warchola said. “He said, ‘If I see you in there, I will make sure that after we put this fire out you do not have a job.’ “
“I think my brother was worried about the kid’s safety. It was bad enough the guys who were working had to go in there. This kid technically didn’t have to go in.”
Following his death, Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda of Slovakia noticed Mike’s name among the victims of 9/11. His name meant something:
The attack of Sept. 11 spread his name around the world, as it did those of many other victims. One who noticed the name was Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda of Slovakia, and when he came here recently to run in the New York Marathon, he sought out Lieutenant Warchola’s older brother Denis, who was only vaguely aware of the family’s central European ancestry. Mr. Dzurinda took home a picture of Lieutenant Warchola and held it aloft during a television appearance.
“Everybody in the country saw my brother’s picture,” Denis Warchola said.
Allan, a childhood acquaintance writes in the comments of a memorial website:
As a kid you always looked so large to me, and now as a grown man you look even larger! thanks mike.
His neice Sheina wrote:
hey uncle it’sme Sheina. You were the best uncle anyone could every have.:) It hurts me so much to know your gone. Aunt Sarah is not doing to good now that your gone
. You were the greatest person in the world. You were so loving ,caring, funny, sweetest person. I love you with my whole heart. You were the best. I will never forget the pain you went through for me. I’ll never for get about you. love Sheina - submitted: 4/8/2002
Aaron, Mike’s son wrote in the comments of a memorial website:
Heh, it is funny how time helps us to forget things. Though i have never forgotten you. I have been thinking about you lately and just happen to stumble across this site. I had almost forgotten what you had looked like. You are indeed my hero and i will never forget what you have done. So now I salute you and say goodbye. I love you and miss you. Goodbye dad.
and lay to rest my body sore.
Send the word out to my brothers,
the fire is down, let it burn no more.”
Fireman’s Prayer
When I signed up to participate in the 2996 Tribute, D.C. Roe sent me Lt. Warchola’s name as my honoree. I dutifully started trying to see what I could find out about him on the internet. It was a project that I thought was a nice way to remember the 5th anniversary of 9/11. But as I researched Lt. Warchola, it became less of a ‘project’ and more of ‘mission’. I found myself fascinated by this ordinary man who did extraodinary things and lived a heroic life.
I found myself wanting to know more about him. Not just facts, but what kind of person he was in life. I wanted to get to know who he was. As I read about him, I found myself not only liking him, but having a great deal of respect and admiration for him.
Joseph Stalin said: The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic. I found that this ‘project’ has had much more of an impact on me than most anything I can imagine in terms of beginning to have a hint of comprehension of the extent of the tragedies our enemies brought upon us on that day. For that I am grateful to D.C. Roe.
I am most grateful to Lt. Michael Warchola for the impact he has had on me, someone whose path he never would have crossed in life.
More 2996 tributes: 2996 Blogroll
more sources and links:
The Slovak Spectator: The New York View: PM runs for Slovakia in NYC marathon
Heros of the World Trade Center
September 11, 2001 Victims Memorial
United in Memory the 9/11 Victims Memorial Quilt
Rescue Workers, World Trade Center, NYFD
Newsday Article - they dug until their hands were raw.
Newsday: A Short-timer Among Dead heros
They Died Trying to Save Others: Photo Tribute to NYFD
Where Were You?
In Memoriam: Remembrance Candles
Chris Macke Photography - WTC Photos
NY Streets Named After 9-11 Heros
The September 11 Digital Archive
September 9th, 2006 at 9:27 pm
You did a very nice job Beth, its quite touching and does what you wanted to do, make us all see and “meet” Mike and realize how much and who we lost that day. The loss of the Lt. Michael Warchola is such a tragedy, but you helped us see that his life and the heroism with which he died is the greater truth.
September 9th, 2006 at 9:37 pm
Great job beth. You’ve honored him well.
September 9th, 2006 at 11:47 pm
Beautiful.
I understand the mission you undertook, because that is what happened to me too. It was a most emotional journey for me, as it was for you. We lost some people with full rich lives that day.
September 10th, 2006 at 12:19 am
What a wonderful tribute! I too have been consumed with research and getting to know the man that I am paying tribute to, despite my tears…
September 10th, 2006 at 2:32 am
What a wonderful tribute to a very special person. I am crying as I write this, my condolences to his family and friends. He truly was a hero.
Visit my site to read about Catherine A. Nardella who died at the WTC on 9/11/01. Like Mike, she loved life and was loved by her family and friends. She died too soon, too young.
September 10th, 2006 at 3:42 am
This was just wonderful. Being a fellow 2996er I can relate to this whole experience. I cannot believe how much it’s touched me, how many times i’ve cried reading these fantastic tributes, how many times i’ve had to explain to my 5 year old daughter why I was crying and just how much this was so all consuming and ended up with me being in a place I never thought possible.
Kelly
I remember Marisa DiNardo Schorpp
September 10th, 2006 at 4:00 am
Your tirbute is wonderful. I hope that the person who got Mary Lou Hague from my hometown honors her memory as well as you did Michale’s. Thank you.
September 10th, 2006 at 6:16 am
Thank you for completing your mission. There is no greater honor given than to have you write this stirring tribute to someone you did not know. Wonderful and moving post to a fallen hero.
Please stop by my tribute post for Gilbert so that others can come here and read.
September 10th, 2006 at 7:12 am
You did a really nice job with your tribute. He was indeed a hero! Thank you for writing this.
My tirbute for Adam K. Ruhalter is also up.
September 10th, 2006 at 8:05 am
Very Touching memorial. It does what a Tribute is meant to do, remind us that there was a living,breathing human behind the statistic.
My tribute for Norma Khan has been posted.
September 10th, 2006 at 9:35 am
This memorial was very moving. I, too, felt a sense of loss for my honoree once I truly got to know him. It’s a cruel thing that most of us would never have met or gotten to know these people, if it wasn’t for the fact that they died during a tragedy. This is a really neat and moving slideshow made by some students in PA: http://www.zackcreveling.com/911.pps. I think it is something everybody should watch if they can, so I’m asking all the participants in 2996, if they want to, to post the link on their blogs. Thank you.
September 10th, 2006 at 11:01 am
Beth,
You wrote an incredibly moving and meaningful tribute. And I can tell how well-researched this was. It is just chock-full of rich quotes and passages worth pondering and reflecting over. Lt. Michael Warchola was an extraordinary hero.
To us, his life meant so much more than his tragic, heroic death portrayed.
The words of his former wife echoes with the truth that for so many family members, the loss of a loved one is still a loss; and there is a void there that will never be replaced.
Your final words are deeply moving, Beth. And I think it can sum up how many of us have felt in participating in this project. “Every man’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind”. Isn’t that what Dunne said? If we took the time to know each and every person intimately as if he were our own flesh and blood, maybe there’d be less killing in the world.
September 10th, 2006 at 11:09 am
Very moving.
Rest in peace Michael.
September 10th, 2006 at 11:18 am
2996 tribute to victims of 9/11 - Terrence E Adder…
Before 9/11 the only view I had of the New York City skyline was from the top floor of my home in New Jersey. On any day I could look out the window and see the upper 30 floors of the World Trade Center.
When both buildings disappeared from view t…..
September 10th, 2006 at 1:27 pm
If we didn’t know before, we do now: America has no shortage of true heroes.
Wonderful - thank you.
September 10th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
Beth you did an excellent job with your tribute to this hero. My heart breaks again with each tribute I read. Each was an ‘ordinary’ person but through each of these tributes has touched my life in extraordinary ways.
I have a posted a tribute to Edward T. Keane on my blog.
September 10th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
Beth, your Tribute to Lt.Warchola is wonderful. I feel like I have known him for a long time. He will never be forgotten and this Tribute you did is so very special.
September 10th, 2006 at 5:29 pm
That was beautiful, Beth. You brought him to life for me. God Rest his soul.
September 10th, 2006 at 5:40 pm
In Memory of Christopher M. Colastani…
I remember sitting at my desk the morning of September 11, 2001. It was such a nice day. Clear autumn skies, the sun shining brightly through the windows. I had been at work for about a half an hour when the customer calls suddenly stopped……
September 10th, 2006 at 6:02 pm
I’ve been reading the 2,996 tributes, and though I haven’t gotten very far, I must say that this is by far the most touching tribute I’ve read. You’ve done an incredible job, his family and friends would be proud.
September 10th, 2006 at 7:22 pm
Thanks for a very touching tribute
September 10th, 2006 at 7:31 pm
Beautiful. This project has made each person real to me. My tribute became a mission that I needed to accomplish for myself as well as her.
September 10th, 2006 at 8:02 pm
Absolutely breath taking. What a tribute to a wonderful man and hero. Thank you for sharing. I’m honoring the life of John A Hofer
September 10th, 2006 at 9:38 pm
What a beautiful tribute to a true hero. Thank you Beth!
September 10th, 2006 at 10:32 pm
Excellent! You have performed this tribute perfectly Beth. Thanks for letting us meet and know an American hero.
September 10th, 2006 at 10:49 pm
Digna Costanza…
Digna Costanza, often referred to as Sandra was just 25 years old….
September 10th, 2006 at 11:28 pm
Thank you for introducing all of us to Lt. Michael Warchola. So much of what you wrote hurt. Two shifts away from retirement. He stayed to help. Three maydays…. I can understand why this tribute became a mission. I think you can say that you fulfilled your mission.
We should remember. You have helped me to remember better.
Also please remember Laura Gilly.
September 11th, 2006 at 1:43 am
September 11……
9-11… Five years ago today No matter what your political views might be… one thing is for certain. In these days of fast news and even faster life styles, we all seem to have forgotten those moments in history that so abruptly and tragicall…
September 11th, 2006 at 1:48 am
Cotillion remembers……
One day five years ago, 2996 people woke up in the morning, expecting another ordinary day… They didn’t ask to become victims, martyrs or heroes. They were just people, like you and I. But at the end of that……
September 11th, 2006 at 2:07 am
Carnival of Blue Stars #17 - 9-11-2006 Edition…
This special additon of the Carnival of Blue Stars is dedicated to the memories of those who perished in the horrifc attacks on our homeland 5 years ago….
September 11th, 2006 at 3:15 am
You did a fantastic job remembering Lt. Michael Warchola. Project 2996 blessed thousands today. I also had the honor to remember a firefighter. Today I remember Thomas Foley.
September 11th, 2006 at 9:45 am
Neil Dollard — Hoboken, NJ — WTC-1…
Today, on the 5th anniversary of the tragedy of September 11th, 2001, 2,996 bloggers are remembering the victims who died that day. Instead of focusing on the perpetrators we are remembering the individuals who lost their lives that day.
……
September 11th, 2006 at 11:28 am
What a wonderful tribute! It’s so touching to read about their lives adn so special to get to know them. Thank you ~
September 11th, 2006 at 1:49 pm
2996 - Remembering Aram Iskendarian…
I am proud to be a part of The 2996 Project, a blogosphere memorial to every single victim who died that terrible day. Bloggers were randomly linked to a 9-11 hero that they would then memorialize.
I am honored to present my memorial to Aram Iskendari…
September 11th, 2006 at 5:36 pm
I haven’t weeped so much since…well, September 11, 2001.
September 11th, 2006 at 5:44 pm
Oopsss… that’s wept
September 11th, 2006 at 7:37 pm
Thank you for a wonderful tribute. You put a face and heart
to a name.
So many comments from friends and loved ones. He was
truly a remarkable man.
We will never forget.
I remember Lisa Egan
http://ramblingsofamadpiggie.blogspot.com
September 11th, 2006 at 8:28 pm
My 9-11 Struggle…
Sigh. Sad to admit, my sweet friends, but truth be told we all know that memories of epochal events fade with time.
Which tower fell first? Do you recall?
……
September 11th, 2006 at 9:38 pm
Beth, what a beautiful tribute!
You wrote:
“as I researched Lt. Warchola, it became less of a ‘project’ and more of ‘mission’. I found myself fascinated by this ordinary man who did extraodinary things and lived a heroic life.
I found myself wanting to know more about him. Not just facts, but what kind of person he was in life. I wanted to get to know who he was. As I read about him, I found myself not only liking him, but having a great deal of respect and admiration for him.”
I found myself wanting to know the same things about Betty Ong, who I wrote about. Isn’t it sad that we never will be able to meet them?
September 11th, 2006 at 9:38 pm
September 11 Tributes and Links…
Here are some of the countless September 11 Tributes and Links that I found particularly touching or interesting.2,996 Tributes to the Victims. ……
September 11th, 2006 at 9:58 pm
Here is a hero.
Bravo!
September 11th, 2006 at 10:30 pm
2,996 - I Remember Max Beilke, MSG, US Army (Retired)…
This tribute will remain on top until September 15, 2006.
MAX BEILKE
Master Sergeant, US Army (Retired)
VETERAN SERVICE DATES: November 1, 1954 - November 1, 1974
DATE OF BIRTH: July 24, 1932
DATE OF DEATH: September 11, 2001
DATE OF INTERM…
September 12th, 2006 at 12:14 pm
9-11 Numbers?…
6 years, 8 months
Time it took to build the World Trade Center, from 1966 to 1973
1 hour, 42 minutes
Time it took to destroy the towers, from the first impact to the second collapse
……
September 13th, 2006 at 12:53 am
“Lt. Michael Warchola was a hero”. re Yes he was! And a lot of people are missing
him. The tributes this year to those who died on 9/11 that I come across on the Internet have the effect on me, that I understand more in 2006 the tragedy of 9/11 than I did in 2001.
“my inadequate attempt” re What I read tells me you don’t have to worry about it.
September 15th, 2006 at 12:56 pm
Friday Open Post, and 9/11 Round-Up…
Here’s a round-up of reflections on the fifth anniversary of 9/11 from across the Open Trackback Alliance (and elsewhere):…
November 27th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
Always remembered & never forgotten from all Australian Firefighters.
December 13th, 2006 at 9:17 pm
Lt. Warchola attended Stuyvesant High School, which requires the highest admission scores of all the New York City Special High Schools. It isn’t included in the list of 100 best high schools in the nation because it so superior to all the others. Lt. Warchola graduated in 1968 and then went on to college majoring in English and obtaining a teaching certificate. I understand that he taught for several years before becomming a firefighter, always his true love. It’s unusual for a Stuyvesant grad to become a firefighter, but like other SHS grads he rose to the top. Stuyvesant was used a a command post following 911 as it is only 5 blocks from the WTC. How ironic that one of the true heroes of the day was a neighborhood boy. The story of the rookie fireman will remain in my memory. Clearly a gentleman, scholar and humanist of the highest order was lost that day. Rest in Peace my fellow Stuyvesant Pegleg.
September 11th, 2007 at 12:55 am
In Memory of Lt Michael Warchola…
Lt. Michael Warchola was a hero. I’m not just throwing the term ‘hero’ out there because that’s what people are supposed to say about someone who was killed in the horrors of one of the longest days in American history. He real…
September 11th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
some further notes on Michael Warchola: Mike sometimes wondered aloud, about how the dead are soon forgotten. I thought about this after hearing Mayor Bloomberg comment that we might modernize our 9-11 memorials by cutting out the reading of the names of the dead…another note: Mike felt rage when he thought about the unjust death of his dear friend and fellow firefighter. On a wall in his kitchen, he had placed, in an almost shrine-like setting, a large photo of a Captain? Drinnell (sp?), who had been killed in the line of duty fighting a fire in a commercial building. (The building owner had violated fire codes, and the floor had collapsed, killing Drinnell(sp?).) Mike also remained incensed about his beloved mother having had unnecessary radiation fluoroscopes that hastened her death.