Hard hat worn by Lt. Mickey Kross

2001

Place madeNew York, United States, North America

Plastic, paint, adhesive decals

Overall: 7 x 11 1/2 x 9 in. ( 17.8 x 29.2 x 22.9 cm )

Gift of Debora Jackson

2003.65

Lt. Mickey Kross, a firefighter with Engine 16, was one of the few to be rescued alive from the rubble at Ground Zero after being trapped for hours. After receiving the call to head to the World Trade Center at 8:50 am, Kross reported to the fire command in the North Tower Lobby before making his way up the building. After just reaching the third floor of the North Tower, Kross began hearing the tower groan before it fell with him and many others in it. “It was just a tremendous roar….it sounded like it was coming towards you. And then the wind, a very, very fierce wind. It started lifting me up off the ground. The next thing I knew, I just crouched down, I got to the corner of the staircase by the railing and I just got as small as I could get.…I tried to crawl into my fire helmet, that’s what I wanted to do, just to protect myself,” Kross recounts. In the months that followed, he wore this hard hat with stickers while working to clear Ground Zero.

DescriptionRed plastic hard hat covered with stickers, inscribed in white paint on sides "LT. KROSS"

ClassificationsSEPTEMBER 11, 2001 TERRORIST ATTACKS

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