Hundreds of blue-collar men and women from the city's Transportation and Environmental Protection departments threw their strength and skills into the valiant rescue effort at Ground Zero.

Members of Locals 376, 924, 983, 1157, 1322 and 1505 were among the workers and volunteers who tore into the rubble with their hands, seeking survivors.

Their agencies assigned some starting Sept. 11. Others repaired roads and water mains by day and went into "the pit" as volunteers every night. "This was our way of fighting back, as union members and as Americans," said Colin Dawson of Local 376.

They worked to exhaustion and returned each day, driven by the hope that they would find signs of life.

Instead they found devastation.

They breathed smoke and dust, balanced on jagged metal and broken glass and glimpsed building sections tottering above. The work was grisly, dangerous and frustrating.

Forming human chains, they excavated debris by hand in five-gallon buckets. DOT drivers transported flatbeds of twisted steel and rubble to the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island, where Local 1505 members and the FBI sifted for clues and human remains.

Other DEP and DOT workers fueled the cranes, hosed down streets, set up wash stations and kept up the water pressure so the Fire Dept. could fight the flames that burned until January.

— D.S.W.