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.C., area.They named this support group theDCA after the codename for Washington National Airport.During the five dayswhen the airline industry was shut down, the DCA set up what the flight atten-dants called the DCA Gathering Place at a local hotel in Washington, D.C.Theyrented a room with TV outlets, ordered food, and made sure that the hotel keptaway lawyers and the media.The DCA s first step was to get the word out to flight attendants and pilots ofall the airlines who had been stranded to let them know about the DCA Gather-ing Place.This site became a clearinghouse for stranded flight attendants andpilots needing to contact their families.Members of the DCA also used the placeto mourn the loss of close friends.A call went out to counselors and clergy to helpprovide emotional support.The DCA Gathering Place became a place whereattendants could comfort each other and remember their fallen colleagues.Someof the flight attendants brought their children because they did not want to mournalone.Even some pilots dropped by for help with handling their grief.American Airlines Flight 77 had taken off from Dulles International Airport, soall of the DCA members knew the pilots and crew.They were particularly upset atthe loss of the pilot Charles Chic Burlingame, copilot David Charlebois, and theflight attendants Michelle Heidenberger, Renee May, and the married couple, Kenand Jennifer Lewis.The members of the DCA could envision themselves in a sim-ilar situation, and they were angry that no training had been provided for suicidalhijackers.All of their training had been to be passive with hijackers until authori-ties could handle the situation on the ground.After five days, the airlines started resuming air service, and it appeared that theDCA would terminate activities.On September 15, 2001, DCA flight attendantsgreeted with flowers the arrival of flights at Dulles American Airlines gates.After-ward, the DCA Gathering Place closed, but one of the members suggested thatthe DCA continue its activities in other venues. 82 Department of Design and ConstructionDCA members decided to continue the DCA by having it donate to charityprojects in the names of the flight attendants lost on September 11.The first proj-ect was for a Christmas toy drive in the name of Michelle Heidenberger at theSt.Ann s Home for Unwed Mothers and Abused Children in Baltimore.Heidenberger had served as a volunteer worker at St.Ann s on her off-duty hours,so this annual drive was a natural.A call went out in December 2001 for teddybears, and so many arrived that a truck was needed to carry all the bears.The nextyear, the DCA conducted a similar drive for more toys, a TV, VCR, and DVDplayer with a video library with more than a thousand titles.The next DCA project was honoring the memories of Ken and Jennifer Lewis.They had been such a close-knit couple that the flight attendants had named themKennifer.They had lived in Culpepper, Virginia, so the DCA decided to build aKennifer Memorial Garden in Culpepper.In September 2002 members of theDCA started to build the memorial with the help of hundreds of volunteers.Ittook three days to build the garden.There was a formal ceremony to commemo-rate the garden just before September 11, 2002.It had inscribed on a marble benchthe words KENNIFER: KEN AND JENNIFER LEWIS, SEPTEMBER 11,2001.AA/77. Other projects have also been undertaken.A memorial was established at theWalters Museum in Baltimore, in the memory of Renee May.May had done vol-unteer work there, helping make the building accessible to blind children andsoliciting funds to buy books in braille.Members of the DCA are still looking forways to memorialize other victims on American Airlines Flight 77.See AlsoAmerican Airlines Flight 77; Burlingame, Charles Frank Chic IIISuggested ReadingTom Murphy, Reclaiming the Sky: 9/11 and the Untold Story of the Men and Women WhoKept America Flying (New York: AMACOM, 2007).Department of Design and ConstructionThe Department of Design and Construction (DDC) of New York City had theoverall responsibility for the cleanup of the World Trade Center complex afterSeptember 11.Before September 11, the DDC was an obscure department inNew York City government.Mayor Rudolph Giuliani had created the DDC in1996 to oversee the work of building and repairing the municipal infrastructure.By New York City standards the DDC was a small department, with only 1,300employees.But it had a $3.7 billion design and construction budget.Despite thisbudget, it was so obscure in the city s administrative hierarchy that the departmentwas not even mentioned in the city s official emergency-response plan.What made the DDC unique was that its head, Kenneth Holden, and his chieflieutenant, Michael Burton, took charge of the World Trade Center site immedi-ately after the twin towers collapsed and began directing operations.Withoutauthority and without permission, they began to recruit engineers and scheduleheavy equipment at the site.Holden was familiar with the construction companiesin the New York City area, and he bypassed ordinary bidding procedures toemploy four companies: AMEC, Bovis, Tully, and Turner.He made the decisionbased on personal and corporate reputations.These companies earned immenseprofits in the cleanup, but they were also at risk financially because the companies Department of Design and Construction 83never received adequate insur-Explanation Why the Department of Designance for the job.Holden andand Construction Became So Important afterBurton were so successful inSeptember 11mobilizing resources that MayorGiuliani assigned the DDC toThe agency charged with the managing the physical workoversee operations at the Worldwas an unlikely one.It was the Department of Design andTrade Center complex site
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