September 11th Through the Eyes of a Responder’s Wife
By Elizabeth M. Rand, wife of PAPD Officer Lawrence “Larry” Rand, Badge No. 628
When people speak about September 11, 2001, they often speak of a single day. As the wife of Port Authority Police Officer Lawrence “Larry” Rand, I know that September 11th was not one day. For the responders and the families who loved them, it became a lifetime.
Larry was assigned to the Port Authority Police Department’s LaGuardia Airport Command. On the morning of September 11th, he was on medical leave for an elbow injury and scheduled for a 10:00 a.m. appointment in Manhattan to complete paperwork for his return to duty. When America was attacked, Larry did what Port Authority police officers were trained—and called—to do. He responded.
Larry arrived at the World Trade Center site shortly after the towers collapsed. He worked there that day and into September 12th, and later returned to the site during the recovery effort. Photographs capture only brief moments of that service: Larry wearing a blue helmet and pink respirator, surrounded by devastation, alongside fellow members of the Port Authority family. What photographs cannot show is what he carried home with him.
September 11th followed Larry for the rest of his life. It lived in the physical illnesses, the post-traumatic stress, the anxiety, the sleepless nights and the memories he could never fully leave behind. It also lived within our family. Like so many spouses, I became his protector, advocate, caregiver and keeper of his story.
Larry died on April 8, 2021. My responsibility to him did not end with his death. I continue fighting to ensure that his service, sacrifice and place in the history of September 11th are never erased simply because his path that morning did not fit neatly onto a roster or into an administrative category.
What I most want current and future Port Authority employees to understand is that the agency’s recovery was made possible by individuals who stepped forward during an unimaginable crisis. Some were officially assigned. Others answered the call because duty was part of who they were. Their contributions cannot be measured only by paperwork, hours or titles.
Behind every responder was a family that also lived through the aftermath. We watched the people we loved change. We cared for them when they became ill. And when they were no longer able to speak for themselves, we became their voices.
Twenty-five years later, “Never Forget” must be more than a phrase. It must mean remembering every life lost, every responder who served, every family that carried the burden and every story still waiting to be fully recognized.
Larry answered the call. I will spend the rest of my life making sure that call—and his service—are never forgotten.
