Hero Of September 11th Medal Standing Tall

t 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, mass confusion reigned on Pier 11 in lower Manhattan. Just 20 minutes earlier, the south tower of the World Trade Center had collapsed. The top floors of the north tower were engulfed in flames. All bridges and tunnels to the island were closed to vehicles. Water was the quickest way out.

Thousands of people rushed to the pier, about 10 blocks from the World Trade Center, to climb aboard the ferries, barges and other vessels that had pulled in to offer assistance. It was difficult to see as a cloud of smoke created by the burning tower's collapse wafted over the pier. Although New York City police and other emergency personnel were on hand, no one seemed to be in charge.

That's when Kenneth Concepcion arrived at Pier 11 from his Coast Guard station on Staten Island. He expected a nightmarish scene, but Concepcion was the perfect man to impose calm. Pilots from the private vessels rushing to help with the evacuation and officials from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey knew Concepcion because he headed the U.S. Flag Deepdraft Vessels and Plan Review, which was responsible for setting safety regulations for ships coming into the harbor.

"As soon as I got there I identified myself to the police, transportation officials and the Port Authority," Concepcion recalls. Standing at more than 6 feet tall, he has a commanding presence. Although he wasn't wearing a Coast Guard uniform-after a 12-year career in the service, he was working in a civilian job for the agency-Concepcion quickly brought organization to the chaos.

"When you tower over the crowd and have a deep booming voice, people pay attention," says Cmdr. Daniel Ronan, chief of waterways management in the Coast Guard's New York office. "He is not shy. He is going to go out there and tell people what the plan is."

Concepcion quickly organized people into lines based on where they needed to go. He stayed in constant contact with the command ship floating in the New York harbor, directing boats into the pier's five slips. By roughly 4 p.m., more than 70,000 people had been evacuated from lower Manhattan via Pier 11.

"I just saw that something needed to be done," Concepcion says. "I could see that the boats were jockeying for position. City officials had no radios to communicate with them. They didn't know the pilots. People were rushing to get on any boat they could. . . . If anyone questioned me, I said, 'This is the way it is going to be.'"

After the evacuation, Concepcion turned to getting the port back in operation. During the next two days, he ensured that cargo vessels carrying fuel and other supplies critical to the economy along the East Coast could enter the port.

Concepcion also developed a security plan enabling more than 130 passenger vessels to gain access to the port, allowing commuters to get back to lower Manhattan. He also took the initiative to develop a training program for law enforcement officials who had to board and inspect ships. Few of those people knew the nooks and crannies of the vessels as well as Concepcion. He showed them where potential terrorists could hide and where it was safe to fire a weapon.

Concepcion, 50, is applying those same leadership skills at the Transportation Security Administration, where he is now chief of the new agency's Maritime Branch.

"In the field, you always wonder what the people in headquarters are thinking," he says. "It was time to put up or shut up."