Heroic stories about firefighters, police and emergency medical technicians on Sept. 11, 2001, have become part of the lore of that terrible day. Not so well known are the tales of extraordinary bravery by the ironworkers who also sped to Ground Zero that day to try to rescue people. In the days following, rescue turned to recovery. Recovery turned to site clearing and for more than eight months, members of Local 40 of the Ironworkers Union were on the front lines at the smoldering 16-acre site where the Twin Towers had stood. Now a Chicago-based documentary filmmaker has recorded the story in Metal of Honor—the Untold Story of the Ironworkers of 9/11 stunning piece of work. The 90-minute film will air on Spike TV Tuesday Sept. 5 at 9:00 pm ET/PT. It is compelling.

Rachel Maguire, an award-winning journalist/filmmaker, covered the World Trade Center bombing in 1993. One of her sources on that story was Tom McHale, a New York-New Jersey Port Authority cop and iron worker. McHale also works with an FBI anti-terrorism task force. After 9/11, "I called him to see how things were going," Maguire says. "He told me that the police and firefighters were all over the news, and rightly so. But no one was telling the story of the ironworkers and what they were doing at the site. I realized that this was a story worth telling, if I could get it." McHale hooked her up with Bob Walsh, Local 40's business manager in New York City. He in turn gave her entry to a tight fraternity that had done extraordinary things on the pile and in the pit.

In the spring of 2005, Maguire met with members of the local and filmed interviews of them and their families. The interviews are interspersed with archival footage from the collapse, immediate aftermath and the months of demolition work that followed. The result is a powerful document that recounts the patriotism, commitment, courage and brotherhood of the ironworkers at Ground Zero.

Maguire is a sure-handed storyteller. Lesley Kubistal's crisp editing and a strong score by Michael Bacon (actor-musician Kevin's brother) keep the story moving along at a nice pace, with the appropriate tone. But the real stars are eight members of Local 40 that tell the story in their own words. They include Tom McHale, the PA cop/Ironworker who never lost his street smarts from his boyhood neighborhood in Brooklyn's Bay Ridge. When FEMA showed up with its typical bureaucratic ineptitude, saying that protective shoes and gloves were available only for uniformed personnel, McHale engineered a quick work-around. He got sizes from PA cops and matched them to the ironworkers who were actually onsite. After Ground Zero he pulled anti-terrorism duty in Afghanistan and Pakistan. "We found Bin Laden's chemical weapons lab," he says. At Ground Zero he had the honor of cutting the last beam.

Harris

For Tommy Harris, an ironworker since 1981, there was no question of where to go when the towers came down. "That's our steel," he said. We put it up. We should be the ones to take it down." He's working on a book of photographs he took at the site. "They said it was a crime scene and they confiscated cameras every day," he says with an impish grin. "But they never took my little camera."

"We wanted to show our union pride," said Dennis Telford Jr. "We wanted to do something to help. It wasn't about the money." Still in his 20s at the time, he was an apprentice at the site, but soon gravitated to the toughest tasks. "He was a young guy, but he showed no fear," says Larry Keating, a foreman, who put Telford on his crew and took him under his wing. Both men preferred working the night shift, when dignitaries and celebrities weren't around. "We got more done," says Keating. "We'd come to work in the evening and some guy would say Hey, Jack Nicholson was here today, sitting at the crane controls.' And I'd think, Well, you didn't get anything done," Another time, he said, a well-known NASCAR driver showed up with a date in tow. "She was beautiful," Keating says. "She was running all over, posing for pictures, laughing and carrying on." Keating walked up to the driver, tapped him on the shoulder and quietly said, "You might tell her that we were removing remains from here yesterday.

The work was grueling—12-hour days, seven days a week. Home to crash, then back to the site. It took 200,000 tons of steel to build the towers. The cleanup reclaimed 190,000 tons, according to a graphic in the film. They're paying the price, too: Maguire says that over half the workers at the site that have been screened have long-term health problems. For Jim Gaffney, "My only regret is that we're not building them back 10 feet higher than they were. Otherwise, I feel like [the terrorists] won. We should build it back."

"Build it bigger, build it stronger," says Keating.

"I don't think people really understand the impact that the ironworkers had down there," says Warren Allen, another foreman at the site." That perception should change for the people that see Metal of Honor— the Untold Story of the Ironworkers of 9/11.

As McHale stood in the cherrypicker to cut down the last beam standing 8 months after the towers fell, a cry went up at the site to bring the ironworkers to the front. Five years later, Rachel Maguire's film has done that.

The DVD became available today. People can purchase by going to www.najaproductions.com. Click on DVDs and there will be a button to "Buy Now" through Paypal.

Tom McHale grew up in Jersey City, N.J. not Bay Ridge Brooklyn. I went to school with him at St. Aloysius H.S.

As the daughter of an ironworker, I must say that this show made me proud.

It was with great honor that we watched Metal of Honor. My other half is an Ironworker with Local 14 (out of Spokane Wa) here in Pasco Wa. You never need to look further than any Ironworkers Local to find a true Brotherhood of people that trust eachother enough to lay their lives in eachothers hands on a daily basis. It is more than true that you didnt hear a single word about our Ironworkers on or after 9/11, but thats okay. That wasnt what they were there for. Metal of Honor was a passionate tribute to some real heros.

These men make me PROUD to be an ironworker.

Rachel Maguire and all involved did a wonderful job showing the brotherhood of the Ironworker. As a fellow Ironworker it shows the courage the brotherhood has. Even the Ironworkers that werent there in person were there in heart. I will be one of the brothers standing in line when Mr. Harris publishes his book.

Thanks to all the brothers that were there. I hope one day I get to personally thank them!

My hats off to all the Ironworkers who contributed to the rescue, recovery and clean up efforts of 9-11. Metal of Honor -- the Untold Story of the Ironworkers of 9/11 recently aired locally and its hard to find words of expression. It was very sad to re-live that day but on the other hand uplifting to see so many Americans working together for the same efforts throwing their concerns behind them. I'm sure there are other agencies and workers that assisted in the clean up efforts that we still are not aware of. As we lay our head down to sleep, wake to start the day and search for engergy to complete our day we need to pray and remember all of the "Untold Stories" and the effots of those individuals who particapated in the clean up efforts.

The three things a fire needs are fuel, heat and oxygen. The initial explosions provided the first two and one of the ironworkers in the film mentions that workers on the pile were constantly finding air pockets in the weeks after the attack, so there was ample oxygen to keep the fires burning. Business Week has an excellent account of how surviving members of brokerage firm Cantor Fitzgerald have dealt with the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and the aftermath. David Kravette remembers how he lived because a customer had forgotten his photo ID and Kravette needed to clear him through lobby security. He had considered sending his secretary but decided to go himself because she was seven and a half months pregnant. After the initial explosion, he saw an elevator free-fall to the ground and a fireball of jet fuel rage through the lobby straight at him before "it just stopped and sucked back in on itself." Kravette's recollection indicates that flames reached the lower levels of the tower immediately after the explosion.

I would like to know what your explanation would be for the smoltering hot steel found levels below ground of the WTC weeks after it fell?

Last night I watched the airing of "Metal of Honor" and was struck by the dedication, bravery, and selfless work the Ironworkers performed...with no thought of medals, honors, special recognition etc. I am so glad your story has been told; as I had no idea what an integral part you all played in the aftermath of 9/11. I have the highest respect for ALL ironworkers and the incredibly dangerous jobs you perform each and every day. You are all truly brave Americans and I send my sincere Thank You to all members of Ironworkers Union Local 40...you are all heros to me!!

I saw the documentary tonight. I was moved by the courage, the caring and the tanacity of the men who moved the WTC wreckage. Rightfully the NYPD, FDNY and even Port Authority were priaised for their work and bravery. Now I know how the Iron Workers are owed so much of our gratitude as a nation for their massive contribution. After seeing this program and their work, I'm proud to be an American, a New Yorker along with them. Simply put, the Iron Workers are good men who performed an honorable service to our country and to those poor individuals who died on that site. God speed to all of you.