Shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the National Liberty Museum in Old City mounted a photo exhibition dedicated to the 343 New York firefighters who died that day.
Fifty thousand people a year tour "Those Who Answered the Call," and 31/2 years later, one eagle-eyed visitor recently made a startling discovery:
One of the dead men wasn't.
New York firefighter Steve Olson of Ladder 3 died in the World Trade Center attack.
But the photo was of Steve Olsen of Ladder 1, who rushed into the flaming North Tower and escaped just before it collapsed.
Who'd guess there would be two Steven Olsons/Olsens working on ladder companies a mile and a half apart in Lower Manhattan?
It was a former neighbor of Olsen's, visiting from Long Island, who noticed the photo and filled out a comment card. Museum officials dug online and compared photos of both. They quickly pulled Olsen's photo off the wall.
The museum's Amanda Hall says the exhibit designer got the photos from the New York Times, which had published a series of photos and short profiles of victims. The Times' Catherine Mathis says the newspaper used the wrong picture from the Fire Department of New York, and plans to publish a correction. The FDNY says it's sending a correct photo to the museum.
"I'm dead all over the place," says Olsen, 38, in a phone chat Thursday. "Lots of friends saw my picture and thought it was me. Somebody I know even opened his wallet and took out my obit."
