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Benjamin Luft collection of 9-11 first responders' oral histories

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Series 1: Oral History Interviews, April 9, 2010 through November 4, 2016 (continued)
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1 pdf transcript
Item ID: AFC 2015/048: 282 James Bruinsma oral history interview conducted by Amanda Mancuso, November 18, 2014
James is from Ronkonkoma, where he has always lived. When he was growing up, many people in his community were fire or police department. James didn’t have money for college, so he took the NYPD entrance exam and was hire; he became a homicide detective in 1996. James has several children, one of whom is a junior firefighter with a local department. He wants to be a career firefighter. His family history is interesting—very long line of people in service. The week before 9/11, James had been promoted into a special robbery task force. That morning, he was late to work and heard of the first place crash on the radio—from where he was in his car, he could see a little black mark on the tower. He raced to his precinct, where the lieutenant, who had come in early, prevented the officers from rushing down to the WTC, likely saving their lives. Eventually, he reported to help people across the Brooklyn Bridge and ultimately ended up down at the site. He recalls the “dead, disgusting silence” and not knowing where to begin. James got himself on work rosters and kept returning to the site until Saturday, when orders came down and he was sent to the morgue. The PD wanted their detectives doing detective work, not digging on the pile. James remembered being at the landfill and thinking he had found human remains—but they turned out to be raw chicken from Windows on the World. He remembers finding some bones, shoes, and lots of IDS—he never looked at the names on them. He thinks now of hos stupid it was for the responders to stand around eating free food in the middle of a toxic wasteland. James does feel that the higher-ups tried to “make chicken salad out of chicken shit” when finding remains of first responders; he just wanted to make sure they got the respects they were due. James was a robot during that time, and began drinking to excess to cope with PTSD. He was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin’s in June 2010 and went through chemo and radiation, which ruined his thyroid and precipitated the onset of panic attacks. The combination of prescription anti-anxiety meds and alcohol necessitated his entry into rehab, where he was for 30 days. He checked out on 9/11 of 2013. He is currently in cancer remission, but has many friends who have died. James spoke about the ways in which this has affected his family, his thoughts on post-9/11 politics, and more recent events. He does believe there have been positives to come out of it, but that people are generally more concerned about the cost of gas and war than that people are still dying. He hopes people in the future understand the gravity of 9/11.
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1 mov interview (1:26:25)
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Item ID: AFC 2015/048: 283 John Baner oral history interview conducted by Christina Rodriguez, November 25, 2014
As a third generation police officer, John was proud to wear the same shield number as his father and grandfather before him. He didn’t plan on becoming a police officer but after taking the exam he left St. John’s University where he was studying computer science. After 7 years as a police officer he got married and currently has a 20 year old son and a 17 year old daughter. John, a Detective Sargent, was at work the morning of 9/11 when he received a call from the Bureau of Manhattan requesting his team and him make it to the 1st Precinct, just past Canal Street, because a plane flew into the World Trade Center. When he turned on the TV he thought “it didn’t look that bad, it must have been a small plane.” His team of eleven piled into three unmarked cars. When they got the 1st Precinct, John asked them to remain in the cars as he checked in. John found the building empty because the meeting location was changed to the south side near Battery Park. When he got back to the cars, he found some members of his team arguing before a distress call came in over the radio. The call was asking for someone to call the Pentagon because there is a second plane and we’re under attack. John was in the lead car, approaching the WTC as they headed to the south side, when they saw swarms of people running away. He looked over the dashboard, up at the building tops, and saw what looked like glitter (windows) and toothpicks (steel beams) followed by a massive a cloud of dust as the building was beginning to collapse. Fortunately, the detectives in the cars following him realized and were already gone. The driver backed up the car trying to escape the cloud before it engulfed the car. Once they were safe, John found out the detectives were arguing earlier over who was going to drive. Someone in the back seat was complaining the driver was too slow and he thought they should switch. They didn’t switch before John came out the 1st Precinct. But John can’t help but think, had the two switched they would have made it much closer to the buildings and things would have worked out drastically different. This was by far the closest he had ever been to being killed even when compared to a shootout he was involved with several years back. He says “it’s odd when you think of all the things that happened that could have changed…all the ‘what ifs.’” John and his team were stationed at St. Luke’s hospital for a while and then they made their way to the pile. He remembers hearing the chips from the fire fighters PASS devices and seeing an unbelievable amount of paper. Everything else was unrecognizable. He compared the bucket brigade to taking a bucket of water out of the ocean, but something needed to be done. John continued to describe the system used at the Fresh Kills landfill. At first there was nothing there, but as government and civilian agencies joined together housing was built, port-a-potties, and supplies arrived. Barges would bring over the debris from lower Manhattan and a crane would fill a dump truck. The dump truck would spread the debris across designated football sized field where 20-30 detectives would search through looking for body parts, personal items, and the black boxes from the planes. After this search a bulldozer would push aside the larger pieces and collect the smaller materials. The smaller materials were brought to a sifter which would remove anything smaller than a softball. These materials were then placed on a conveyer belt and searched through one final time. Out of the eleven detectives John supervised, seven have severe health issues, one of which has passed. He says 9/11 is a distant memory for most but the general public doesn’t realize how sick people really are because of their exposure on 9/11 and in the clean-up. He believes 9/11 woke the nation up from the horrible things going on in other parts of the word but we are going back. He hopes that from his story people can learn from the 9/11 and other events going on around the world to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Also, remember those who died heading to work and going on with their daily lives. It could have been anyone.
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1 mov interview (1:17:00)
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Item ID: AFC 2015/048: 284 Joseph Ryder oral history interview conducted by Christina Rodriguez, December 1, 2014
Joe grew up in Brooklyn. He took the Police and Fire tests when his friend Mark got into the NYPD – that made him go for it. His married to his wife Kelly for 20 years and has two children. They moved to Long Island ten years ago, and he is currently an active duty Detective working with COMSTAT data bases at One Police Plaza. On the morning of September 11th, Joe was working at the Brooklyn South Task Force. It was a beautiful crisp morning. They saw on the television that a plane had hit the towers and the Commanding Officer came in and said – suit up, we’re going to go in. Citiwide One was on the radio and they heard another plane hit, “Holy shit, what’s happening?” Joe said the towers looked like two candles burning as they approached. It was very quiet in the van, which was very unlike them. They were diverted en route by someone directing traffic. They heard what they thought was another plane hitting, but it was the first tower crumbling. They were only two blocks away, and they got out of the vans and ran. Joe couldn’t find anyone from this unit – the radios were not working, cell phone were not working. There was four to five inches of ash on the ground around him. He couldn’t get in touch with anyone until he hear the Tribeca Hotel had a land line and then he was finally able to get in touch with his wife. Because his unit had not gone to their original rendezvous location, their dispatcher thought that all of Brooklyn South’s day tour was dead. If they hadn’t been diverted by that random man, they would have been crushed by the falling building. When he finally called his wife, he got goose bumps because she thought he was dead. The site looked like a nuclear holocaust, like something from a Hollywood movie. It was unreal, and Joe said he felt numb – “Totally numb.” It didn’t really hit him until he got home – he lived close to the city so he had a two hour window where he was able to go home – he watched it on the television and saw the plane hit for the first time. His wife and kids were waiting for him – he couldn’t wait to get home and hug his family, “How many people would never be going home?” He doesn’t recall speaking to Kelly about it, but a couple of days after a group of elementary kids came to sing for them and call them heroes. “The ones who died were the heroes, I was just a police officer doing my job.” Joe has vivid recollections for the dust, rubble and fear of the unknown. He remembers hearing Officer Kelly’s final transition on Citiwide One. People “thought they (the cops) could do no wrong. Everyone was proud to be an American, it was not a black/white issue, and finally everyone was just an American.” There was a tremendous amount of patriotism. Joe is bothered that his daughters High School only had a moment of silence in observance of 9/11 and nothing else. It bothers him that she isn’t taught. When asked what he would like future generations to remember, Joe says, “Just never forget.”
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1 mov interview (0:51:43)
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Item ID: AFC 2015/048: 285 Arturo David Guzman oral history interview conducted by Ashlee McGlone, December 1, 2014
Arturo grew up in the Patterson projects in the South Bronx. Had a great childhood. He has an older sister. Arturo and his sister are very close. He was raised in a Hispanic household. Arturo’s father was a custodian and his mom worked at the Cardinal Hayes High School. Her job was to take care of the priests. After high school, Arturo got drafted to play basketball. He first went to the New York City Community College and then he transferred to the Connecticut College for Women. He was one of twenty-five men in an all-girl school. Arturo was an early childhood development major. He began his career by teaching kindergarten. After he graduated the Connecticut College for Women, Arturo received a scholarship to attend the George Williams College and then later went to earn a doctorate at the University of Maryland. Arturo loves to learn and would go back to school in a heartbeat if he had the chance. When he left the University of Maryland he worked at the Wild Cliff Children’s Museum as an interpreter. After this work experience, Arturo went to work for the Catholic school system. He taught first and sixth grade then eighth grade. He later made the jump to high school. On 9/11 he was teaching at the Sacred Heart High School in Yonkers. From the parking lot at the high school there was an unobstructed view of the World Trade Center. He saw the second plane hit. Many of the students’ parents worked at the World Trade. Arturo discusses a story about his niece’s two friends. His niece’s two friends worked at the World Trade Center. They were in the second building that got hit by the second plane. After the first plane hit the tower they called their parents on the phone and their conversation ended abruptly due to the second tower being hit by the other plane. At first, schools didn’t know what to do. After two days the school sent in clinicians. Parents ran in to get their kids out. Most schools shut down for a couple of days in order to get a support system ready for the students. Everyone went to the gym and listened to a priest. Arturo was a chaplain who assisted with disasters. Priests began to do confessions. The school followed through the ritual of the Catholic Church. Arturo believes that the best form of healing was by the students forming peer groups. One student couldn’t get into contact with his father for four to five days. It turned out that the father was in the hospital and suffered severe burns from the events of 9/11. Arturo worked at the armory and then the pier. There was a gunboat that took people to the 9/11 site to see the devastation. They did this in order for family members to understand the tragedy. Anthropologists analyzed the human remains. Arturo went to the site on the first day after school with Red Cross. The Family Assistance Shelter provided people with comfort. Celebrities went there to comfort kids. Disney donated stuffed animals. As a chaplain Arturo debriefed police officers and firemen. In addition, not only did chaplains debrief police officers and firemen, but they also debriefed themselves after their shifts. Arturo first worked at the Family Assistance Shelter then worked at the morgue. Only worked there a month because he couldn’t handle the scene at the morgue. When Arturo worked at the pier his car had to be searched by police officers. Many police officers at the time were former students of Arturo’s. He discussed how sometimes after their shifts ended they would meet with Arturo to clear their minds. Many of the police cadets weren’t ready for the chaotic events of 9/11 and left the police force. Shifts at the Family Assistance area were twenty-four/ seven. There were different types of religious chaplains in order to accommodate everyone who came in that needed relief. The kids were being entertained at the family center while their parents were consulting with workers. Arturo worked with the Salvation Army and other groups. This helped the workers bond with one another. Trinity Church severed as a hospice for firefighters, police officers and others while they were working. There were podiatrists, and massage therapists to help these workers relax. Firehouses began preparing food. Arturo was part of the Red Cross and a member of a disaster response team. While working at the site, Arturo had to keep the clothes he was wearing outside of the house because the clothes had to be washed separately. At Trinity Church, they had little wooden vases that were filled with the soil from the World Trade and these vases were presented to family members. Arturo went down to the morgue on First Avenue. There were fifteen to twenty trailers of unknown personal belongings. Family members and friends brought down photos of items. One of Arturo’s sons also volunteered to help at the hospice. When Arturo returned to the school system after a month at the site he noticed that the students began forming peer groups that met in the cafeteria or the gymnasium before and during school to help cope with the events of 9/11. Students became closer with one another. Today, Arturo’s school discusses the events of September eleventh on every 9/11. After 9/11, Arturo discusses how priests and ministers began to leave the church. Those who left began to question why God let this tragic event occur. Arturo was part of thirteen disaster deployments with the Red Cross. He helped run a food drive on Thanksgiving. Arturo’s primary focus is to help community members. He assisted in setting-up food kitchens, buses, housing and made sure shelters were properly in order. Arturo would like everyone to acknowledge that people from all different backgrounds came together to support others that were in need.
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1 mov interview (1:11:18)
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Item ID: AFC 2015/048: 286 Tara Bianco oral history interview conducted by Christina Rodriguez, December 8, 2014
Tara Bianco is a retired NYPD Officer who began her career as a single mother of two daughters in January 1982. Her father was also a police officer in Nassau County, which is where she grew up and went to private schools. She went to college for Social Work, but life brought her in a different direction. She chose to join the NYPD for the security and benefits and also because she wanted to help people. Tara’s first patrols were in Queens at the 110th, 114th and 115th Precincts as a “Beat Cop” and would eventually be assigned to a Community Affairs task force. She worked closely with the community, forming Neighborhood Watches, and was their liaison to the cops. She was the Captain’s right hand person and had an office in the precinct. On the morning of 9/11, Tara was home. She received a phone call from her friend who told her that “America was under attack”. Tara was in disbelief but then she got the orders to report to work. She packed an overnight bag and drove on the shoulder of the Southern State Parkway all the way to Queens. She made it to the precinct by 11:00 am, and when she arrived, it was just chaos because no one knew anything. It was all so surreal for her and all of the officers kept their eye on the TV for updates. Finally, her Captain briefed them after a meeting he had just attended, and his first statement was, “A lot of people have died.” Tara’s first assignment was to evacuate families from the buildings adjacent to Ground Zero. There were many families who stayed in their homes despite the mounds of dust that had accumulated everywhere. The dust was mixed with water so everyone was walking around in grey sludge. Families didn’t know where to go and fear had kept them inside because their homes were their “safe place”. There were many animals left behind too. NYPD and the Red Cross worked together to find temporary housing and transport families to shelters. After a week, when officials changed the efforts from rescue to recovery, Mayor Giuliani formed a Task Force that would try to give the victim’s families closure. At Pier 94, loved ones would be able to drop off toothbrushes for DNA evidence to help identify the remains. The Task Force was a “Mental Health Team” which included NYPD, NYS Troopers, EMT’s, Clergy, petting dogs, psychologists and volunteers from families of the Oklahoma Bombings. The ferry would bring the families over to Ground Zero three times a day in an effort to try to give them closure. An observation deck was built especially for the families to view the site. Tara would escort them and be there for emotional support. Donated flowers and stuffed animals were available for the families to leave at a designated memorial wall. Afterwards, Tara would present the families with an urn and a folded US flag on behalf of NYC the Mayor. Tara did many things to help her cope through the six weeks that she worked on this Task Force. She would keep a journal for a few weeks and sought psychotherapy immediately. NYPD would also be “debriefed” daily. Tara did feel like she fell into a “black hole” of depression. She had a good support system with her fellow officers and family, especially her father, who is very proud of her. Tara now has a tunnel and bridge phobia and frequently has anxiety and doesn’t feel “safe”. Despite all of this, Tara loved her job because she liked helping people, and feels she did a job that she can be proud of. She is now saddened because she feels that 9/11 has been forgotten, and history tends to repeat itself, so she wants everyone to stay vigilant. She is still a hopeful person, and truly believes that the U.S. is the greatest country in the world.
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1 mov interview (1:12:08)
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Item ID: AFC 2015/048: 287 Anthony Lafemina oral history interview conducted by Anthony Reffi, December 8, 2014
Anthony grew up in Canarsie, Brooklyn NY. Growing up, he was 1 of 6 kids, 2 brothers and 3 sisters. Both of his brothers are both retired FDNY firemen and one of his sisters is a New York State Trooper. Anthony’s father was a retired lieutenant FDNY and his mom was a stay at home mom. Anthony dropped out of school in the 10th grade and his father got him a job with the fire department. He thought about opening up a pizzeria but decided to become a cop after his brother-in-law was killed when an undercover operation went bad when he was a State Trooper. Anthony started working in the Narcotics division and met his wife, who is a court officer, at a nightclub on Long Island while working undercover from 1994-2002. On the morning of 9/11, Anthony was opening up a tattoo shop in Copiague, NY when the news rang out that the planes hit the towers. After 9/11 Newsday (Long Island Newspaper) did a write up on the tattoo shop which helped them stay in business, dealing a lot with the responder clientele. Anthony describes what he was witnessing once he got into Manhattan, being a part of narcotics they just stood around for a while because they’ve never dealt with anything like this type of situation before. He also ran into a neighbor from Long Island that told him both of his brothers that were FDNY firemen were okay, which was a huge relief for him. Anthony stated that the destruction was unbelievable and they didn’t know what the effects would be after the fall out, they were given little paper masks. He was a smoker and even though a few individuals were warning them about the smoke coming up from the Pile, they didn’t think that 10-15 years down the road people would be dealing with the effects of that stuff. He was upset that no one told them what could happen to them after they were done with the clean-up. Especially seeing friends die from 9/11 related cancers; “but those people shouldn’t have to expect to get sick over the actions of… some politics.” Anthony deals with the guilt of still being alive and having a healthy family when there were moms and dads that died in 9/11. Initially, he spent a lot of time at the site (a couple of weeks) and then got bussed to Freshkills Landfill to sift through piles brought in from Ground Zero looking for human remains. He can’t garden his own house without having those memories brought back up. Once retired, Anthony thought that he would start to feel better. Not realizing that the worst was yet to come. Being at home and not being a cop was something he hasn’t thought about for 20 years and the PTSD hit him hard after retirement. He mentions how he understands how drinking has always been a lifeline for cops to self-medicate. He discusses deep depression and how he understands why people commit suicide. Trying to get away from all the noise and light that’s bringing back all these memories. Anthony speaks openly about his mental health, being on medication and how therapy helped transform his life post 9/11. He wants people to take care of each other and their mental health. Take the sigma out of mental health issues and being a cop and making it okay, giving them help for PTSD. In 50 years from now, he hopes that people learn compassion for each other. Help those who need helping and who need money.
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1 mov interview (1:29:21)
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Item ID: AFC 2015/048: 288 Robert Jeffrey Rehm oral history interview conducted by Avalon Mason, December 9, 2014
On the morning of 9/11, Anthony was opening up a tattoo shop in Copiague, NY when the news rang out that the planes hit the towers. After 9/11 Newsday (Long Island Newspaper) did a write up on the tattoo shop which helped them stay in business, dealing a lot with the responder clientele. Anthony describes what he was witnessing once he got into Manhattan, being a part of narcotics they just stood around for a while because they’ve never dealt with anything like this type of situation before. He also ran into a neighbor from Long Island that told him both of his brothers that were FDNY firemen were okay, which was a huge relief for him. Anthony stated that the destruction was unbelievable and they didn’t know what the effects would be after the fall out, they were given little paper masks. He was a smoker and even though a few individuals were warning them about the smoke coming up from the Pile, they didn’t think that 10-15 years down the road people would be dealing with the effects of that stuff. He was upset that no one told them what could happen to them after they were done with the clean-up. Especially seeing friends die from 9/11 related cancers; “but those people shouldn’t have to expect to get sick over the actions of… some politics.”
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1 mov interview (0:51:18)
Item ID: AFC 2015/048: 289 Eugene F. Moynihan, Jr. oral history interview conducted by Ashlee McGlone, December 15, 2014
Anthony deals with the guilt of still being alive and having a healthy family when there were moms and dads that died in 9/11. Initially, he spent a lot of time at the site (a couple of weeks) and then got bussed to Freshkills Landfill to sift through piles brought in from Ground Zero looking for human remains. He can’t garden his own house without having those memories brought back up. Once retired, Anthony thought that he would start to feel better. Not realizing that the worst was yet to come. Being at home and not being a cop was something he hasn’t thought about for 20 years and the PTSD hit him hard after retirement. He mentions how he understands how drinking has always been a lifeline for cops to self-medicate. He discusses deep depression and how he understands why people commit suicide. Trying to get away from all the noise and light that’s bringing back all these memories. Anthony speaks openly about his mental health, being on medication and how therapy helped transform his life post 9/11. He wants people to take care of each other and their mental health. Take the sigma out of mental health issues and being a cop and making it okay, giving them help for PTSD. In 50 years from now, he hopes that people learn compassion for each other. Help those who need helping and who need money.
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1 mov interview (1:10:08)
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Item ID: AFC 2015/048: 290 K.C. Rondello oral history interview conducted by Avalon Mason, December 16, 2014
September 11th 2001, was K.C.’s first day as a physician executive at a hospital in Valley Stream, NY. He was expecting the usual first day ritual of paperwork and Human Resources. Nevertheless, was going to be an exciting day at a new job. On his way in he heard about a small plane hitting the World Trade Center broadcast over the radio and by the time he arrived at the hospital, the second plane had hit. He immediately recognized there would be casualties and he joined some colleagues who were headed into Manhattan. K.C. recalls snapshot pictures of the day that bring back the stories. He vividly remembers the choked lanes of traffic headed east with the pillars of black smoke in the skyline behind them. No one was driving west, towards the city. The car ride was silent and fear was his predominant emotion. He thought to himself “what am I running into that thousands are running from?” At the site K.C. felt as though he was looking at the world through a black and white lens. He saw a vending cart and could visualize the cart vendor in mid-transaction before dropping everything and running north. The images he has of the site are like dull paintings of grey ash. K.C. and his colleagues were sent to Chelsea Piers where they set up a triage center. K.C. says it was a surreal experience. He periodically had to leave to take an emotional break but he would be bombarded with the media waiting outside. As the days passed, there were fewer and fewer injuries. It shifted from a rescue effort to a recovery effort, and he was no longer needed. While working at the Piers, he wrote an email to friends and family to let them know he was okay. He signed off the email by saying he knows life will forever be different. Over a decade later, he believes we are still trying to understand these differences. He says something always happens to keep this experience fresh in his memory. He has triggers like the smell of burning fuel. This interview is one of those triggers but K.C. feels it is worth revisiting the experience for documenting his piece of history. K.C.’s experience with September 11th encouraged him to become more involved with disasters around the world. In 2002, K.C. became a member of DMAT (Disaster Medical Assistance Team), a federal organization that restores medical infrastructure after a disaster. He also co-developed a graduate program in Emergency Management at Adelphi University. Since 9/11, he has responded in a number of disasters both nationally and internationally. Through his experience he has noticed that as a whole we are still reactive to disasters, despite the best of intentions to be proactive. He points to Hurricane Sandy as an example. Hurricane Sandy plunged the same area affected by 9/11 into powerlessness. No electric, no gas, and devastation. He says we have learned some lessons but it is clear that there are many more to learn when it comes to disaster response. K.C. says his continuous response in rescue efforts around the world brings closure to his experience with the attacks on September 11th, 2001. Through his work, he regains the positives from the experience and feels a sense of purpose and reward. He recognizes the value of time and wants to make his time count. He concludes his interview by saying “it is easy to look at the magnitude of a crisis of that nature and feel powerless. But you’re not. You are key in bringing things back together and I can’t have a big impact but together we can accomplish seemingly inhuman things. “
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1 mov interview (1:24:00)
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Item ID: AFC 2015/048: 291 Joseph W. Wellcome oral history interview conducted by Ashlee McGlone, January 15, 2015
Joe is married with three daughters and one son, ranging in ages from 20-32. He was born in Brooklyn and moved to Centereach, Long Island as a child. His father worked at Republic Aviation and his mother was a seamstress; Joe has three brothers. Joe went to community college and then joined the Air Force, but was medically discharged during training due to an adverse reaction to an injection. He returned to college and got a biology degree; after working in pharmaceuticals, he took the civil service exam to become an industrial hygienist and was hired by Health and Safety. In his work, he conducted surveys to determine what harmful substances employees in various fields are exposed to and then make recommendations on what kinds of protective gear they should have. On 9/11, he was on his way to work when he heard about the planes on the radio. Eventually, he was notified to report to the site on Wednesday at 5pm at the request of OSHA. Joe recalls seeing people rollerblading around 14th St. as if nothing had happened, but then once near the site, the area looked like the site of a nuclear war. Joe and his colleagues were stationed at a school and took over the fitting and distribution of respirators for responders, which had been disorganized until that time. There were many obstacles: cartridges for the respirators would be donated, but they’d be the wrong size; City hall told them there was no time to do actual fittings, so they hurried along in their tasks; the fire department didn’t want to wear them. He recalls that if the fire chiefs wore them, the rest of the squads would, and that cops tended to be more compliant, but that they couldn’t force anyone to adhere. Joe remembers that a Salvation Army captain asked how he could help—Joe told him they needed more donated respirators, and later he saw an announcement about it on the news. He remarked that when the Salvation Army and Red Cross got together, they made a huge tent that people referred to as the Taj Mahal. Joe showed many young RC volunteers how to do fit check on the masks. He remembers being upset at responders who discarded their masks, or others who would poke a hole in theirs so they could smoke a cigarette while still technically wearing it. There were tensions between NYS Dept. of Labor and OSHA during all this. Joe wasn’t able to get credentials to test for harmful matter until October, but he did eventually take air samples. Some other details: there was a huge rat problem in the area, and Joe remembered one firefighter suggesting that they put GPS on the rats as a means of finding human remains; eventually NYC hotels put up many of the responders, which made things a little easier; he remembers seeing clothes caught in fences. He tried to stay busy because it kept him from having time to think about what was going on. He would find himself looking at the families searching for loved ones and wondering what their last conversation had been. Joe believes that sheltering in place was the wrong decision, and that so many more people could have been saved if not for that. Joe worried about the dangers, especially because he had more knowledge about the environmental hazards; he does have the 9/11 cough and worries about further health issues. Joe still worries about terrorist attacks, especially with recent world events.
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Item ID: AFC 2015/048: 292 Donny M. Edwards oral history interview conducted by Christina Rodriguez, January 21, 2015
Donny has lived on Long Island his entire life growing up and currently living in the town of West Islip. After graduating college in 1976 he joined the Army as a Military Police officer and was stationed in San Francisco, CA for 2 years and West Berlin, Germany for 2 years. Donny saw East Germany when the Berlin wall was still standing and seeing life behind the Iron Curtain made him thankful to be an American. While he was active for 4 years, reservist for 8 years, he was able to see the world, visiting Jordan and Egypt in 1986. In 1981 he was ready to serve his country by becoming a New York City Police Officer and took the test. Due to his active service in the military, Donny was seen as a desirable candidate and was on the force within a year. Donny was married to his wife while he was still enlisted in the service, when he decided to become an NYPD officer, she wasn’t thrilled about it but since her father was an officer, she supported him and his decision. They have one son together who was born in 1987 who later joined the military, being deployed to Afghanistan twice, fighting the war against terrorism. The day of 9/11, Donny was scheduled to work 8AM-4PM shift, he remembers what a beautiful day it was, not a cloud in the sky. While out on patrol they could hear over the radio that the task force was being mobilized to head downtown. His partner and him drove over to the FDR and looked downtown, they were able to see the entire top of Tower 1 on fire. They were called back to the station house where they had emergency operations starting to be set up. While they were all getting ready to head back out, they watched the second plane hit Tower 2 and it was at that moment Donny knew they were under attack. They were sent back over to the FDR were they were tasked on diverting traffic and not allowing anyone downtown. Local news stations set up their mobile vehicles in the intersection they were working on so they were able to go into the vans and watch what was happening downtown and saw the buildings fall. Shortly after Donny remembers an eerie sight, watching thousands of people walking up the FDR in silence, coming from downtown. Some of the people were covered in dust but they were all walking towards the 59th Street Bridge to try and get off Manhattan. They were relieved of their security duty by Highway Patrol and were reassigned to convoy duty, escorting Emergency response equipment from Queens Mid-Town tunnel to downtown. They went back and forth, escorting vehicles, until 10-11PM and were told they were being put on 12 hour shifts, AM or PM. For the first 3 days, Donny slept in the city, anywhere he could find. He was assigned to help with the bucket brigade and remembers walking into Ground Zero, they were ankle to calf deep in dust and paper. “Amazon sized rain forest of paper.” They saw no office debris, no chairs, tables, fax machines, everything was crushed and vaporized. They searched the buildings for remains and plane parts, noticing an office door that took off the tops of cars because the force was that strong. Donny was moved over to Morgue detail, having to collect body parts, bag then tag the remains, delivering them to the morgue. He only worked there for 3 days and noticed how the bags continuously got smaller until it would be a bucket with flesh in it. Donny was mad and frustrated during the whole process of 9/11 and the days after. Working at Ground Zero until December of 2001, going back to regular shifts at the prescient. Prior to 9/11 he was living in the bubble like everyone else living a great life and then everything changed. He has become more vigilant, re-enforcing the capabilities of people in the world today. Always expect the unexpected. Police works prepares you for the worst but nothing can prepare you to deal with people vanishing into thin air. As a police officer you put your head down and deal with the feelings later. Though he had a hard time sleeping, Donny is not letting this become his life, it was a part of his life.
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Item ID: AFC 2015/048: 293 Michael Giovannelli oral history interview conducted by Ashlee McGlone, January 22, 2015
Mike grew up as an only child in Brooklyn. He married and moved to Long Island in 1983. He has four children, two biological and two adopted. He says he enjoyed moving to the suburbs and buying is first lawn mower and being able to have many pets. On September 11th, Mike was at work in the city when his wife told him that a plane had hit the Twin Towers. He recalls traffic was crazy while he was trying to get home, and he looked back and saw that the towers were gone. The next day Mike reported to work, but the job site was shut down. He felt that he had to go and help at the disaster site, and a few of them took a golf cart down to see what they could do. He describes the heart wrenching debris littering Vesey Street – wallets and personal items which they gathered and gave to the police. The site was still being doused with water and there was smoke everywhere. He stayed until 7:00 that evening, attempting to shovel out Vesey Street. Mike went back that weekend to volunteer as a surveyor. He describes in detail the scene which created the optical illusion that the buildings were leaning, and he and his crew were able to give the ‘ok’ that the surrounding buildings were safe to enter to look for bodies. He feels that this experience has made him a different person. Mike states that he can overcome problems now by using this changed perspective, and that he has a new appreciation for life and the quality of his life. Mike has a great deal of pride in the fact that he worked on the new Trade Center. He laid the floors and on the 30th to 90th floors and also laid out the new reflecting pools. But, he finds it distressing that people are beginning to forget and the event is becoming just another part in the history books. When asked what he would like future generations to remember, he states that everyone must help. “If you can help, help. If you can make a difference, then make a difference.”
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Item ID: AFC 2015/048: 294 Chris Edwards oral history interview conducted by Christina Rodriguez, February 18, 2015
Chris was born in Brooklyn and moved upstate to Monroe, NY at the age of five. He has six children and is currently retired from FDNY. The spring and summer prior to September 11th were tough ones for him. Chris recalls the two line of duty deaths the FDNY suffered, as well as his own ongoing struggles with knee reconstruction surgery that was fraught with complications and infections. He was at the medical center for a checkup when he learned the first tower had been hit, and immediately left to respond. Being a firefighter and knowing how the FDNY worked, Chris was very aware that he would lose friends and coworkers who were in the buildings. The situation was quickly becoming overwhelming, and when he arrived at his firehouse everyone seemed in shock but ready to do something. There was a computer generated list of about 500 names that were listed as missing in action – this made him feel empty; it didn’t seem possible that so many could be missing already. Chris recalls the many hours he spent on the bucket brigade, trying to be as respectful as possible when remains were found and yet being hampered by the sheer volume of debris, fire and smoke. The heat was coming up through the beams heating up his boots, and the smell was terrible. He was issued a dust mask to wear and he knew he was in trouble when he saw a bus of workers who came to clean up the inside of the phone building in complete hazmat gear. “And I’m here in a t-shirt and a painters mask on the pile.” After about two and a half weeks, cranes, dump trucks and back hoes started coming in. Chris remembers sitting on a beam and crying because he realized than that there were no survivors and that his self-imposed mission was done – “There was no one left to find.” He speaks of the hope that so many responders had that someone would be found alive. Chris was compelled to attend as many funerals and memorials as he could, and went to more than 50 funerals – sometimes four in one day. One funeral that remains very clear in his memory was for a co-workers son and son-in-law who died together in the towers. Forced into retirement because of a heart issue, Chris began going to church daily and writing in a notebook every morning. This was his routine for two and a half years, and he believes that his faith in God got him through this tough time. During his retirement, he volunteered with the Red Cross and responded to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He feels that volunteering has brought him back to life and has given him renewed hope. “It’s all about giving back.” He had a very personal, spiritual journey which brings him back full circle to 9/11. When asked what he would like future generations to remember, he states to never give up; it doesn’t matter how hard it gets, never give up and always have hope. Make a positive difference in someone’s life.
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Item ID: AFC 2015/048: 295 Lorraine Giordano oral history interview conducted by Avalon Mason, February 25, 2015
Lorraine has lived on Long Island all her life. She comes from a close Italian family and has two nephews and one great-nephew. The boys were teenagers on September 11th so she never really spoke to them about it, although she recalls the great impact it has on the family and the whole community – from the constant television coverage to the oddly silent skies. On the morning of the disaster, Lorraine was at work. A chef came in to tell her the towers had been hit, but she ignored him. Once she saw it on TV, she began to make phone calls to see how they could help. They partnered with the Red Cross to help feed the rescue workers, and with the help of Whitson’s Food Service all preparations were made overnight and they were able to go to the site the next day. Lorraine remembers the drive in being very emotional. They were excited to be going – to help and make a difference – but once they were there and saw the people, it was very sad. The total devastation was surreal. She felt unnerved, but pushed her feelings and emotions aside and got to work. The prep area for the food was in a nearby school, so she would travel back and forth. It was exhausting work, but after a while she didn’t think about it. Anything they could find with wheels was used to transport the food – push carts, baby carriages, even a convection oven that was on wheels. Lorraine began using the time in the truck to have a quiet moment, to close her eyes and cry. She remembers trying to lighten the mood for the responders as she watched their enthusiasm for the task dip – she would say things like, “Come on, who wants a belly-bomb burger from White Castle?” People always wanted simple food – hamburgers, peanut butter and jelly – fast, good, eat-and-go food. She remembers having to turn away donated food that was too elaborate since no one would eat it. When you work in hospitality, Lorraine states, you want to impact people on a positive level. Sometimes it takes a crisis to bring out the best in people, but “things slip back and become disgruntled again.” When asked what she would like future generations to remember, she says that these New Yorkers were amazing – people coming to help, walking in while everyone else was running out. She would like people to remember how “we came together, a gallant effort to find survivors” and that everyone had a common goal to work together as a team. “Such loss should never be forgotten.”
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Item ID: AFC 2015/048: 296 Alan Lebow oral history interview conducted by Ashlee McGlone, February 27, 2015
The responder was a freelance videographer who came to the WTC site in order to document the goings-on there so they would not be forgotten. He lost his sister and her son in a Soviet misfire on a commercial airliner in 1983, and has searched tirelessly for them as he believes they may have survived the crash and were simply never returned home. Nonetheless, he understands the loss many victims of 9/11 families experienced. He came to the site a day after the attack, and began capturing images of the rescue and recovery efforts there. He says that at least initially he was treated with extreme hostility by the first responders despite having the right permits to film at the site. They saw him as a voyeur looking to make a buck off the evident suffering all over the site. They wouldn’t let him near them for awhile, and he had to capture a fireman’s body being recovered and memorialized with a zoom lens because otherwise the firemen would have driven him off. He feels that he served as important a role as the responders themselves—that someone had to document the horror at the site for future generations to vicariously examine and learn from. He says that while he was there he felt a sense of emotional distance from what he was seeing, and that he was just there to document it. He even brought his young daughter to the site to help him take pictures, and comments that her naïve eye captured some of the most stunning images he’s ever seen from the site. To him: “There’s a strange beauty in horror.” Since then he feels that what he saw has come home to roost though, he has had nightmares about the scene. Despite his initial dispassion, he feels that whatever mechanism that helped him hold off his emotions has since weakened. He now feels that rapes, murder, robbery all are extensions of terrorism—using power to frighten and oppress people. He also feels that despite the effort to remember, the event will eventually be forgotten to the mists of time.
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Item ID: AFC 2015/048: 297 Thomas Dugan oral history interview conducted by Avalon Mason, March 2, 2015
Thomas Dugan is a NYPD Patrol Officer in Far Rockaway, Queens at the 101st Precinct and has been since 8/31/1998. He grew up in Malverne in Nassau County and is third generation NYPD. Thomas grew up always being a part of NYPD and being a part of that circle, participating in parades and various events that it was just a normal decision to become a police officer. Thomas got married while he was still in the Police Academy and has three children, who are now teenagers. On 9/10/01, Thomas was working the 6pm-2am shift and didn’t get home until 5:30am on the day of 9/11. He went right to bed after his shift. His wife had gone to work and the children went to day care. At 9:00am, his wife called him from work and woke him up. She told him to put on the TV. His first response was, “Really? You woke me up to watch TV?” It was the footage of the burning towers and then the plane strike. Initially he thought it was a freak accident, but when the second plane struck he knew it was an attack, and he immediately headed back to work. He was amazed at how the Southern State Parkway was empty. He showed his badge out his car window to Nassau County PD who waived him on, all the way through to his precinct. When he got to Peninsula Blvd he was able to see the plume of smoke and noticed how the Manhattan skyline was now changed forever. Thomas’s first assignment was to guard the Wall Street Bull because there was a bomb threat against it. He also had to do security patrol at the Bowling Green (park in lower Manhattan) and direct traffic on the Westside Hwy. His muster point was Battery Park. They asked for volunteers to help on The Pile and he did volunteer to so. That was short lived after he saw his first body part. His most vivid memories of the day after the attacks are the hip-high pile of women’s shoes, the ankle deep layer of gray dust that looked like “the landscape of the moon” and the terrible burnt smell and taste of chemicals, burnt bodies and debris. Until this day, Thomas cannot handle the smell of burnt meat because it reminds him of 9/11. He would cough up balls of black dust and phlegm. It was also heartbreaking for him when relatives would come up to him with the Missing Person photo and was asked if he had seen them. He would always have to reply, “No”. On the lighter side, Thomas did get to meet celebrity volunteers: Loretta Swift and Susan Sarandon, who served him meals. He also had the opportunity to eat dinner on the fancy boat, Spirit of NY. He also remembers a Red Cross volunteer insisting on changing into clean socks and giving him and his unit brand new socks to change into. Thomas attributes his family being the reason why he is able to be grounded, just knowing that he had a family and a stable place to go home anchored him mentally. He continues to have bronchitis/asthma problems that he uses medication to control, but doesn’t regret his time spent at Ground Zero. He would do it again if he had to, and did assist in consecutive disasters: Flight 587 over the Rockaways, Steam pipe explosion in Manhattan and Hurricane Sandy. Thomas wishes that we would have rid the world of Al-Qaeda when we could have, and believes we didn’t pay attention to the warning signs. He also thinks we are still not paying attention because when terrorists say “Death to America”, they mean what they say. He feels like a shepherd to a flock of sheep. The wolves are circling the innocent sheep waiting to devour them. The wolves are just waiting for the chance to attack. He is hoping that those in positions above him are paying attention and being a good shepherd. Thomas’s message to the future is “Don’t ever forget”. He encourages everyone to never stop talking about 9/11 and to visit the Memorial. He also thought this Oral History project was a good idea. Thomas does not consider himself a hero; he was just doing his job, and did what he needed to do to help.
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Item ID: AFC 2015/048: 298 Stephen R. Ferrara oral history interview conducted by Christina Rodriguez, March 2, 2015
The responder is a detective with the NYPD who was present for the first day in the debris of the twin towers. He describes his background with the police department as a detective and investigator in the narcotic division. He was mobilized, along with the rest of his division, immediately following the attack. He relates that though they were sent to the WTC site to muster, they were not given standing orders for what to do when they arrived at the site, nor did they receive any orders for some time afterwards. Consequently, they did whatever they felt was useful, which predominately seems to have been search and rescue and clearing the top layer of ash in bucket brigades. He describes the initial response as frantic, as responders were hoping to find survivors trapped in the rubble; unfortunately, there were very few and the effort moved into a more mechanized and slower-paced effort after 1-2 weeks. He feels the site was extremely unsafe, citing that he was unwilling to eat the food for fear of it being contaminated, and that there was initially very little actual safety equipment for people digging through the rubble. He was transferred to the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island after several weeks at ground zero, where he and other detectives sifted through debris from ground zero for human remains and personal effects. He describes the total absence of life and in the landfill, where the best they could hope for was to find confirmation of death for the families of the deceased. He considered the site unpleasant in the extreme, even having been around bodies before in the course of his occupation. He left the site in late October in order to be present at home for the birth of his first child. He feels that recovery from the event has not been completed, and may never be. He also fears that a major terrorist attack is not only likely, but inevitable. He holds out some hope that with increased communication between federal and local agencies that the next time could be averted, or at least ameliorated by vigilant law enforcement.
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Item ID: AFC 2015/048: 299 William R. Menendez oral history interview conducted by Ashlee McGlone, March 6, 2015
Bill grew up in East Rockaway and has five brothers and one sister. He retired from the NYPD after 20 years of service, and is currently completing his Bachelor’s degree in Human Services. He is divorced with three children. Bill started his career with the NYPD in the Housing division. He was a patrolman in the south Bronx, which he found to be shocking after growing up on Long Island. He was promoted to detective after four years and transferred to Manhattan. In 1995, he moved to the Crime Scene Unit. On September 11th, he was working a 7:00AM to 3:00PM tour and was waiting to go to court. Dispatch said that the tower had been hit, and they began getting supplies together and loading the cars to leave. Because he was the ‘extra’ man on the shift – due to his court date – he went to pick up the Inspector. The first tower came down, and the tunnel was clogged with cars, dust and debris. It took a while to get the tunnel cleared, and by then the second tower had fallen. If they hadn’t been stuck on the other side of the tunnel, Bill states that they would have been right at the foot of the towers, since the inspector was the Commanding Officer of his team. The Crime Scene Unit was involved with search and rescue, although Bill didn’t see anyone come out alive. They were working side by side with FDNY, police officers and construction workers. Eventually it turned into a recovery effort, and the detectives began documenting and collecting evidence. As workers found evidence or body parts, he would photograph it, try and identify what it was, and tag it. Eventually the Medical Examiner came to work with them, and it became much easier to identify the body parts. Everything was kept in refrigerated trailers. They began a four day rotation: one day at the site, one with the Medical Examiner, one at the Staten Island Land Fill, and one day working their own crime scene case load. This routine was followed for the next three months; Bill was approaching his 20 year anniversary and began to think about retirement. Then, a plane crashed in the Rockaways and this pushed him to fill out his paperwork to retire. Working again with the Medical Examiner and the FBI took its toll, and Bill felt “overloaded with dead people.” Bill is unable to pull anything positive from his experience with the 9/11 disaster. He states that people don’t understand it, that they look at the memorials and don’t get it. He avoids watching the shows that come on the television every anniversary, and doesn’t speak about it. In February of 2002, Bill started getting sick. He was coughing, had frequent bloody noses and sinus issues despite the fact that he wore a respirator. He feels he has no serious issues yet, but symptoms of what is to come. He has asthma and borderline COPD.
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Item ID: AFC 2015/048: 300 Garry Pazmann oral history interview conducted by Anthony Reffi, March 16, 2015
On 9/11/01, the responder was a retired NYFD firefighter enrolled in the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART). He was called to the scene on the day of the attack, and his duties included transport to and from the site, as well as digging through the debris as part of the rescue/recovery effort. He worked at the site for three months. After his time at the site, he developed respiratory infections in both lungs due to inhalation of particulate bird feces from the collapsed buildings, which has left him less vital than before his involvement at the site. He also stresses the importance he places on volunteerism, and that he intends to continue working as a volunteer firefighter for as long as he is able. He encourages future generations to try and avoid the conflict which made 9/11 possible, and work together towards a more cooperative future for humankind.
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