story1522.xml
Title
story1522.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-08-28
911DA Story: Story
I am a television cameraman in Washington, DC. After the Pentagon was hit I called one of my news clients and went to work for them. They sent me to New York with a reporter and producer that night to cover the story first hand. We were working from the shores of the Hudson in New Jersey as Manhattan was closed when we got there. It was dark when we arrived that night and only got a few hours of sleep before we had to go to work for the morning news. It was before sunrise when we went on the air but as the sun slowly lit the sky we began to see the relentless plume of smoke rising from the ruins. By the second day we began to wonder how long it would take for the lives and souls of these people to burn.
On thursday I went into the city on a train to cover the aftermath first hand. We started at the Javis Center where FEMA was head quartered. There were thousands of people lined up around the block to volunteer. Others were bringing food and water for them. Inside we saw all kinds of heavy equipment and rescue gear. There were also exhausted firefighters and EMTs sleeping on the floor. Even the rescue dogs looked spent. One of the most stark images were the concrete saws covered in dust after cutting victims from their tombs. We then went as close to Ground Zero as possible. All of lower Manhattan smelled of a bad electrical fire. People were wearing maskes to filter it. One of our other crews went to the church where people were filling out missing persons reports. They were climbing over each other to show a picture of a lost relative on camera in hopes that they had survived. One woman broke down as she was being interviewed. Walls all over the city were lined with pictures of the missing.
After four days we had to return to Washington. One of our satellite trucks had a spot 6 blocks from Ground Zero. We left there at 6:30 pm Saturday. By 1:30 am Sunday we were driving by the Pentagon, the first any of us had seen the building first hand. We had seen both sites in the same day.
The images are horrific and will stay with me forever. I will also remember how the people of New York and Washington came together to help in any way they could. Just when something happens to make you wonder what evil exists in the world, the everyday heroes remind you of what we are capable of.
On thursday I went into the city on a train to cover the aftermath first hand. We started at the Javis Center where FEMA was head quartered. There were thousands of people lined up around the block to volunteer. Others were bringing food and water for them. Inside we saw all kinds of heavy equipment and rescue gear. There were also exhausted firefighters and EMTs sleeping on the floor. Even the rescue dogs looked spent. One of the most stark images were the concrete saws covered in dust after cutting victims from their tombs. We then went as close to Ground Zero as possible. All of lower Manhattan smelled of a bad electrical fire. People were wearing maskes to filter it. One of our other crews went to the church where people were filling out missing persons reports. They were climbing over each other to show a picture of a lost relative on camera in hopes that they had survived. One woman broke down as she was being interviewed. Walls all over the city were lined with pictures of the missing.
After four days we had to return to Washington. One of our satellite trucks had a spot 6 blocks from Ground Zero. We left there at 6:30 pm Saturday. By 1:30 am Sunday we were driving by the Pentagon, the first any of us had seen the building first hand. We had seen both sites in the same day.
The images are horrific and will stay with me forever. I will also remember how the people of New York and Washington came together to help in any way they could. Just when something happens to make you wonder what evil exists in the world, the everyday heroes remind you of what we are capable of.
Collection
Citation
“story1522.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 21, 2025, https://www.911digitalarchive.org/items/show/15924.