Joseph Finocchio oral history interview conducted by Julie Broihier, June 28, 2010, November 22, 2010

About

On 9/11, Joe was an agent in the NYPD School Safety Division, working at a school in Queens. From the roof of the building, he saw the second plane hit the South Tower, and witnessed the tower collapse. He helped evacuate his building. The first week in October, Joe and his partner went to Ground Zero as volunteers. They worked on and off for the month, after work hours, usually the night shift, from seven to seven. A police sergeant told them they would be seeing things they never saw in their lives and could go home if they wanted. They chose to proceed and could not believe the devastation they saw. The air was filled with the smell of dead bodies, burning plastic, and dust. They were assigned to do search and recovery. They had some tools, but mostly used their hands to search through the rubble. Joe found body parts and personal items, including a baby stroller. Joe's father, a Korean War vet, who also volunteered at the site, told Joe that, even in war, he hadn't seen things like this. The pile itself was unstable, and fires still smoldered under the rubble. Once, Joe's partner's leg went down into a hole and he fell over. Joe pulled him out and when they looked down, they couldn't even see the bottom of the hole. When the giant cranes deposited debris onto the trucks, they had to watch closely to see if any body parts were caught within it. If so, the whole operation stopped and the body part would be bagged and tagged and taken to the morgue. Finding any remnant was…

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Library of Congress

Language

English

Country

United States

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