Kenneth Larson oral history interview conducted by Eliza Marcus, July 9, 2010

About

Kenneth is a landscape contractor. He first arrived at the WTC site on the evening of 9/12. Another contractor had asked him to come and help survey the situation; he wasn't intending to work there. It was dark, and he describes it as "mind-boggling." When Kenneth turned the corner into the area, there were large machines pulling debris from the pile and firemen with tools roaming in packs. Kenneth remembers walking through the American Express building, which was still standing but "trashed," in total darkness to reach the pile. There was a burnt escalator in Building 5 that people were walking up because it wasn't running. He went up as well when he heard someone scream, "It's going! It's going!", and they thought the building was caving in, so all the people on this escalator started to get off. This was when he realized the true danger. Two days later, he took a front-end loader and joined a convoy that was escorted back into the city. Kenneth was there for about two weeks. He was assigned with his payloader at Building 7. He first worked Thursday evening through Friday and was relieved on Saturday, when the city started to make the site more secure and started sending people home for rest. Kenneth remembers seeing people pushing wheelbarrows filled with ice and drinks, others handing out hot dogs, and others asking if they needed water or anything else. The Salvation Army was willing to get the responders what they needed. At Church and Vesey, there was a half-block of…

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Library of Congress

Language

English

Country

United States

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