Steven G.Pappas oral history interview conducted by Melodie Guerrera, July 12, 2010

About

Steven worked as a Central Office Technician for a telephone company on 9/11/2001. When the attacks occurred all the communications in the Lower Manhattan area were wiped out. Steven volunteered to go to the WTC site to fix the communication systems. He got the system up and running by overseeing the installation of new telephone cables from point A to point B. He was also responsible for managing machines that pumped compressed air into the cables, which kept them dry and in good operating condition. He worked 15-hour shifts at the site for 15 days after 9/11/2001. Steven particularly remembers the efforts of firefighters, and says of them, "I felt like I was in the presence of true heroes." He recalls how, "Every once in a while, they would blow a horn, everybody would stop working and all the firemen and police officers would all line up. . .they would remove a police officer or fireman's (body) and drape an American flag over the stretcher and take it to the morgue." He recalls an atmosphere of camaraderie, charity, and patriotism in New York City after 9/11, and was compelled to keep a journal as evidence of this spirit. In his interview, Steven recites a few famous lines from Walt Whitman's "City of the World," which he found inscribed into a railing by the WTC site: City of the world! For all races are here / All the lands of the earth make contributions here. / Proud and passionate city--mettlesome, mad, extravagant city! / Spring up O city--not for peace alone, but…

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Library of Congress, in Library of Congress

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Rights statement at the Library of Congress, as the Library of Congress states it.

Credit

Library of Congress

Language

English

Country

United States

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