# John oral history interview conducted by Melodie Guerrera, August 12, 2010

John was a sergeant in the Brooklyn Supreme Court at the time of 9/11 attacks. He spent two days on the pile starting on 9/12 and one day a week later. He was awed at the complete destruction he witnessed and the energy people had in dealing with the rescue and recovery. They worked until they passed out. He had a total sense of disorientation while at the site and it made him think of the old films of Pearl Harbor. He said that day the totality of what happened did not hit him. John saw areas in the wreckage where there were hundreds of pairs of shoes, but the only thing he found intact was an old beer can. He said the respirators made it hard to work, and he couldn't breathe. He was angry and frustrated at the event and felt it was unfair to fireman as they now had to become both a cop and fireman and the event made their jobs much tougher. On the first day he was more hopeful but said a week later was much grimmer. He said everyone sensed they were being part of history that day. He thought Mayor Giuliani was the right man for the job, but he wishes that more information was given out about the air quality. He feels the federal government tends to throw money at things instead of expertise, which does more harm than good, and that the war on terror is not focused enough. He believes something will happen again, and he is relieved he is retiring soon. Despite his cynicism, he saw many nice things people tried to do--good decent people doing the right thing. The event has…

- Kind: Interview
- Year: 2010
- Runtime: 44 min
- By: Guerrera, Melodie
- Genres: History
- Archive: [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2015048_042/)
- Licence or status: Rights statement at the Library of Congress (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Library of Congress
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/loc/afc2015048_042?play=1)