Allan H. Hoehl oral history interview conducted by Janet Lavelle, August 17, 2010

About

Allan is a retired Police Captain who served in the NYPD for forty years. After hearing of the attacks, he drove at high speed in an unmarked police car, with flashing lights and a siren into the city. He approached the site on foot, walking down Vesey and Church Streets. Allan heard a tremendous noise and witnessed the North Tower crumbling. His instinct told him to start running. He got a block away, and the debris and compressing air knocked him down. The atmosphere turned black. He thought he was being asphyxiated. "An EMS worker grabbed me and cleaned my eyes out." A vendor approached Allan and offered him a chain link fence to encircle the site if he could put his company name on it. It was accepted, and soon the "red zone" was confined and protected from looters and the public. The fence was critical, as there were two dozen arrests before it went up. To set up security and prevent looting, the chiefs came in from all the different boroughs. They worked 16 hours a day, interacting with the heads of all the agencies. They assigned workers in two 12-hour shifts at all sites except Staten Island. The whole country worked to help. Allan said, "The city came together like never before." People from all around the country were cooking and donating food. Thousands of law enforcement people and the National Guard came from all over the country and pitched in. Allan also mentioned that this disaster unified all the different cultures in the city. Smoke and fires were burning…

Archive

Library of Congress, in Library of Congress

Licence or status

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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