Albert Meller oral history interview conducted by Melodie Guerrera, October 15, 2010

About

Albert, an NYPD detective, witnessed the twin towers burning from the roof of his precinct in Brooklyn. On 9/13/01, he volunteered to go to the Fresh Kills landfill, where he sifted through debris, searching for human remains. He had only a paper mask and a Tyvek suit. The next day he was sent back to his precinct to his regular job. A few days later, he volunteered to go to the morgue. His duties were fingerprinting remains six days a week, twelve hours a day. He learned the different ways in which fingerprinting was done depending on the condition of the finger. When he was no longer needed to fingerprint, he was assigned to the triage area in the morgue, where bodies were sent for identification. In this area, body parts were removed from bags, labeled, and separated to try to get an identification. The fact that many of the remains had no face helped him stay detached. The process evolved and became more efficient each day. The area was a "no camera zone," and the remains were treated with the utmost respect. However, he regrets that the process itself was not filmed for use in future disasters. A team of experts in the fields of victim identification and mortuary services called DMORT (Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team) arrived to assist. After the separation of remains, the medical examiner would attempt an autopsy to extract DNA. There were twenty-six refrigerated trailers to hold the remains. If identified, the remains would be released to the family. The…

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

Who can watch

The archive gives no rating. Invisible Network shows it to Teens profiles and older, judged from its collection and subjects. How films are placed