Danielle Bonge oral history interview conducted by Julie Broihier, December 3, 2010

About

Danielle was a transformer mechanic for ConEd on 9/11. She was home that morning and watched the events unfold on TV. She felt a "pulling" to go to the site and drove there at 11PM that night. She did not know how to get there, but just followed the smoke and the burning smell. When she arrived at Ground Zero, she saw soot, smoke, and fires and said there were "papers flying everywhere." In the chaos, she didn't know what to do once she arrived. She left and returned with her video camera the next morning, feeling the need to document the site. She saw firemen sleeping in the street, and hoped to rescue someone. While on the bucket brigade, she found an intact teddy bear in mounds of soot with the inscription "Top of the World, World Trade Center, New York City." She brought the teddy bear, still covered in dust, to this interview. Danielle says she was on a mission to help someone. She assisted some nurses she met at McDonalds, which was set up as NYPD headquarters, to set up supplies. The most difficult part for her is that after a few days she wasn't allowed to help. She does not feel like a "hero," but the event inspired her to join the volunteer fire department for five years.

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