John Cervenka oral history interview conducted by Anthony Reffi, September 8, 2014

About

At the time of 9/11, John worked as a court officer at a courthouse eight blocks from the World Trade Center. When he arrived at work, the area around the World Trade Center smelled like gunpowder and death. When it became apparent that the tower was going to fall everyone evacuated. The scene was like something out of a movie. Some of his coworkers were all covered in dust. Most of them were picking up dead bodies and one of the officers began to cry because of the gruesomeness of the job. When Building 7 of the World Trade collapsed there was only one hose pumping water. All the water mains broke that day and the firetruck had to get the water from the river. After that day, John had two jobs. One job was to go to the morgue and the other was to help secure the area around the World Trade Center. When John was stationed at the morgue, it left a lasting image of the brutality of the events that had occurred. Many of the bodies were cut in half by steel. John worked about forty days on the recovery efforts. After 9/11, John suffered from vivid nightmares and heart palpitations. While at the site John was only wearing a paper mask. He suffers from throat tightness and COPD. In 2012, John had a heart attack and had some growths removed from his intestines.

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Credit

Library of Congress

Language

English

Country

United States

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