|
-----Original Message-----
From: Horne, Michael K
Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2005 7:07 AM
To: abcredaro@ozemail.com.au
Subject: warrior librarian
I have enjoyed your publication, but I am puzzled that in the middle of the
story it peters out and the phrase ''no more to be read here" appears. How
does one get to the rest of the story?
Michael Horne
P.S. I am a librarian for what used to be the U.S. Comtoms Service, now the
Bureau of Customs and Border Protection. My boss and I were at the World
Trade Center on 9/11, in 6 WTC. No one in our building was injured or
killed, but in 20 years in the U.S. Air Force, I wasn't shot at
(figuratively speaking) as much as I have been as a librarian.
Subject: RE: warrior librarian
Author: "Amanda Credaro"
Date: 2/5/2005 6:59 PM
Hi Michael,
.... I'm fascinated by your postscript! Maybe the usual library suppliers should include in their catalogs a flak vest marked Librarian (like
the media get when they go into war zones)? Being right there at WTC on 9/11 must have been horrific.
Did people in your building get counseling? Can you tell me what sort of work you did in the Air Force? This has the makings of a great story!!!! Can I use it?
From: Horne, Michael K
Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2005 1:29 AM
To: abcredaro@ozemail.com.au
Subject: Re:RE: warrior librarian
Hi Amanda--
I'll be happy to tell you the story. I need to get something tonight as
reference before I do it, as I want to give you another source for more information. More tomorrow.
Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: Horne, Michael K [mailto:michael.horne@dhs.gov]
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 7:58 AM
To: abcredaro@ozemail.com.au
Subject: Re:RE: warrior librarian
Amanda--
I finally remembered to bring in a tape you'll be interested in acquiring.
It's "Loss and Recovery: Librarians Bear Witness to September 11, 2001".
It's presented by American Libraries, the magazine ofthe ALA in cooperation
with the Library Video Network, Baltimore County Public Library. They can
be reached at 1-800-441 TAPE www.lvn.org
All that stuff is on the package.
At the end of the tape they dedicate it to the two librarians who died in
the World Trade Center attack.
There were more than a dozen libraries--corporate, etc.-- in the World
Trade Center. They asked librarians to come in for taped interviews. As I
mentioned earlier, mine was not selected for the final production.
We were the U.S. Customs Library for the New York Region. There is a
Customs library in our headquarters in Washington. Both libraries have
since come under Customs & Border Protection in Homeland Security after the
reorganization. ( I have my views on the wisdom of that move, but not for
here.) We were in 6 World Trade Center, an 8-story building nestled in the
shadow of 1 World Trade Center.
We had been through the World Trade Center bombing back in 1994. My most
vivid memory of that was a scene which was on the newsreel of firemen
dressed in yellow pulling a man on a stretcher and putting him in an
ambulance. I was right next to them when it happened, but I was not in the
shot. It was almost as if the cameraman were shooting over my shoulder. We
were out of work for 2 weeks after that. At the time I thought it was
caused by a train mishap in the basement and a story of local interest
only, went up to Grand Central Station and took a train to Connecticut,
where I live. I did not bother calling home, and when I got home, I yelled,
Honey,I'm home early." The response was "Where have you been! Your mother
called from Illinois and your Dad from Atlanta." It had been on the
national news, and I had not heard a word about it until I got home.
Over the next several years, there were false alarms, and we got used to
evacuating the building, and it developed into an amusing break in the
routine. This prepared us, however, for the real thing.
On 9/11, I had come in as usual at 8:00, and had just made our first pot of
coffee. My boss, Ellen Berg, and our clerk, David Emge, and I were starting
our daily routine when we heard a tremendous crash over our heads. We
thought a bomb had exploded in 1 World Trade Center. We didn't wait for an
alarm, and in fact I don't think an alarm ever sounded in 6 World Trade
Center. We gathered up our coats and bags and headed for the stairs. There
was no panic, and everyone else headed out in a calm manner.
I helped one of my fellow Customs employees who had trouble walking to get down the stairs, as did several others, and there was no stampede. The whole
building was only 8 stories, as I have said, so there wasn't a long way to
go. On the ground level, we walked across the walkway to the World
Financial Center and exited out the side near the river. I looked back over
my shoulder and saw a plane go behind the Financial Center and not come out
the other side. That's when we knew it wasn't an accident or a bomb.
I got separated from my co-workers. Ellen eventually got on a ferry and
crossed to New Jersey, where she lives. I was able to call my wife. Very
luckily was able to use a pay phone before the communications grid went
down, and let her know I was alive. I saw several small figures jumping out
of the upper floors of the World Trade Center and screamed."Don't jump!
Someone will rescue you!" Of course, that was an emotional response based
on the helplessness of not being able to help.
I decided to go home. There was nothing I could do, I went down to the
subway and got on the train,but they were all stopped and I was there for
an hour before I could get back to the surface. By then the Towers had
fallen. I walked up to Grand Central Station and caught a train about 5
minutes later. It was one of the last to leave before they stopped the
trains.
We were out of work for a month before they relocated us to One Penn Plaza.
Thank God, no one in our building was hurt or killed.
Customs did offer counseling to people who had been there. Some people were
apprehensive, and one office which was temporarily located on the 44th
floor had morale problems until they moved them down to join the rest of us
on the 11th and 10th floors. For myself, God has had several chances to
take me and not done so. I was run down in a crosswalk in Germany by a
Volkswagen, and woke up with a headache, when the ambulance driver
commented that I would be DOA at the hospital. Some day God will take me,
in his own good time. He and I have an interesting relationship and will
have much to discuss.
I'll try to get you a picture.
-----Original Message-----
From: Horne, Michael K
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 8:02 AM
To: abcredaro@ozemail.com.au
Subject: Re:RE: RE: warrior librarian
You asked about my Vietnam experience. I was a Navigational Aids
Technician, taking care of TACANs and Instrument Landing Systems. I landed
at Phu Cat AB a day before the TET offensive in 1968. We were one of the
few bases which weren't attacked, because we had a contingent of Korean
troops, whom the Viet Cong did not want to irritate.
Later I was on a communications site in the coastal town of Qui Nhon. The Viet Cong attacked us once while I was there. I had just gotten off guard duty and was walking back to our Quonset hut when it happened. Afterwards, I realized I must have walked right through where they were hidden, but they weren't ready to start, so I emerged unscathed. The VC did throw a satchel charge in the
Tacan, blowing it up; it had to be replaced. But at least I didn't.
My war there was more the experience of "Good Morning Vietnam" rather than
"Full Metal Jacket".
| 
