Christine Kraft (CK)

CK: My first instinct was to just get on one of the trucks and go. You know? Cause, I just couldn’t sit on my hands. And I remember pacing back and forth and pacing back and forth and of course, you couldn’t get a hold of the Red Cross and it was just a mess. And the next morning I found out the trains were running. So I got on the E train and it stopped at Canal. And I walked over to the building which I now know is the World Financial Center.

Our job was to walk around and take care of the first responders who were already working through the night. I remember that they had little staging areas here and there and these firemen–they weren’t talking to anyone. You know? They were completely focused on each other and digging and digging and digging for their guys as well as everybody else of course. All the rescue workers were all really tight–everybody related to each other like we’re in this fraternity, you know?

So, I could not believe that I was a witness to this terrible courage of people that went there. The subway conductors who filled their trains and took people out of there. All of those boats that came out of the Hudson river to pull people off–I want people to remember that regardless of what happens, these people will still come from someplace.