JD Johnson
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- Jun 19, 2005
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From a friend:
This is an email from a dear Brother who I trust with my children. He just got back frum down yonder doing EMT work.
Well my "tour" of duty in New Orleans is over and I am safely back home. So all you guys will know, I was at almost every shelter, field hospital, evacuation station, or any where else the victims of this disaster were located and I saw NO discrimination towards the treatment of anyone there. I have seen on TV where several so called talk show hosts are claiming that the poor and the black were being discriminated against. This hurricane did not discriminate in the damage it has done and neither have any of the rescuers although I can't say that about the press(see paragraph father down).
Why did people sit on the interstates with no food or water? Because the mayor of New Orleans would not let the hundreds of Red Cross and Salvation Army volunteers that were there the day after Katrina hit into the city.
On one day we went with boats to rescue people that were stranded in the flooded part of New Orleans. Some would not leave because they couldn't bring their pets. We did manage to get about 15 people out though. We were right on I-10 on the west bound side at exit 238. They used an exit ramp as a boat launch as the water was still about 6-10 feet deep. I stood by the ramp and transported the people to where they could board a helicopter to be flown to safety. The only problem with this was I had to drive them about a 1/2 mile to where I-10 was still flooded. Here was the only place you could cross over to the east bound lane. The victims had to climb over a wall and cross a wet median and walk1/2 mile back up to the helicopters which were landing right across from the ramp I picked them up on. I ask why the helicopters couldn't land in the west bound lane and was told that the news media had set up in the east bound lane and couldn't get their pictures of the rescu! e if the helicopters landed where we were. Way to go news media!
I guess the highlight of my time there was finding an 80 year old black lady who was still alive even though the flood waters had been up to her neck as she laid in bed before they receded. She didn't care much for the trip through the decon tent but other than being dehydrated, which the IV I gave here took care of she was fine. Not bad after being there for 15 days, but she was a feisty old lady.
Coming back through Mississippi last night it was plain to see that they were hit a lot harder than New Orleans. If that levee had held it wouldn't have been so bad there.
I don't know where the press is getting the numbers for fatalities, but I can tell you that we were at a field morgue near Baton Rouge and there were at least 2000 bodies there on Wednesday.
I was gald to have been able to go there and help out, but I am also glad to be back home and can't wait to ride with the guys again. If any of you would like a CD of the pictures I took let me know and I will get one to you. They aren't the best as my camera is an older model with no zoom but I have some good pics of downtown NO.
This is an email from a dear Brother who I trust with my children. He just got back frum down yonder doing EMT work.
Well my "tour" of duty in New Orleans is over and I am safely back home. So all you guys will know, I was at almost every shelter, field hospital, evacuation station, or any where else the victims of this disaster were located and I saw NO discrimination towards the treatment of anyone there. I have seen on TV where several so called talk show hosts are claiming that the poor and the black were being discriminated against. This hurricane did not discriminate in the damage it has done and neither have any of the rescuers although I can't say that about the press(see paragraph father down).
Why did people sit on the interstates with no food or water? Because the mayor of New Orleans would not let the hundreds of Red Cross and Salvation Army volunteers that were there the day after Katrina hit into the city.
On one day we went with boats to rescue people that were stranded in the flooded part of New Orleans. Some would not leave because they couldn't bring their pets. We did manage to get about 15 people out though. We were right on I-10 on the west bound side at exit 238. They used an exit ramp as a boat launch as the water was still about 6-10 feet deep. I stood by the ramp and transported the people to where they could board a helicopter to be flown to safety. The only problem with this was I had to drive them about a 1/2 mile to where I-10 was still flooded. Here was the only place you could cross over to the east bound lane. The victims had to climb over a wall and cross a wet median and walk1/2 mile back up to the helicopters which were landing right across from the ramp I picked them up on. I ask why the helicopters couldn't land in the west bound lane and was told that the news media had set up in the east bound lane and couldn't get their pictures of the rescu! e if the helicopters landed where we were. Way to go news media!
I guess the highlight of my time there was finding an 80 year old black lady who was still alive even though the flood waters had been up to her neck as she laid in bed before they receded. She didn't care much for the trip through the decon tent but other than being dehydrated, which the IV I gave here took care of she was fine. Not bad after being there for 15 days, but she was a feisty old lady.
Coming back through Mississippi last night it was plain to see that they were hit a lot harder than New Orleans. If that levee had held it wouldn't have been so bad there.
I don't know where the press is getting the numbers for fatalities, but I can tell you that we were at a field morgue near Baton Rouge and there were at least 2000 bodies there on Wednesday.
I was gald to have been able to go there and help out, but I am also glad to be back home and can't wait to ride with the guys again. If any of you would like a CD of the pictures I took let me know and I will get one to you. They aren't the best as my camera is an older model with no zoom but I have some good pics of downtown NO.
