Harry Davila sits at his desk in the Red Cross office on West 49th Street, holding a photograph of the Red Cross team that initially responded to the 9/11 attacks.
(Photo by Frederic Klein / American Red Cross)
By Frederic Klein, American Red Cross
On a sunny morning in September, Harry Davila sits at his desk next to a photograph that has hung there for more than 20 years. Printed on a simple sheet of computer paper, a handwritten explanation offers the only clue into its significance: “911 1st Memorial, the ‘A’ team for Greater NY.”
“When I see that [photo], I think we had a good crew,” said Harry, who now serves as the Regional Director of Facilities and Fleet for the American Red Cross in Greater New York. “The work that everybody put into the job, how chaotic it was, we were literally — and I’m not lying to you — putting in eighteen-hour days.”
Born and raised in Manhattan, Harry was living with his two young sons at West 63rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue, just a few blocks away from the Red Cross office where he’d worked since 1993 helping people impacted by disasters access emergency shelter, meals and other support. As the mass care manager at the time, Harry was on his way to work when reports emerged that an airplane had struck the World Trade Center. The overnight team had already begun dispatching resources to help with what they thought was a small private aircraft hitting the tower, and Harry rushed into the office to see how he could help.
Conditions worsened rapidly downtown as the towers fell, enveloping thousands of people in a chaotic miasma of dust, toxic chemicals and fear.
Red Cross responder Harry Davila stands near the debris pile at the World Trade Center on September 13th, 2001.
“At the beginning, you don’t know what to expect,” said Harry. “It’s getting everything, putting your brains together, figuring out how you want to make this work in New York City. Everybody, every department, every agency in New York had something to do. They didn’t have time to tell you what to do, you needed to figure out how you can help this mission that we’re putting together.”
The Red Cross focused on doing what they knew they could do: identify locations for reception centers and services, secure cots and blankets, coordinate meals and care for first responders as well as people desperately searching for family members. Teams filled around 20 emergency response vehicles with hundreds of meals at a time for breakfast, lunch and dinner — making sure everybody involved in the response effort was fed and cared for.
Harry and his team worked for more than a week straight in the immediate aftermath, only stepping back into their more typical workdays as additional Red Cross responders arrived from around the country to help support the effort.
“It was hard, of course, because you miss your kids and stuff. I got to see them, but it was tough – it was rewarding,” said Harry. “Somebody had to do it and that was our job. I wanted to do it.”
As years have gone by, Harry has continued to serve people impacted by disasters. He spent many years working with the Disaster Action Team as a response manager, participating in just about every major disaster that has impacted New York City over the past 33 years from blackouts and heat waves to snowstorms and home fires.
Harry Davila (right) helps a resident register for emergency assistance with the Red Cross after experiencing a disaster in 2010.
Harry Davila surveys the damage after a home fire in 2010.
Harry doesn’t typically join the commemoration events that take place each September 11th. He still remembers one of his sons coming home about a week after the attacks with a picture he’d made for a school assignment to draw something on their minds. The drawing was of the twin towers on fire, and his three-year-old son explained that he had drawn the “great experience” that his dad had been having while he was spending time away from him. His son didn’t grasp the magnitude of the tragedy — he had just been waiting for his dad to come home.
“It’s good to talk about it, but I just don’t like to relive it. Because it’s not a happy day,” said Harry. “It’s a sad day for me, dealing with what I saw, going down there and seeing buildings on the floor. I just don’t want to think about it. I lost two of my best friend’s parents, and when I meet with them about it, it’s them reliving it as well.”
Twenty-five years later, the photograph remains posted next to Harry’s desk. Some of the people in it are still close friends, and others he hasn’t seen in years. But when he looks at it, he doesn’t think first about the devastation or the time away from family.
He thinks about the people beside him.
"Everybody was one team, everybody worked together as one.”
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