Briscese, Louis TSgt & Doyle, Sean PHC
9/11 Pentagon Attack Oral History
"At the time, you're working it and you know you have a job to do...you don't have time to reflect on really what's happening. It made it a lot easier."
Date of Interview: 1 March 2002
Interviewers: CAPT Gary Hall, CAPT(s) Carol O'Hagan, & YNCS Kathleen Wright, USNR, Navy Combat Documentation Detachment 206
At the time of the attack, TSgt Briscese and PHC Doyle were both serving as photographers on the staff of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP). On the morning of the attack, TSgt was on a personal errand at Andrews AFB. PHC Doyle was at the AFIP offices in Rockville, Maryland.
Oral History Summary:
Upon hearing the news of the attack on the Pentagon, TSgt Briscese left Andrews AFB and took his photo equipment to the Pentagon. He spent the next two days taking photographs at the scene of the attack. PHC Doyle was not allowed to leave AFIP until many hours after the attack. He spent part of the day concerned for the safety of TSgt Briscese as he’d heard there was a possibility of another attack. The day after the attack, while TSgt Briscese took photographs at the Pentagon, PHC Doyle began coordinating their transition to Dover, where they arrived on 13 September. At the Dover Port Mortuary, TSgt Briscese handled intake photographs. PHC Doyle was stationed in the autopsy rooms.
In discussing their activities on the day of the attack, their time leading up to their arrival in Dover, and their work at Dover, TSgt Briscese and PHC Doyle talked about working with other agencies, the logistics of setting up their team in Dover, and the details of the forensics process. They also discussed their work at other mass casualty events such as the USS COLE bombing. The two also discussed how they handle the mental aspects of their jobs, the VIPs and celebrities that visited them at Dover, and what happened to the photos they took.
Content Warnings: Sensitive Content
Oral History Abstract and Transcript: Briscese, Louis TSgt & Doyle, Sean PHC Pentagon Attack Oral History (PDF, 496kb)
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