I saw a few dead bodies, not by the Convention Center. I saw one outside the French Quarter by the flood wall. That’s our first one I seen. I didn’t take pictures. Some of the guys took pictures, but it was kind of disrespectful so I said, no, I don’t want no pictures of any dead bodies.

--Wayne Wilson, as told to Jana Mackin

Friday, I put the dog under my arm and started wading. We got all the way up to Chalmette. I thought, “Oh, Chalmette will be dry.” It wasn’t. The water was about waist deep. There were large trucks with huge wheels that could drive in that water. One of them gave me a ride to the sheriff ’s station on St. Bernard Highway. It’s also the parish prison. There were a number of people in the parking lot. At the Chalmette ferry landing, the National Guard was in charge. I have an edemic leg. My right leg is half as big as my left leg. The Coast Guardsman gave me a piece of rope for the dog. He
said that to get on, I had to have a leash for the dog. We went through a chemical fire that had yellowish brown smoke that made everyone nauseous, including the dog.

You could see downtown New Orleans burning. No fire trucks could get there. The ferry landing was pretty much demolished. There was a line of buses. Helicopters were coming in from the Superdome all the time. The bus I got on was called the dog bus because everyone had a dog or a bird or a cat. One lady had three kittens. I got on the bus almost immediately. I thought, “What luck.” Not really. We waited hours for them to move us.A National Guardsman jumped on the bus and said, “Everybody down! Somebody is shooting at the line of buses.” The guy in charge was yelling at them that “no matter what” they have their duty. “Shoot everyone you see with a gun,” he said.

--PhilipWeber, as told to Mary Swerczek

I had 15 or 16 people over there. The City of Kenner called and asked me, “Why do you have a shelter open over there? It’s not certified.” I said, “What are we going to do with these old people? Will you take care of them?” They never messed with me after that. We still got five people in the shelter from the storm.

--Fred Duncan, as told to Mary Swerczek