We were taught by the Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and how they enforced the importance of fire safety and the need to be quick and orderly when the fire alarm bell rang. I can still remember my first grade nun Sister Loretta William having us pray for all the the innocent children who lost their lives in this school fire. I can remember her trying to explain to a room of 60 first graders what happen to these children and at the same time not try to scare us. I remember how she practiced with us on how to leave the school during a fire drill. We needed to stand up and beginning with the first row we would quickly leave the room one row at a time in single file so we would not clog up the stairwell.

As I am writing this I can't help but think of how much she cared for each of us and valuable lessons she taught each of us. God Bless you Sister you were a saint than and must be a saint today. I can remember standing outside in the cold with no coat on waiting for the clearance to return. I remember times when the firemen would come and pull practice drills to make certain that we were able to evacuate the building in the shortest amount of time. Many times I remember the principal coming over the intercom telling us that we needed to be quicker.

As I visited this site I can't help but think of how scared and terrified those children and nuns must have been. I can't even begin to imagine the thoughts of being trapped in a blazing inferno like the one at OLA. Today I know that all of the victims are safe and sound in the home of our Dear Lord. May God bless the victims, survivors and family members who to this day live with the memories and loss of their love ones and friends.

Thank you for putting this sight together it's a good reminder that we need to live each day to the fullest.

I was a slow, pokey child, and took my time with things. During one mid winter fire drill, I had my snow pants, coat, hat, scarf, mittens, and snow boots (lined with bread bags, so I could get them on easier, and to keep them waterproof.) to put on before exiting the building. I was taking my time, as the alarm bell rang, most of the children were already out the door. The doors to the playground were only a few feet away from the cloak room, and I didn't feel I needed to hurry, as we had fire drills so frequently. All of a sudden, while I was trying to put on my boots, Sr Maria Imelda (a formidable women who did put the Fear of God into us Kindergartners) came up to me, grabbed me and started shaking me.

I started to cry, and SHE began to cry. (!) She yelled, "You have to move FASTER. Do you understand? You are too slow. Do YOU WANT TO BURN UP IN THE FIRE LIKE THOSE OTHER CHILDREN? HUH? DO YOU?" I was really scared, Sr never acted like this, and had no idea what she was talking about. She picked me up, leaving my boots and my shoes in the cloak room, and carried me out the door, both of us in tears.

I was crying for my boots, and because Sr had yelled at me (I as usually a very well behaved child, and almost never got into trouble) and I didn't know why Sr was crying, too. It was just a Fire Drill, we had them all the time. (This was the thinking of a very young, sheltered child.)

She held me in her arms, (because I had no boots or shoes and there was snow on the ground) until the All Clear sounded. When we got back in the building, she was still shaken (she hated those fire drills) but calmer, she took me aside, and made me promise I would get into my "wraps" more quickly next time, and if I promised to do this she wouldn't call my mother. I promised. That year we had many more fire drills and I tried to be fast, and get out the door asap.

It was many months later, for some reason, I told my mother about the event. She started to tear up, and said, "She as referring to the Our Lady of Angels Fire which happened a little bit before you were born. I am sure she knew people in that Parish." I asked her what happened, and she told me of the fire, how awful it was, how it was on the news and in the papers, and her own personal connection.

A story of working in a typing pool, in an office, only a few blocks from OLA. They heard the sirens, which seemed to go on forever and one of the other women in the typing pool was a member of the OLA Parish. I don't know why, but she ran to the school. She came back to the office, ashen and shaking, and begged anyone for blankets (there were none) or their coats, sweaters, anything, as the School was on fire, children were falling out of windows, being placed or just lying on the cold ground, and going into shock.

My mother gave her only coat, a thin cloth coat. The woman came back, and people helped her bring nearly every coat, jacket, men's suit jackets in the small office to wrap the children in. The coat my mother had was not returned, and she always hoped it had kept a child warm, until it was his or her turn in an ambulance.

I, still a child, with child like curiosity, asked her "What if the child who had your coat died in it?" And in Classic Catholic Style she told me to Be Quiet and not think of such things. She was "sure" the child who was wrapped in her coat was fine. I hope her coat, and those of the others brought at least a small amount of comfort to the children and Nuns that freezing winter day.

God Bless All of Them.

I have one question. When I was in about 3rd grade (and no longer at St Giles, but Emerson School in Berwyn) we were shown a horrifying film about "Fire Safety" which I know was based on OLA. It followed a little boy, who made it out of the burning school building, but went back in, for some reason. In the last scene, while the narrator goes on about dying from smoke inhalation, a fireman is carrying his limp little body out. Nearly identical to the "Little Johnny Zajkowski" pictures, which define the OLA fire to this day.

The film was black and white and filmed in the early 1960s, I think. If anyone knows what the name of this film is, or if it is still available or even remembers it, I would like to know about it. The film made an impression on me, as a child, and I knew it was based on OLA. After seeing this film, I as so scared of fire, I would plan an escape route out of every room I was in while in school for years. To this day, I still note the EXIT signs when I am in buildings.

This fire left an imprint on an entire generation.

God's Blessings and Love to All.

Randy Berger