Overview

'I can remember the events of that morning as clearly as if they had happened to me yesterday. In fact, I think they will be etched onto my memory for the rest of my life. That day was an experience so profound that it had affected every aspect of my existence ever since, and I have no doubt that it has changed me fundamentally as a person...' On 7th July 2005, as morning rush hour was drawing to a close, four suicide bombers struck in central London, killing 52 people and injuring hundreds more. Three bombs were detonated on underground trains just outside Liverpool Street and Edgware Road stations and on another travelling between King's Cross and Russell Square. The final explosion was on a double-decker bus in Tavistock Square. PC Aaron Debnam is a rapid response officer with the British Transport Police and it was his unit that took the call to attend Russell Square station. Nothing could have prepared him for the devastation and chaos that he would encounter when he was first on the scene that horrific day. His great inner strength and courage got him past the hoardes of lost and shocked commuters, down into the smoke filled, blisteringly hot underground tunnel and onto the train to try and help those who were still alive. This deeply moving and personal recollection offers a unique insight into a terrorist attack that shocked the whole country and reminds us that, even in the face of a tragedy of such devastating proportions, the goodness of the human spirit can still shine through. It also explored the lasting effect that the attacks had on Aaron and how he has struggled to come to terms with what he encountered that day. The power of this story will change your life.

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9781844544493

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Reviews

Affecting first-person account of the 2005 London terrorist attacks.First-time author Debnam, a rapid-response officer with the British Transport Police, was among the first emergency personnel to arrive on the scene after a bomb exploded aboard a train just outside the Russell Square underground station on July 7. It was one of four terrorist incidents below and above ground on that day, in which 52 people were killed. Debnam's breathless, minute-by-minute chronicle of the devastation and carnage he encountered is explicit and harrowing. His narrative has a raw, unfinished quality that lends a refreshing authenticity to his perspective on the events of that day - and the posttraumatic stress he later suffered. In addition to describing the grisly aftermath of the worst terrorist attack in British history, Debnam delicately weaves in two related stories. The first concerns Gill Hicks, a young professional woman rescued from the smoke-filled train. By the time Debnam and a colleague reached her, she was barely alive: The excruciating summertime heat meant that everyone, injured or otherwise, was endangered by severe dehydration. The officer thought Hicks had succumbed to her trauma but later discovered that she survived. (Their reunion was broadcast on British television.) The second incident occurred several weeks after the terrorist attacks, when Debnam confronted a deranged man aboard another underground train and subdued him with tear gas, an effort that earned the officer front-page coverage in the Evening Standard. Interspersed with all this are glances into Debnam's tumultuous personal life: a failed marriage, a young son he barely knows, his pub-owning mother, an unexpected, unwanted transfer away from his buddies that brought him close to an emotional breakdown, the unexpected discovery of new love at his lowest personal ebb.Another triumph-over-adversity story, but notable for its unique viewpoint. (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

Aaron was born in 1979 in Gravesend, Kent. His mother married three times resulting in many moves and an unsettled childhood. Aaron was an 'unruly teenager' and in an effort to sort himself out he joined the Infantry in 1996, seeing tours in Northern Ireland and Bosnia. He married in 1999 but has since separated from his wife. He has one son. Aaron joined the British Transport Police in 2003 as a Rapid Response Officer. He has attended several major incidents apart from 7/7 including the Reading train crash. On 7th July Aaron was based at Tottenham Court Road. He is now based at Finsbury Park and lives in Kent.

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