Bernice Pontiff
/On July 28, 1945, Houma native Bernice Pontiff headed into work for what likely seemed like any other shift at Longchamps, a high-end restaurant stationed in the Empire State Building.
Little did she know then that July 28 would mark an infamous day in the history of the famed New York City skyscraper. On that day, a United States B-25 Mitchell bomber crashed into the Empire State Building, killing 14 people.
Pontiff escaped the building safely, taking with her an incredible story and remnants of her time at Longchamps that are now on display at the Regional Military Museum.
A resident of Bayou Black, 19-year-old Pontiff had just married her husband when his military service brought him to New York City. Pontiff ultimately left Houma in 1944 for the first time to be with him, taking a job at Longchamps - an upscale, Manhattan-based restaurant chain popular across New York in the early 1900s.
In the midst of her time serving at the glitzy restaurant, though, Pontiff notes that there was an air of fear surrounding the possibility of an attack on the city as WWII raged on.
Though an attack never came to fruition, the freak accident that took place on the morning of July 28 would see those fears come to the surface for Pontiff and other Empire State Building workers.
The B-25 bomber crashed in what was an unexpected accident brought about by dense fog on its flight path. Flying from New Bedford, Massachusetts, to New York City, the B-25 was set to land at LaGuardia airport but was rerouted to Newark Airport in New Jersey instead.
While flying at a low altitude over New York City around roughly 10 A.M., it was forced to swerve to avoid crashing into the Chrysler Building.
Instead, it made impact around the 80th floor on the 34th Street side of the Empire State Building. The resulting fire spanned across five floors of the building and left behind a 20-foot hole.
floor of the building when the bomber made contact. The young waitress began to run out of the building in an attempt to escape, but with debris falling all around and making it unsafe to exit, a fellow worker pulled her back inside.
It wasn’t until 2:00 that Longchamps workers began to be evacuated two by two from the building.
Pontiff and her husband left New York in 1946, and by the mid-1970s, Longchamps went out of business for good.
However, the memory of that infamous day lived on for Pontiff. Today, her story and remnants of her experience are on display at the Regional Military Museum. Visitors can view a Longchamps matchbook, a piece of the B-25 bomber that crashed into the building, a replica of the craft, newspaper stories from the day of the accident and more.
Visit the Regional Military Museum today to view the exhibit and learn more about Pontiff’s story.
Additional Sources