519 20 70359 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: the morn of Sept. 11, 2001, my just turned 5 y.o. and I were viewing the television coverage ot the trade centers. She turned to me and said "mom, there's people in there!", I said, "yes, there are" and we both started to cry. Kay Sandberg, Everson, Washington Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story8533.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-10-21 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 129.174.27.131 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: My story is a little bit different,all the stories i have read are about people who know about our nation and whats going on, me i never pay attention to the news or whats going on. Im a regular teenager who would rather care about hanging out with my friends or women.I remember that day like it was yesterday. I was in school and by the time i even knew what was goin on it was close to 3 hours after it happened. I remember students talkin to one another about what was going on, and i did not think anything of it. Even when i found out what happend it did not seem like a big deal to me, but when you see so many people talking bout it like someone just hit a home run in the 9th to give your team the lead you start to think more and relize that this is affecting me, this probably affects me more than anyone. I have to live in this country not in fear but the feeling of being secure. How can you achieve this when you never know what might happen. One day you wake up get a shower, throw some cloths on, go to school then the next thing you know your getting attacked. How am i supposed to know that i will be safe tomarrow when i go to school, how do i know it wont happen again.Even though we have the best defense as in the army or the air force, those are just people like me and you living through the same fear. No one can predict the future if we could then something like this could never have happened. So now when i hear about september 11th i could tell you what happend and i am proud of that because before this day came i dident care about to much but now its time to stand up and fight for my freedom because you never know when that may be taken away. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story2430.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 64.18.33.4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: Just moving to Arizona from Alaska, I had not started working so I could get my house in order and putting all my "things" away. While cleaning, I listen to the television. The moment I heard that "America" had been hit by terrorist's, I froze. My heart sunk to my toes and tears streaked my face. I had so many emotions going through my heart and mind. I felt a pain I had never felt before. I cried for the people who's relatives were gone. I cried for our country that was forever changed. Today, September 11, 2002, I pray for peace and comfort for the world. Those are "things" I will never put away. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story2943.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 162.42.238.33 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: really i was in class when it happened, but i first heard about it right after i closed my locker and two people on the other side of the lockers were talkin about something. At first i didn't believe them because all I heard was plane, and the World Trade Center. I was a little excited with emotions and went straight to my first period class in which we had a test that day. The class was mmp which is like a sub teen teaching class. I think i failed the test which everyone finished in ooo i would say 45 seconds. We had a t.v. on and the school didn't want anyone to because it was amatuer footage and as you know anything can happen such as a second plane crashing into the South Tower. I didn't see the first plane hit, but I did watch as the second split the South Tower like a first class sgrt. in battle. It was very astontatious and i couldn't say anything or move, but my eyes kept on the t.v. ever so tightly. I am not mad or frustrated that I watched in the slightest bit. History it was and I was goin to see it. It was hard to sink in that an unstopable nation was waken up from it's sleep, the sleeping giant (cliche, I know). That is pretty much all i remember because I was pretty much in a daze from the impact of it. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story2596.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 206.77.47.2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I am a NYPD Detective and I was in my office in Brooklyn. My office looks across the water into Manhattan and the Twin Towers. One of my colleagues just left the office and returned suddenly stating that he heard that a plane had hit the World Trade Center; we turned on the television and saw the smoke coming from one of the towers and I thought to myself that it must have been a small plane like the one that hit the Empire State building years ago. Then I and several others went outside to look and I saw a plane flying low coming from the the direction of the Statue of Liberty going toward the towers and I thought it was trying to avoid the thick smoke coming from the towers. I turned to go inside when I heard this scream form one of the females from my office who was up on the roof of our building; I ran up to the roof and she was hysterical; screaming and crying, I asked what happened and she said that another plane hit the building. I turned and scanned the sky realizing that the low flying plane I had been watching was the second plane that hit the towers. I felt an empty feeling come over me and I ran downstairs and jumped in a car with another detective and drove to the Battery Tunnel so I could go help whoever I could. I am also an Emergency Medical Technician and I knew that this was going to be a horrible, horrible day. We were unable to get through the tunnel for approximately an hour and when we came out the other side I was stunned by this time both towers had fallen and there was smoke and ash everywhere you looked. It was about a foot deep all over. I saw ESU trucks crushed, police and firetrucks also. empty shoes all over the street where people had run out of them in fear or where someone had jumped from the towers. It was the most horrific thing I had ever seen. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story1503.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-08-27 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 205.188.209.40 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: My husband and I were at Fairfax Hospital having an outpatient test done on our 2 year old when we walked into the waiting room and I saw an elderly woman sitting in a chair, wrapped in a blanket with tears in her eyes. I followed her gaze to the TV where I saw the towers burning. My first thought was why are they showing footage of the '93 bombing, but I quickly realized that this was live. My heart began to pound, we are from NY and we have siblings who work in Manhattan and some in lower Manhattan, and there were countless friends and former co-workers we know in the city. WHile we were watching in horror, the reporter on the phone from the Pentagon started talking about what seemed to be an explosion at the Pentagon and how the building shook. Withing moments they confirmed that the Pentagon had been hit by a plane, and suddenly my horror of the situation in New York turned to fear as I realized it was now in our own backyard. The plane they said had taken off from Dulles Airport was a mere 10 minutes from my house and the school where my older child was. My husband, who works at the Washington Navy Yard called to see if they had any information and or advice as we were pretty far from home. STAY AWAY FROM THE CITY and get home via back roads as the major highways were being shut down. We watched the first part of the tower crumble, and then the TV was turned off for the test to be preformed on our little girl. By the time we were leaving both towers had crumbled and we were sick with grief. There were reports that another plane was headed for DC and it was right near us circling over the beltway. Then a tech told us that the hospital was going into "lock down" we had no idea what that meant, and really did not want to find out. My husband, knowing that the best thing we could do was get out of the area, got us out of the hospital and on our way home. We were in the car when the phone rang, and I guess we both knew it would only be a matter of time, our country was under attack. You see my husband is a LCDR in the NAVY Reserves, and that call was asking how soon he could be ready to go. Nothing official, but to be ready. It is so clear now that NO ONE knew what was happening, and fear was engulfing us all. When we finally arrived home there was an erie silence. Everyone was outside, but no one was speaking above a whisper. THe answering maching brought relief, as there were 23 messages from family and friends saying they were OK, but were worried about my husband being in DC. Thankfully we did not loose anyone on that day, but it has directly effected us because in February, my husband was recalled by the NAVY to serve for one year in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Everyday as I struggle to get through another day being a temporary single mother of three, I remind myself of the thousands of women who are now permenant single mothers because of 9-11, and for thier pain and grief I offer up my hardships. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story6366.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-12 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 67.24.146.48 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: Remembering September Eleventh On the morning of 9/11 it was just the beginning of another long day of work. Nothing exciting ever happens, not even with the football team. I was late to Algebra, but my teacher wasn?t in the room so I got lucky that morning. Ready to go and full of energy, while her mouth moves a mile a minute about her weekend?s excitement, my teacher began class. She always tried so hard to make math interesting, but no matter how hard she tried, I think math will always be the subject where you look at the clock every three seconds or so to see how much time you have to kill. So after an hour and a half of total brain warping, I went to my best friends locker, where we meet every day at break. After the shortest twenty minutes of my life flies by fourth period, my most favorite class awaits my glorious presence. Upon all of my classmates? and my arrival, instead of explaining our agenda my fourth period teacher went on by saying?? I don?t know what you all have heard, but supposedly planes crashed into the Pentagon, and World Trade Center, but I don?t know any more than that?? Seeing how we did not have a TV in our room we all gave one second of a thought about it and went right to work. As the class went on more and more students from my class were being taken out of class to go home, that is when the tension started. A brief time later, Dr. Smith came on the loudspeaker. At that moment is when things in the school lost control and went into panic mode. Girls started crying, teachers babbling about stuff that makes no sense, to take our minds off of it, and people staring into space with blank faces, and all you could do was wonder, because nothing was for certain yet. And after the announcement fifth period came all too quickly. My teacher wanted to get her lesson about childbirth done all in one class period, but with a class of all girls that have an awesome teen attitude or get emotional about a pencil breaking, it was hard for anyone to concentrate. Finally we convinced her to let us watch the news, because our excuse that hit the spot was ??in thirty years when we tell our children we were stuck in fifth period learning about how to birth a child when the country was having a national crisis and our teacher wouldn?t even let us watch the news for five minutes!!? After that remark from a special senior in my class my teacher had to give in so we went next door to the cooking classes and watched in disbelief as the most massive buildings in the world were damaged in a way that cannot be described. At first I was really immature and in all my writings in English about the attacks. I would make up huge fantasies about a world war three that would wipe out the world and how aliens would come and inhibit the earth, but I was so tired of writing the same things and being asked the same questions over and over again. We have had bloodier wars than this attack. I think it is great that the pride factor has been raised since then, but to me it is not a huge part of my life. Maybe it is because nothing happened to my family personally, I do not know, but there could be worse things. But until anything worse happens people need to live life like they used to and be thankful that they live in a wonderful country that will take care of them. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story7792.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-17 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 207.94.147.127 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was driving from Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo along US131 that morning when I heard the local radio station say that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. They had no information and said that they thought it was a small twin enginge plane and continued with their morning show programming. Shortly after that the second plane hit and their was a drastic change in the announcers voice. The jokes and chatter were gone now. As soon as I arrived at work I got onto the internet only to find that virtualy every news site couldn't handle the traffic and had shut down. A group of us went to the K-Mart next door and we joined at least 80 other people in front of the television displays. One tower had already collapsed and I stood there in absolute disbelief as the other tower came down. When the pentagon was struck there were reports of a bomb going off. When I finaly heard that it was another plane I was terrified. Who could do such a evil thing? As word spread about the plane crash in Shanksville we debated on what caused the crash. Was it shot down by the government, did the passengers rush the cabin? No one knew what was going on. Driving home that evening I remember looking up at the sky and thinking that there was something strange. I didn't place my finger on it until I drove past the airport and realized that there were no planes in the sky at all. It was such a beautiful day in Western Michigan September 11, 2001. On the one year anniversary it was just as beautiful. Matt Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story7637.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-16 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 64.147.196.2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I am an air traffic controller for the FAA. Have been for almost 24 years. I was working New York (JFK) inbound flights that day. The New York Air Traffic Control Center had just shut me off - they were not accepting any more inbound flights from me so I had to start putting flights into a holding pattern. Pilots were asking me what the reason for the hold was but I initially couldn't tell them. Information was initially very sketchy. As official information filtered down to me I felt a very deep feeling of sorrow - I wanted to cry. I had to maintain my demeanor and land these planes. We were then ordered to land the planes at the nearest available airport. I have never felt the deep feelings of sorrow that I felt that day. I hope I never experience something like that again. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story10280.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-12-28 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 207.188.229.48 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: It was just like any other day ... I was on my third round with my snooze button, I didn't want to get up and get ready for class. Most college kids don't. When my alarm jolted me out of bed for the fourth time that morning my roomie told me that I 'might want to come into the living room'. I turned my alarm off and sleepily trudged my way out to the living room. I watched in first disbelief, and quickly thereafter complete horror as the events of 9-11 unfolded in front of my very eyes. The word 'WAR' was being thrown around my living room over and over again by my roomies and myself. I don't think we knew quite how accurate we were with our premonition, but it proved quite accurate in the next few weeks. I remember thinking it was a great display of CGI, or digital effects. I remember thinking it was going to be a trailer for a blockbuster movie. I remember crying when I realized that it was neither. Class was the last thing on my mind after I witnessed the second plane brutally slam into one of the twins. I remember frantically searching my mental database for anyone that lived/worked in or around the towers or the pentagon, thats when the sick feeling hit me square in the gut. My roomies father worked in the pentagon, on the navy side. We frantically tried to get ahold of him on the phone to no avail ... all circuits were busy. We got word that he was safe, he was not in the building, but at a meeting at the time of the attack. Relief. Sorrow for all that were not at a meeting. The images and feelings of that beautiful morning here in Gainesville, FL will forever be burned into my memory. The vivid details of the attack, the feeling of helplessness, and the extreme feeling of pride and patriotism as I saw my countrymen pull themselves up and come together in one of the most amazing displays of 'family' I can remember in my short 22 year life. Thanks for the pride, thanks for the lesson, and GOD BLESS AMERICA! Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story1286.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-08-20 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 64.128.181.45 Annotation Annotations to this item. Patriotism DOMESTIC Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: My sister's call woke me that morning. She told me to get out of bed and turn on the television. At first, groggy with sleep, I couldn't fully understand what was happening. I watched the buildings burn and fall and just felt a sense of numb disbelief and total disorientation. As a government worker, I was sent home that day because of fears of additional attacks. My father was gravely ill at this time, so I went to the hospital in the mid-morning and broke the horrible news to him. We sat and watched the news reports together with my mother all day. It was that day that my father decided to discontinue medical treatment. I can't help but feel badly that my father's last few days were filled with images of the worst that human nature has to offer. I am also thankful that in my 34 years, I have only awakened one morning to someone else's hateful, cruel vision of the world. It is truly a miracle to live in a country where it is possible to wake to a peaceful and beautiful world daily. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story4744.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 134.186.121.188 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: My husband was born and raised in NY. We received a phone call to turn our TV on that a plane had hit the first tower. My husband and I stood in front of the television set and watched the second plane hit the second tower. We thought at first that it wasn't real then we went into a panic. We have relatives that live and work close to the towers. Our nephew is an officer in the AirForce and is stationed in NY. We have a nephew that works for the airport. We tried and tried to reach them by phone but the lines were so overloaded with calls of people trying to reach their loved ones that we couldn't get through. We could only stand in a daze of disbelief and our eyes full of tears. This just couldn't be happening!! For days we watched the news and neither of us could sleep. Finally on the third day I left my home just to try and get away from it. I went to town and entered a store. In that store I saw three women with children standing there talking and they were not speaking American. I felt the anger rise so deeply within me that all I wanted to do was to attack them. I knew that wasn't right out of me and I never felt that way before but all I could think of was that they were in America and they should have to speak our language. I am a very loving person normally but I had so many mixed feelings and I guess my anger was directed at anyone that was not American. It took several days to find out that our families in NY were okay. I was devastated and greiving for weeks and months after this happened to out Country!! I thought I was going to have to go for counciling. To this day it is hard for me to look at the pictures of the Towers burning and people jumping or falling to their deaths!! I don't understand why other countries would want to hurt us when we try to help them in so many ways. When I hear our Fighter Jets go over our house I feel afraid because I don't know what is maybe going to happen. We live in a large town and close to the Airport so I hear our jets go over our house when they are flying to check our borders. To this day I live in fear of the unknown. I never felt that way until the Towers were attacked and our Pentagon. Our Country is suppose to be a land of the Free and to not feel that way anymore and to have to watch other people because you fear them because you don't know what they are saying or could be planning makes you feel your freedom has been taken away. The terroists thought they could destroy us but they saw our country come together uniting together as one and still standing tall. But we will never forget the horror of that day and we will never forget our heroes living and dead. We as a Nation, as one people will always shed tears of sorrow for on that black day that so many needless deaths occurred. And to add to our grief on the anniversary of that day we saw the clipping from a newspaper where other countries were celebrating the deaths of our Americans--that we deserved that tragedy. No one should have to live in that kind of fear. God Bless the USA!!!!! Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story6680.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-12 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 209.84.179.129 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: On the day of the terrorist attacks on September eleventh, I was only in the sixth grade. Thus, throughout the school day, my peers and I remained in the dark about the events which took place. We understood that something was going on, because the school principle, Mrs. Woodley made an announcement over the intercom about safety precautions. Yet, she mentioned no specifics. I remember my classmates and I questioning and talking about what might have happened. The only thing we could think of was that maybe there was a burglar or other criminal on the loose. Obviously, we were completely wrong, and we did not discover the actual truth about what took place until after school let out. When the bell rang, ending the school day, I noticed that there were more parents coming to pick up their children then usual, and I found that quite peculiar. Then, my attention was diverted away from those thoughts when I saw my two good friends, Carey and Tad. Tad's mom was standing next to him and she explained to us that certain buildings had been attacked by plains. However, I do not believe that either of us completely understood the magnitude of what took place until we made it home and turned on the television. As soon as the television turned on, all we saw on the screen was a barrage of firey images and screaming people. The images we were witnessing were surreal to us, we could not wrap our minds around what was happening. It was as if in that instance, our childish innocence was ripped away from us forever. We no longer carried the belief that the world was a happy, joyful place. Instead, the prevalence of the evils of our world became apparent in our eyes. Although, it is during these difficult times that the true strenght of a nation and its people shines through. When our neighborhood learned of a family that lost their loving husband and father, we all came together the help the family out in any way we could. Everybody baked meals for them, offered emotional support, and a shoulder to cry on. Incredibly, after 9/11, people all over the nation provided help for family and friends the same way. It was heart-warming to see that during a difficult time, all people, reguardless of petty differences, were there for eachother when it really mattered. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story20507.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2006-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 151.188.16.21 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was at home going about my usual chores. I received a phone call from a fellow employee to turn on the television. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and hearing. I felt such a sickening feeling as I listented to the anchormen report on the terrorism. My first thought was, how could we not expect something like this not to happen? How, as a country, are we to feel safe when the government is allowing all of the beliefs and trusts that we have in our lives to be removed? They have taken away the prayers in our schools, our pledge to the flag and any other sayings that includes God in our language. Why? Because of the people that don't want to believe in Him? We are letting the unbelievers, such as the terrorists, destroy our world as we know it. Just to satisfy them? We want to hold our flag high and be proud but how can we be proud of a government that allows this kind of stuff to happen? I went to work that day and there was a person there that I had had trouble with for such a long time. Her son was in the service and I saw the fright on her face. All of the ill feelings and thoughts I had for her disappeared as I watched her sit and pray to our God to keep him safe. Think about it. We need God in our lives to help us feel secure in a world where there is nothing but tragedy and pain. Maybe, by this happening on 9/11 He is trying to tell us that we do in fact, need Him. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story2638.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 65.162.97.81 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: The day of 9-11-01 I was at school outside playing flag football. When we went in to the lockerroom we were listing to the news and heard the the north tower was hit by a airplane. At first I dident know what was going on till they said the the WTC was under attack. Being a furture marine, I new this was the time for me to realy look out for my self and my friends. Now I'm a sgt.with the army. this was the day I saw what i wanted to do with my life because i wanted to protect my country from this ever happing again Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story11368.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2005-04-13 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 66.210.243.158 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was getting ready for the innaguration of our 14th President here at Hardin Simmons University, on the morning of September 11th. I had just gotten out of the shower, and was listening to my radio, because I did not have a television. My friend from down the hall called me to tell me that she was watching THe Today Show, and that the World Trade Center was on fire, but no one knew why. I was really suprised and very curious about what was going on. I had been to New York City that past summer with my mother and grandmother, and we had gone to the top of the tower. I quickly called my parents. THey were both still at home in Canyon, Texas. They both are usually gone by eight, and I was shocked that they were still home. THey told me they were just blown away and didn't know what to think. I was still unsure of what was happening. THey told me how a plane had hit one tower, and how they saw the second plane hit the second tower. They let me go, and then I just continued to get ready for the ceremony. The radio station I was listening to began news coverage of the events, so I had a way to hear more. I heard that something terrible was beginning to happen, so I ran to my friends room to see it on the tv. The first building was emploding. We shreiked, and cried, but still we had no way to grasp what was occuring. By that time we were almost late for the ceremony, and quickly left. As we came upon the chapel, where the innaguration was being held, I began to hear everyone discussing the news of NYC. I would try to grab any new bits or pieces to tell to others. I was so frustrated that I was having to be at this, when there was something huge going on in New York. I look back on it now, and I was so mad at the school for continuing the ceremony in the midst of the crisis. But at the time, I had no clue of the hugeness of what was really going on. At the time I did not even know who had done this. I had heard somethign about terrorist, but I did not understand the big picture. I remember being so scared. It was the first semester of my second semester in college. I was close to five hours away from my parents, and I was in a town with an air force base, which I just knew was goign to be attacked at any minute. As the day went on I learned more and more details of the deepness of the tragedy that had just occured. I heard story after story from people that knew someone, or knew someone that knew someone that either lived in New York City or even worse was supposed to be at the Towers that day. After lunch I made my way back to my dorm by myself. When I walked in, I saw both TVs turned on with news coverage of NYC. A lot of people had begun to gather to watch. Suddenly we all got in a large circle and began praying for our nation. At that moment we alljust lifted our fears and confusion to our Heavenly Father. I tried my hardest to not question Him or feel angry with God for allowing this to happen. I was continually reminded of how He does have everything under His control and that He will get us through this as He does with everything else. On September 11th, my eyes were opened to the evil that exist in the world. I have never felt fear like I did that day. THe days following, I had my eyes opened and prepared for the worst. I reached a new level of trust in my good Lord in the weeks to follow. I am thankful that He calls me His and that I have His word and love everyday. Without that I do not know where I would be today. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story355.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-04-04 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 64.216.57.67 Annotation Annotations to this item. Military Religion Rumors Students/Teachers WTC, pre-911 DOMESTIC Feature Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was on the roof of the Foundation Building of the Cooper Union at 9am about to convene a faculty meeting...the first of the year... when a faculty member came in to say that the WTC was on fire. We asked the custodian to take us up to the roof, and we all saw both towers fall. It was a moment we will all never forget. The loft where I live is visible under the Evian sign in the lower left of the images, so the experience of seeing all this unfold from where I work just a mile behind where I live was overwhelming. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story553.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-05-08 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 165.247.37.168 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I worked at the Atlanta Marrioptt Marquis then,It was an unbelieveable site to see the 2nd airplain crashing into the World Trade Center. I remember my wife calling me from home saying that an airplain has crashed into the World Trade Center.Afew months prior to September my wife and I were supposed to move to N.Y for work reasons,She was supposed to work in the Center and so was I.Because working Marriott I was looking to transfer to the World Trade Center Marriott and she was supposed to work for City Bank. I remember her crying because she did'nt get the job and me saying to her that there is always a reason why things do not always workout as we plan, I guess that it was just not our calling. Need less to say I feel sorry for the people that lost their loved ones and we should enjoy life one day at a time,be thankfull for the people that we have to share it with and love them also. Cassius Fevriere. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story3546.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 207.2.99.52 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: How did you witness history on September 11th? Share your experience. "The morning of September 11th I stayed home fro0m work and I was watching the "Today Show". I was watching it, and all of a sudden they broke in with a special report that the first plane had hit the tower. I continued to watch the television, changing channels to see if there was more news. I began to realize that this was probably a delibrate act. All morning I watched the television I could not leave it, and I began to worry about the area we lived in because of the military presence here." Has your life changed because of September 11, 2001? If so, tell us how. "My daily life has not really changed, I still fly in airplanes, but I am more suspicious of people and circumstances. I worry more now about things I have no control over." What do you think should be remembered about September 11th? "The extraordinary of people that were directly involved and their efforts to help in any way they could. We should also remember the long-term effects that these attacks will have on everyone." Did you fly an American flag after the events of September 11th? Have your feelings about the American flag changed as a result of September 11th? "Yes, I did fly an American flag. My feelings have not changed about the flag. I have always felt that our flag is a symbol of respect for our country. I am happy to see the flag displayed so much as long as it is done properly." Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story8811.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-12-16 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 216.54.14.84 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: SEPT 11, 2001 On this day of Sept 11th 41 yrs of age I started my day as usual, up at 6am got washed, dressed, kissed my wife good-bye, and was out the door at 6:30 to catch the 6:44 train to New York. My job was located in the World Trade Center 1 on the 81st floor, employed by Banc Of America Securities. I was in my office at 8:00 as always, getting a jump-start of my day. I was talking to an associate of mine Grace Gullo when I happen to see I had a message on my voice mail. When I log into my phone the message was from my wife stating to call here on her cell phone. When I called her she didn?t answer so I left her a message. As I hung up the phone I stood up to see my associate to finish the conversation we were having and then walk out to take the elevator down to the main lobby to buy a cup of coffee. At the point when I told Grace I?ll be back the whole building swung back and fourth, litterly throwing me off balance. When it stopped I notice parts of the ceiling was falling down, fire alarm sounded off, everyone started yelling and running for the exit doors. I took a glance from my window and saw black smoke from the above floors and a lot of paper flying around with what I thought was to be a body, but wasn?t so sure. I turned away from the window and noticed my side of the floor was almost empty, that?s when I told Janice another co-worker who sat next to me to start running where everyone else was headed. I got about 100ft from my desk when I realized I didn?t have my briefcase with me. I stopped turned around to go back towards my desk when I happen to see some of my co-workers running in a different direction. I went to my desk got my briefcase, saw a co-worker of mine Julia from the Dividend Dept. and asked are you OK. She replied NO. I told her everything would be all right, stay with me. Julia and I started out in the direction where I happen to see the other co-workers exit. When I exited the same door they went out, I was out in a smokey hallway next to a door. I entered the room with Julia and I took a look around the room. I noticed I was in like a maintance room with about 5 co-workers and two Siemen employees, who were telling me to close the door behind me. One of the Siemen employees stated, everyone to be COM, we are safe, grab some towels and shove them under the door to keep the smoke out. The firemen will be here soon. I took one look at him and went into a daze saying to myself, is this guy crazy! We?re 81 stories high! I looked at him and said are you nuts. I looked at my co-workers (John Rothrock, Chris Thompson, Julia) and said, I?m leaving and you?re all are following me out. I turned to open the door and heard Chris saying No, don?t open, and by that time I was out of the room and in the hallway again. All I heard from behind me was John saying Frank wait for me. I turned towards the voice and saw John coming towards me, and then the rest of them, one by one. Now we were all back where it all started, in the office area. (1) I lead them all towards the direction I had originally started my escape. We all ran around inside the building to the opposite side of the floor where the Exit sign was. As I was leading them towards the exit sign I realized we were the only ones left on the floor. We got to the Exit; where someone was holding the door open for us. As we were going down the stairwell at one point I heard screaming behind me. We were at about the 73rd floor when I told Chris who was in front of me; I?m going back up and for him to continue down the stairs. When he heard what I had said to him there was a moment of silence. I turned away from him, started going back up and heard him yelling, Frank. As I turned towards him he was saying are you Crazy, you can?t go back up, come back down with me. I stated to him I can?t I have to see what is going on. I?ll be OK. Please go down the stairs with the others. I don?t remember how many flights I had gone up before I saw someone grabbing a fire hose from the standpipe in the stairwell. I helped him release and untangle the hose. I asked what is your name, he replied Shin. I stated I?m Frank, while the other person was opening the valve. I asked Shin have you ever done something like this before. He replied Yes, I?m an ex-marine, how about you. I stated Yes, I?m an ex-volunteer fireman. Then I started going into the floor straitening out the hose towards the person at the nozzle, who was applying water at the fire by an elevator shaft. On the other side of the fire were a couple of people waiting to come through. The fire was under control, and at that time I went towards them. When I got there I had told them to go towards to direction I came from and at the end of the hall to make a left then a right into the stairwell. As they were going I saw more people, which looked like they were coming from a stair well inside their floor. I noticed a lady coming towards me walking with her arm held out stiff like a board wondering what happen. Once she approached me I realized her skin was hanging off her arms and she had blood on her face and along her blondish hair. When I saw the last person coming down I asked if there was anyone else behind you. He replied No. At that point I headed back where I came from and told the person on the nozzle this was the last one. We both left towards the exit. He went down the stairs and I decided to continue up. As I was going up I exited into each floor approximately 6 ? 10ft, yelling HELLO, IS THERE ANYONE HERE. At one point not knowing how far up I had gone, I was on a floor yelling to see if someone would respond, and the ceiling started coming down and struck me on the side of my chest. As I escaped off the floor I started tripping and falling to my knees and hands over the debris. When I got out into the stair well I shook myself off and continued up the stairs. I got to the 78th floor, which was the level were the elevators stopped. At that point you had to get on another to continue up to the upper floors. On the 78th floor I noticed a maintence worker, I yelled to him come on we have to get out. He replied back there is someone stuck in the elevator. As I was approaching him I said do you know what happen here. He replied, a plane has struck the building. (2) He took me to the elevator, where I saw an elderly man inside. He was very COM. I asked if he was all right, he replied yes. I answered don?t worry we will get you out. I noticed the elevator doors were jammed from the top leaving a gap from the bottom, like the shape of a triangle. I told him to stand back; we?re going to open the doors. I asked the worker to grab one side of the doors as I grabbed the other to pry open the doors, but that didn?t work. I said I?d be back. I went and got a pole from a sign I had broken to slip into the doors on top to open for leverage, but that didn?t work. The pole just bent, it was aluminum. Then I went and ripped off a part of the wall, which was Marble, that didn?t work. As we attempted to help him, I ask the worker if he knew where the keys were kept for the elevators. He said No. I asked the man in the elevator if he was able to open the panel by the floor level buttons, he replied No. By that time there were more workers showing up. One of them was about 7ft tall with a radio. I explained to him what we have tried using to open the doors. By this time there were about 7 of us trying to get this person out. I sat back against the wall trying to figure out what to do, and then I overheard the 7ft worker say something about a key. One of them left immediately. As I sat there thinking what to do next I heard a voice inside my head say Frank, You have done your share, it?s time for you to get out. So I grabbed my briefcase, which I had carried with me all this time and headed to the exit I had originally started at. As I was leaving I was saying to myself, he would be all right. I noticed the escalators connecting the 78th and 79th floors were destroyed. I got into the stairwell and headed down. As I was heading down there was silence, I heard no one yelling nor foot steps other than my own. The lights had gone out and the emergency lights were on. I noticed the floor numbers that were painted on the walls and I wasn?t even close to getting out. At this point I lost it. I had broken down and started crying. I grabbed a hold of my cross that I was wearing on my chain and kissed it, and started praying to God to help me escape. I sat down on the stairs and lit a cigarette to com myself. As I sat there I heard footsteps coming towards me, it was a Fire Marshal. He had asked if I was OK I replied yes. I had mentioned about the person in the elevator that he would be coming across and he said OK. Now I had my family on my mind, wondering if I would ever see them anymore. Wiping the tears off my face I stood up and continued down the stairs. As I looked at the floor levels I kept on panicking, wondering if I would get out in time. Awhile has gone by, and there was still no one in sight. From the floors up above me I started hearing loud noises as if something was falling down towards me. Now I started trembling, and was running down the stairs up to the point I couldn?t run any longer due to a pain I had in my leg. I rested a couple of minutes and continued walking down the stairs. I finally started to hear voices ahead of me, and had caught up with others. When they saw me they handed me a bottle of water and asked if I was OK. I didn?t reply, I just knotted my head Yes. (3) As we were walking down two firemen were walking up in full gear, then another two. Now we all came to a halt, there was shouting going on, go back up, go up. We were being pushed to start walking back up. There was a lot of anger going on, not knowing why we had to rush up the stairs. We must have gone easily 10 ? 15 flights up, before the pushing stopped. There was like a fog of smoke rising up and your eyes just started to burn and tear. As we started walking back down you could smell smoke that was rising up the stairwell. We were walking as if we were zombies, trying to feel if someone was in front of you. Then the smoke started to disappear slowly. The crowd of people had disappeared, which meant to me the ground level was near. I finally made it down stepping into water up to my ankle out of the stairwell. I stopped for a moment only to figure out where I was. I then noticed I was in the lobby that once use to be beautifully polished with chrome and marble. When I looked around it was all destroyed. The exit I had planned on taking to the path trains to Newark was out of the question. I then to my right and saw a very dim light, which meant to me being the outdoors. As I ran around the broken walls I kept falling over them trying to get the hell outside. I got to were once there was a tall wall of glass dividing the inside from out and they were gone, I actually walked out were they once stood. Then I noticed something lying on the ground. Seemed like a statue in a position of a dog on its back with its hands and legs in a begging position. As I approached it I realized it was a body burnt to a degree where I couldn?t tell if the person was black or white. Everything seemed to me in slow motion, people looking around including myself were in a daze. Bodies and parts all around you, streets were all covered in debris, ashes and paper, all over the place. Firemen, Policemen and the EMS were approaching me asking if I was all right. I just shook my head stating OK. I walked out maybe 50ft or so away from the building when I noticed a familiar face from the 81st floor I don?t recall his name, he was tall with a whitish beard. AT this point we were told to run away from the building. I ran maybe 200ft when I had to stop to rest. I then turn to look at the WTC. When I looked up, I just froze. I was staring up at the building and saw people holding hands as they fell to their death, that?s when I lost it. I got down on my knees and started screaming at the top of my lungs, NO. A moment later there was yelling behind me saying to run, run the building is coming down. I didn?t know if that warning was meant for me, but I got up and started running again. As I was running there was this loud noise and rumble. When all was said and done, I only remembered opening my eyes and noticing I was inside a hospital. I had all these nurses and doctors around me, wires on my chest, tubes sticking out of my arms and an oxygen mask over my mouth. I remember panicking and one of the nurses said something, so they injected me with some kind of medication. (4) When I got to the point of being more relaxed I guess from the medication, I was also confused as to why and how I had gotten there. I remember one of them asking my name, how do I feel, does anything hurt. All I recalled was a lot of dizziness. Then at some point I asked I had to call my wife, and they replied as soon as the doctor comes back with the results. The doctor came and stated everything is fine. I had been treated with smoke inhalation, you are free to go. I asked the nurse if she could call my wife, being it was late in the afternoon. I gave her my home number and said my wife?s name is Maria. When the nurse came back she said my wife was relieved I was OK. I then thanked the nurse and asked what hospital I was at, she told me NYU Medical. I then asked for my shirt. She replied it was half torn when I got there so they tore the rest off. She gave me a doctors operation shirt to wear home. I then asked how could I get to Jersey. She told me she heard the ferries were running out of Staten Island. So I started walking. I was about almost there when a cop stopped me and said the streets were closed. I told him were I was headed and he said I had to go to Chelsea pier. From Chelsea I managed to get on a tugboat to Weehawken NJ, and then walked to Hoboken to get the path train to Newark. Once at Newark I got the NJ transit to Avenel and finally home to my family at approximately 10:30. Words can?t express my feeling that took place when I walked into my home that night. The TV was on and I then realized by watching the news how it all took place and that I was still in tower 1 when tower 2 had collapsed. The next day my wife took me to JFK Hospital to get examined again, because I was dizzy and coughing up black saliva. After my examination, I was released with medication and if it was to get worse to come back. When I arrived home I started getting calls from my co-workers. I was glad to her there voices and that they were safe. But at the same time I was hurt, for the 4 employees that never made it out. I wished I could have been there for them. A couple of days went by and I noticed I haven?t been the same person I once was. I feel very lonely, depressed; I have nightmares, and cry in my sleep. When I had the TV on all you heard was the tragedies of 9/11. A week later I was told my picture was in Peoples Weekly Magazine. My wife went and bought what ever she could carry home. She was in tears when she arrived home. I took a look on page 32 of your Sept 24th issue and I couldn?t believe it myself. My biggest goal in life now is my Family and to conquer my fears, as it has taken over my life mentally. One day soon, I pray this will be all behind me, and I can live my normal life again. Survivor from the 81st fl, World Trade Center, North Tower. My name is Frank Castrogiovanni. (5) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story8443.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-10-16 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 129.174.27.131