story5415.xml

story5415.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

Our train was scheduled to leave Hoboken at 9:00am and it pulled out on time. As the conductor came around to collect the tickets, he mentioned that the first tower was on fire. The train stopped moving just outside of the station and you could see Tower 1 as clear as day.Hoboken is just across the river. As I was looking at the burning building, I saw a plane come around in a semi circle and the next thing I knew, I saw a big ball of fire coming from the second tower. At that point, I knew we were under some kind of attack. I remember feeling very nervous because here we are, on a train that wasn't moving, no cellular service, and absolutely no way of knowing what was going on.
After a while the train began moving and eventually I was able to get a signal on my phone. I called my mother and asked her to put the TV on and tell me what was going on. She reported that it was two domestic airplanes that had crashed into the buildings.I reported to the rest of the train.
Since all traffic in to NY was suspended, the train continued on it's journey through NJ. When I reached my destination, I spent the rest of the day trying to contact my son and his father to make sure they were ok. I was unable to return home that night so I stayed at a local hotel, were I could see the burning buildings from my window.

I lost 11 employees/colleagues on that day. My heart and prayers go out to all of the surviving familes.