story5480.xml
Title
story5480.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-11
911DA Story: Story
It was about 9am when one of my coworkers said that the radio announcer was saying that a plane had hit the World Trade Center in Manhattan. I ran into their office and heard the story being repeated, then they announced that another plane had hit the Trade center!
I called my husband in West Chester, PA to let him know to turn on his radio, then I called some friends who worked at the airport to see if they knew what was going on.
I also tried to call my brother, whom I thought was working at the Trade Center and kept getting the "all circuits are busy" message. I then tried to call my sister on Staten Island, to see if she had heard from him and to find out what was really going on. I could not get through, so I sent her and my brother emails.
She called me in tears, saying that it was being said that it was a terrorist attack and she couldn't raise my brother either. We were both frantic with fear.
There was a small television set out in the dock area and I watched with growing disbelief, as the planes crashed into the towers. Then I saw the towers start to crumble and I ran back in to try contacting my brother once more. He finally called me about 11am and I had never heard him so upset, not even when my mother had died.
He said that he had been assigned to work at a building near the Trade Center just that week and he had heard a loud crash. He looked out the window and saw a lot of small white objects floating past. He thought the city was having a ticker tape parade and thought no more about it, until he heard the second crash. He ran outside and saw the towers on fire and at that point his company evacuated the building. He ran to the Staten Island ferry but the boats weren't running on time so he had to wait a long time for the boat. He was one of the last to be allowed on the boat and he stayed on the back area. He looked back at Manhattan as they left the slip and was horrified to see the towers collapsing!
He and I had watched the Towers being built, we both went to school in St. George and worked in Manhattan. I remember shopping there during my lunch hour when I worked on Wall St. It was a great tragedy, all those precious lives lost due to a fanatics crazy cause.
I called my husband in West Chester, PA to let him know to turn on his radio, then I called some friends who worked at the airport to see if they knew what was going on.
I also tried to call my brother, whom I thought was working at the Trade Center and kept getting the "all circuits are busy" message. I then tried to call my sister on Staten Island, to see if she had heard from him and to find out what was really going on. I could not get through, so I sent her and my brother emails.
She called me in tears, saying that it was being said that it was a terrorist attack and she couldn't raise my brother either. We were both frantic with fear.
There was a small television set out in the dock area and I watched with growing disbelief, as the planes crashed into the towers. Then I saw the towers start to crumble and I ran back in to try contacting my brother once more. He finally called me about 11am and I had never heard him so upset, not even when my mother had died.
He said that he had been assigned to work at a building near the Trade Center just that week and he had heard a loud crash. He looked out the window and saw a lot of small white objects floating past. He thought the city was having a ticker tape parade and thought no more about it, until he heard the second crash. He ran outside and saw the towers on fire and at that point his company evacuated the building. He ran to the Staten Island ferry but the boats weren't running on time so he had to wait a long time for the boat. He was one of the last to be allowed on the boat and he stayed on the back area. He looked back at Manhattan as they left the slip and was horrified to see the towers collapsing!
He and I had watched the Towers being built, we both went to school in St. George and worked in Manhattan. I remember shopping there during my lunch hour when I worked on Wall St. It was a great tragedy, all those precious lives lost due to a fanatics crazy cause.
Collection
Citation
“story5480.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 19, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/15317.