story9004.xml
Title
story9004.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2003-01-27
911DA Story: Story
September 11, 2001
Tuesday, September 11, 2001 started off as a typical day for me. As I have done for the past four months, I took the 7:39 AM Metro North express train to Grand Central, arriving at about 8:20 AM. I walked to the Lexington Avenue subway and waited for the Number 4 or 5 to take me to Wall Street. My biggest worry up to that point was how I was going to be able to leave the office by 6 PM to get me home by 7:30 PM for dinner with my parents. For some reason the subway, which usually got me to Wall Street before 8:45 AM was a little slow and I arrived there at about 8:48 AM. I walked the stairs to the street above, and was greeted by heavy smoke, soot and papers flying in every direction. My first thought was that the building over the subway was on fire and I hurried across the street to the corner to get as far away as possible. I asked someone what was going on. A woman pointed to the west and told me that a plane had hit the World Trade Tower minutes before. I looked up and saw Tower One, fire streaming from its windows and a thick black billowing smoke. I realized that the papers I saw whirling around me were memos and graphs from the offices of the Tower. I thought to myself, ?Where are the people that wrote these memos?? I looked down and saw a plane ticket. I was going to pick it up but decided I couldn?t. I could only see faces of people I did not know.
At that point I tried my parents on my cell phone. I wanted to let them know I was all right, in case they saw the news on television. Somehow I got through to my father and told him that the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane. He didn?t believe what I had told him so I told him to turn on the news. While on the phone my eyes strayed to a woman who looked like she was in a daze. I asked her if she was all right and she told me that she had just walked the few blocks from Tower One to where we were standing. She was in the deli across the street from the Trade Center buying her usual cup of coffee before proceeding to her office at Deutch Bank, located across the street from Tower One when she heard a loud boom and felt a tremor. In the panic and confusion of people trying to get out of the deli she fell and was trampled over by people trying to get out. She had hurt her neck but her first concern was getting through to her husband to tell him she was still alive. She asked if she could use my cell phone. We tried it but were unable to get through. I then asked if she wanted to come to my office, a block away, to use my phone and get some water. She agreed and we walked to One Chase Plaza.
I am a lawyer and work for a law firm that has its offices in the Chase Building downtown. We arrived at the building and took the elevator up to my office on the 58th floor. I learned that the woman?s name was Francis and that she commuted to New York with her husband from Pennsylvania. She kept repeating her thanks for my being so kind to her. I got her into my office. My office window directly faces the World Trade Center Towers and I commented that we could see first hand what was going on there. Up until that point we all thought that a plane had accidentally gone off course hitting the building. It never dawned on us that we were witnessing the end of two hijackings. I no sooner got the words out of my mouth when I saw a large plane streak down the Hudson River, make a sharp banking turn to the right and head straight toward Tower Two. I heard the plane throttle up moments before it impacted with the Tower. The plane went straight through Tower Two, like a knife through butter, and the nose looked like it came out the other side. A big ball of flames erupted after impact. My first thought was that it was a fighter plane, that?s how fast it came in, but I quickly realized that the plane was too big. I then thought it was a B52 bomber. I learned later that it was the United Flight ---- and the plane was a Boeing 767. My next thought was that we were under attack and that the plane was going to be followed by additional fighter planes or bombers and our building was going to be next. One Chase Plaza is only 60 stories high, but it houses Chase, a financial institution, a natural target for terrorists, if it was terrorists. When I witnessed the impact of the plane there was no doubt in my mind that terrorists were involved. I couldn?t believe the Towers were still standing. I couldn?t believe that the top of Tower Two wasn?t sheered off by the impact. But I also knew that no one could hit that building with the precision that was required at the speed involved but a terrorist. The aim of that plane was dead on and no U.S. pilot would have done that act. I kept thinking that a U.S. pilot would have ditched the plane in the Hudson River before hitting that building. The act was deliberate and caused by a fanatic, no doubt in my mind then.
I heard Carol, a secretary at the firm, say ?That?s it. We?ve got to get out of here.? I know I kept repeating ?What was that? What just happened here? Did that really just happen?? I simply couldn?t believe what I had just seen. I still can?t believe what I saw. We quickly got to the stairs and walked the 58 stories down to the plaza level. When we got to the 5th floor the Safety Officer for the building got on the intercom and told people to go back to their offices, the building was secure and safe. I remember thinking, ?They?ve got to be kidding, didn?t they see what just happened?? I saw some people head back upstairs. After what I had just witnessed I just hurried down the last 5 stories -I think it was the longest walk I have taken in my entire life.
On the street everyone was looking up toward the Towers, now in flames. I saw what I now know were people dropping from the windows, but to me looked like large pieces of debris or black paper. I cannot shake the image from my mind. Francis and I decided that we were not going to remain on the plaza next to such a tall building (we were afraid the World Trade buildings would collapse and the thought of additional planes attacking Wall Street was another fear) so we proceeded to walk towards the East River and away from the madness. We somehow made it to Fulton Street where I tried my cell phone again, all the while looking up at the Towers, watching them burn. I mostly got a no service message on my phone but after about 10 tries I managed to get my father again. I learned from him that the news reported eight planes were hijacked and four were accounted for ? the two that hit the World Trade Center, one that had just hit the Pentagon and another that went down in Pittsburgh (later it was determined the plane went down outside of Pittsburgh). I also found out that my brother-in-law, a Delta pilot, was not flying that day. My sister, on an American flight bound for Florida, was safely diverted to Atlanta. My sister-in-law, on a subway under Tower One when the first plane hit, made it safely to Brooklyn.
I have to admit, my only thought at that moment was that there were more planes out there that were going to strike and that the safest thing was to get as far away as possible. So we started to walk North. We walked through the South Street Seaport, which was eerily deserted. We walked through the courtyard of an apartment complex and up toward the Brooklyn Bridge. People were streaming across the Brooklyn Bridge by foot. Francis saw someone from her building and learned that everyone was evacuated safely. I kept looking over my shoulder the entire time and watched the two towers continue to burn. At some point, and I don?t remember precisely where I was, I saw a thick billowing cloud and thought, ?My God, the Towers just collapsed.? I didn?t know at the time whether that thought was correct or not but we managed to be right ahead of the plume of dust and debris that descended on the area. Had I stayed by the Chase Building I would have been enveloped in the plume that the collapse had generated. Three of my co-workers weren?t as lucky and I later found out that they couldn?t breathe and thought they were going to suffocate to death. Fortunately they did not and have lived to tell the tale.
We thought momentarily of staying but decided to continue walking and our trek took us past Centre Street and the Court houses. I thought, ?We need to get away from these buildings. These are another symbol of the United States that could be attacked now.? I just kept walking. Thousands of people joined us along the way. I met a man who had gotten out of the twelfth floor of Tower One. A met a young man who was worried about his father who worked in the area around the Towers. Mostly, though, we walked quietly. When we talked it was to wonder what kind of person could do this act. The silence was eerie when you think about it. Thousands of people walking and not a sound. Ambulances and police cars raced past us to area hospitals. At one point there was an unmarked car with about two feet of soot covering it racing past us. At 40th Street Francis left me to go to the West Side where her husband was. We hugged and I told her when this was all over to remember where my office was so we could meet again in better circumstances. Crazy what you think of it. We never would have met except for what happened that day. I hope she made it home okay. I didn?t even get her phone number. I feel badly that what I had hoped was an act of kindness on my part made her witness the second plane?s impact. I hope she forgives me for that.
I continued walking alone to Grand Central only to be told that the terminal was closed. Thousands of people were outside. Because I was still convinced that there was going to be another wave of attacks I decided that I needed to be as far away from any landmarks as soon as possible. I walked a bit down Fifth Avenue, turning off to Madison before I reached Rockefeller Center and Saint Patrick?s Cathedral. I looked to see if I could get an Express Bus to Westchester (Yonkers or White Plains) but all I saw were buses going to Queens, Throgs Neck or Coop City ? and the lines were blocks long. At 82nd Street I took a chance. An Express Bus was at a red light and I knocked on the door. I asked the driver where he was headed and he told me Coop City in the Bronx. I asked if I could get on and he told me yes. I still don?t remember walking most of what I walked. All I could think of was to get out of the City before the next plane hit.
I started my life in the Bronx and had lived in the Pelham Bay area until I was a teenager when my family moved to Greenwich. I was never happier to see those familiar surroundings in my life. Miraculously I was able to get through on my cell phone once again to my parents and to a friend. Both were willing to come to pick me up, although my parents finally did. Twenty minutes later I was back in Greenwich. The time was 2:30 PM. I guess I walked half of Manhattan that day. I would have walked all the way home to Greenwich if I had to.
I have thought a lot about what happened on Tuesday. How at one moment, the most important thing in your life is getting to work and the next was wondering if you were going to live or die. The vision of the plane impacting with Tower Two keeps repeating before my eyes like a continuous movie. I have described it as a Die Hard movie and Armageddon, only it was real life. I don?t think my brain has come to that realization yet. I am curiously numb and without any feeling. I keep hoping that what I have experienced is a bad nightmare and that I will wake up and it will all be normal again. I have slept maybe three hours each night but I feel strangely relaxed and not tired. I realize now that I witnessed the immediate death of people like me on the airplane. I also realize that I saw the carnage that has contributed to the deaths of thousands more. I know what it is like to be in war. I know you will think it is an understatement when I say that it is not like the movies. I have witnessed evil firsthand. Innocent people died, as they usually do when evil prevails. I don?t understand the type of mind that can do this to another human being. I can?t understand what they hope to accomplish by such senseless acts. I guess that?s why they are called fanatics.
I cannot yet picture going back to my office, if we are ever allowed back there, looking out the window and not seeing the two towers of the World Trade Center there. I also lived which I find a miracle in itself. I guess I still have something left to contribute to this world. It wasn?t my time yet to go. I became a lawyer so that I could make a difference in the world and help people. I need to start acting on that.
I also will not allow the terrorists to win. I ask that everyone else not to let them do so either. Although I have been watching videos these past two days (I simply cannot bring myself to watch something on television that I experienced firsthand) I went into New York City Thursday night to see The Lion King. I was supposed to be part of a group of 100 people. Only five of us made the trip in. I made the trip by myself when the rest of the group I was going to go with decided not to go. I understand why they didn?t but I am glad I made it there. I feel, as I believe those who were in the theater that night also felt, that I did my little part in defeating what terrorism stands for. We were not cowering at home, afraid to be out. Neither did we forget all those who have perished. At the curtain call there was a moment of silence and the cast asked us to sing God Bless America. There were more than a few tears shed in the theater that night.
I don?t know if you can ever understand what I have written on these pages. I am not, after all, a hero. The heroes died in the planes, the Pentagon, the Towers and are seen every day in the faces of the rescue workers. I know that there are still people that are unaccounted for and my thoughts and prayers are with them and their families. But I wanted to share this to let people know that each day is a precious gift. Before you leave the house or your apartment tell someone you know or love that you care about them. Call a friend that you haven?t seen or heard from. Give someone a hug or a kiss. Because you can find yourself one day leaving for work, saying good bye to your family, getting a cup of coffee at the corner deli, going to your office and never seeing them again.
Tuesday, September 11, 2001 started off as a typical day for me. As I have done for the past four months, I took the 7:39 AM Metro North express train to Grand Central, arriving at about 8:20 AM. I walked to the Lexington Avenue subway and waited for the Number 4 or 5 to take me to Wall Street. My biggest worry up to that point was how I was going to be able to leave the office by 6 PM to get me home by 7:30 PM for dinner with my parents. For some reason the subway, which usually got me to Wall Street before 8:45 AM was a little slow and I arrived there at about 8:48 AM. I walked the stairs to the street above, and was greeted by heavy smoke, soot and papers flying in every direction. My first thought was that the building over the subway was on fire and I hurried across the street to the corner to get as far away as possible. I asked someone what was going on. A woman pointed to the west and told me that a plane had hit the World Trade Tower minutes before. I looked up and saw Tower One, fire streaming from its windows and a thick black billowing smoke. I realized that the papers I saw whirling around me were memos and graphs from the offices of the Tower. I thought to myself, ?Where are the people that wrote these memos?? I looked down and saw a plane ticket. I was going to pick it up but decided I couldn?t. I could only see faces of people I did not know.
At that point I tried my parents on my cell phone. I wanted to let them know I was all right, in case they saw the news on television. Somehow I got through to my father and told him that the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane. He didn?t believe what I had told him so I told him to turn on the news. While on the phone my eyes strayed to a woman who looked like she was in a daze. I asked her if she was all right and she told me that she had just walked the few blocks from Tower One to where we were standing. She was in the deli across the street from the Trade Center buying her usual cup of coffee before proceeding to her office at Deutch Bank, located across the street from Tower One when she heard a loud boom and felt a tremor. In the panic and confusion of people trying to get out of the deli she fell and was trampled over by people trying to get out. She had hurt her neck but her first concern was getting through to her husband to tell him she was still alive. She asked if she could use my cell phone. We tried it but were unable to get through. I then asked if she wanted to come to my office, a block away, to use my phone and get some water. She agreed and we walked to One Chase Plaza.
I am a lawyer and work for a law firm that has its offices in the Chase Building downtown. We arrived at the building and took the elevator up to my office on the 58th floor. I learned that the woman?s name was Francis and that she commuted to New York with her husband from Pennsylvania. She kept repeating her thanks for my being so kind to her. I got her into my office. My office window directly faces the World Trade Center Towers and I commented that we could see first hand what was going on there. Up until that point we all thought that a plane had accidentally gone off course hitting the building. It never dawned on us that we were witnessing the end of two hijackings. I no sooner got the words out of my mouth when I saw a large plane streak down the Hudson River, make a sharp banking turn to the right and head straight toward Tower Two. I heard the plane throttle up moments before it impacted with the Tower. The plane went straight through Tower Two, like a knife through butter, and the nose looked like it came out the other side. A big ball of flames erupted after impact. My first thought was that it was a fighter plane, that?s how fast it came in, but I quickly realized that the plane was too big. I then thought it was a B52 bomber. I learned later that it was the United Flight ---- and the plane was a Boeing 767. My next thought was that we were under attack and that the plane was going to be followed by additional fighter planes or bombers and our building was going to be next. One Chase Plaza is only 60 stories high, but it houses Chase, a financial institution, a natural target for terrorists, if it was terrorists. When I witnessed the impact of the plane there was no doubt in my mind that terrorists were involved. I couldn?t believe the Towers were still standing. I couldn?t believe that the top of Tower Two wasn?t sheered off by the impact. But I also knew that no one could hit that building with the precision that was required at the speed involved but a terrorist. The aim of that plane was dead on and no U.S. pilot would have done that act. I kept thinking that a U.S. pilot would have ditched the plane in the Hudson River before hitting that building. The act was deliberate and caused by a fanatic, no doubt in my mind then.
I heard Carol, a secretary at the firm, say ?That?s it. We?ve got to get out of here.? I know I kept repeating ?What was that? What just happened here? Did that really just happen?? I simply couldn?t believe what I had just seen. I still can?t believe what I saw. We quickly got to the stairs and walked the 58 stories down to the plaza level. When we got to the 5th floor the Safety Officer for the building got on the intercom and told people to go back to their offices, the building was secure and safe. I remember thinking, ?They?ve got to be kidding, didn?t they see what just happened?? I saw some people head back upstairs. After what I had just witnessed I just hurried down the last 5 stories -I think it was the longest walk I have taken in my entire life.
On the street everyone was looking up toward the Towers, now in flames. I saw what I now know were people dropping from the windows, but to me looked like large pieces of debris or black paper. I cannot shake the image from my mind. Francis and I decided that we were not going to remain on the plaza next to such a tall building (we were afraid the World Trade buildings would collapse and the thought of additional planes attacking Wall Street was another fear) so we proceeded to walk towards the East River and away from the madness. We somehow made it to Fulton Street where I tried my cell phone again, all the while looking up at the Towers, watching them burn. I mostly got a no service message on my phone but after about 10 tries I managed to get my father again. I learned from him that the news reported eight planes were hijacked and four were accounted for ? the two that hit the World Trade Center, one that had just hit the Pentagon and another that went down in Pittsburgh (later it was determined the plane went down outside of Pittsburgh). I also found out that my brother-in-law, a Delta pilot, was not flying that day. My sister, on an American flight bound for Florida, was safely diverted to Atlanta. My sister-in-law, on a subway under Tower One when the first plane hit, made it safely to Brooklyn.
I have to admit, my only thought at that moment was that there were more planes out there that were going to strike and that the safest thing was to get as far away as possible. So we started to walk North. We walked through the South Street Seaport, which was eerily deserted. We walked through the courtyard of an apartment complex and up toward the Brooklyn Bridge. People were streaming across the Brooklyn Bridge by foot. Francis saw someone from her building and learned that everyone was evacuated safely. I kept looking over my shoulder the entire time and watched the two towers continue to burn. At some point, and I don?t remember precisely where I was, I saw a thick billowing cloud and thought, ?My God, the Towers just collapsed.? I didn?t know at the time whether that thought was correct or not but we managed to be right ahead of the plume of dust and debris that descended on the area. Had I stayed by the Chase Building I would have been enveloped in the plume that the collapse had generated. Three of my co-workers weren?t as lucky and I later found out that they couldn?t breathe and thought they were going to suffocate to death. Fortunately they did not and have lived to tell the tale.
We thought momentarily of staying but decided to continue walking and our trek took us past Centre Street and the Court houses. I thought, ?We need to get away from these buildings. These are another symbol of the United States that could be attacked now.? I just kept walking. Thousands of people joined us along the way. I met a man who had gotten out of the twelfth floor of Tower One. A met a young man who was worried about his father who worked in the area around the Towers. Mostly, though, we walked quietly. When we talked it was to wonder what kind of person could do this act. The silence was eerie when you think about it. Thousands of people walking and not a sound. Ambulances and police cars raced past us to area hospitals. At one point there was an unmarked car with about two feet of soot covering it racing past us. At 40th Street Francis left me to go to the West Side where her husband was. We hugged and I told her when this was all over to remember where my office was so we could meet again in better circumstances. Crazy what you think of it. We never would have met except for what happened that day. I hope she made it home okay. I didn?t even get her phone number. I feel badly that what I had hoped was an act of kindness on my part made her witness the second plane?s impact. I hope she forgives me for that.
I continued walking alone to Grand Central only to be told that the terminal was closed. Thousands of people were outside. Because I was still convinced that there was going to be another wave of attacks I decided that I needed to be as far away from any landmarks as soon as possible. I walked a bit down Fifth Avenue, turning off to Madison before I reached Rockefeller Center and Saint Patrick?s Cathedral. I looked to see if I could get an Express Bus to Westchester (Yonkers or White Plains) but all I saw were buses going to Queens, Throgs Neck or Coop City ? and the lines were blocks long. At 82nd Street I took a chance. An Express Bus was at a red light and I knocked on the door. I asked the driver where he was headed and he told me Coop City in the Bronx. I asked if I could get on and he told me yes. I still don?t remember walking most of what I walked. All I could think of was to get out of the City before the next plane hit.
I started my life in the Bronx and had lived in the Pelham Bay area until I was a teenager when my family moved to Greenwich. I was never happier to see those familiar surroundings in my life. Miraculously I was able to get through on my cell phone once again to my parents and to a friend. Both were willing to come to pick me up, although my parents finally did. Twenty minutes later I was back in Greenwich. The time was 2:30 PM. I guess I walked half of Manhattan that day. I would have walked all the way home to Greenwich if I had to.
I have thought a lot about what happened on Tuesday. How at one moment, the most important thing in your life is getting to work and the next was wondering if you were going to live or die. The vision of the plane impacting with Tower Two keeps repeating before my eyes like a continuous movie. I have described it as a Die Hard movie and Armageddon, only it was real life. I don?t think my brain has come to that realization yet. I am curiously numb and without any feeling. I keep hoping that what I have experienced is a bad nightmare and that I will wake up and it will all be normal again. I have slept maybe three hours each night but I feel strangely relaxed and not tired. I realize now that I witnessed the immediate death of people like me on the airplane. I also realize that I saw the carnage that has contributed to the deaths of thousands more. I know what it is like to be in war. I know you will think it is an understatement when I say that it is not like the movies. I have witnessed evil firsthand. Innocent people died, as they usually do when evil prevails. I don?t understand the type of mind that can do this to another human being. I can?t understand what they hope to accomplish by such senseless acts. I guess that?s why they are called fanatics.
I cannot yet picture going back to my office, if we are ever allowed back there, looking out the window and not seeing the two towers of the World Trade Center there. I also lived which I find a miracle in itself. I guess I still have something left to contribute to this world. It wasn?t my time yet to go. I became a lawyer so that I could make a difference in the world and help people. I need to start acting on that.
I also will not allow the terrorists to win. I ask that everyone else not to let them do so either. Although I have been watching videos these past two days (I simply cannot bring myself to watch something on television that I experienced firsthand) I went into New York City Thursday night to see The Lion King. I was supposed to be part of a group of 100 people. Only five of us made the trip in. I made the trip by myself when the rest of the group I was going to go with decided not to go. I understand why they didn?t but I am glad I made it there. I feel, as I believe those who were in the theater that night also felt, that I did my little part in defeating what terrorism stands for. We were not cowering at home, afraid to be out. Neither did we forget all those who have perished. At the curtain call there was a moment of silence and the cast asked us to sing God Bless America. There were more than a few tears shed in the theater that night.
I don?t know if you can ever understand what I have written on these pages. I am not, after all, a hero. The heroes died in the planes, the Pentagon, the Towers and are seen every day in the faces of the rescue workers. I know that there are still people that are unaccounted for and my thoughts and prayers are with them and their families. But I wanted to share this to let people know that each day is a precious gift. Before you leave the house or your apartment tell someone you know or love that you care about them. Call a friend that you haven?t seen or heard from. Give someone a hug or a kiss. Because you can find yourself one day leaving for work, saying good bye to your family, getting a cup of coffee at the corner deli, going to your office and never seeing them again.
Collection
Citation
“story9004.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 9, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/15388.