story1366.xml

story1366.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-21

My name is Ron Bell and the following two stories are from two close personal friends of mine who were in The City on that fatefull day. I had the opportunity to go down to Ground Zero the following Saturday, Sept. 15, 2001.
Here are their respective stories:

This is just an account of what I was an eyewitness to. I was downtown in my
old office @55 Broadway when a coworker said a plane had hit the WTC. We ran
down to the street, of course, not knowing it was some kind of attack.
Thousands of us on the street looking up to where the first fire was when
without warning I watched a large airliner slam into the other tower. I
remember thinking now this is no accident and I was too close, and we are
under attack. It was a sight I will never forget. Like a disaster movie you
see all on TV, everyone turned and ran from but only towards a safer
distance. As we all watched in horror from what we thought was a safe
distance and not being told to move any further away the buildings smoke
turned from white building material to black soot and noticeable fires were
getting larger. Pandemonium gripped the streets as ambulances and fire trucks
headed towards the WTC. I personally did not see any jumping out of the
towers, thank goodness, but all I could think of were the horrific
circumstances happening 50 to 100 floors above the street before my very
eyes. Also what occurred to me was where was all the air support, if were
under attack why were there not air force jets patrolling the air, and where
were the helicopters above directing rescue efforts below, like I witnessed
after the bombing 8 years ago.
The smell in the air was like the aftermath of firecrackers going off. The
debris over the street was bits and pieces of the building. From the corner
of Bay and liberty I decided to try to walk back to the court district where
I was supposed to start jury duty at 10am but turned back thinking no way is
a court bldg. going to be open. That is when I heard a tremendous crash and
when I looked up what I thought was not possible was happening which was the
implosion of the first tower. Only 5 minutes earlier I was much closer. I
turned and ran towards One Chase Plaza corner of liberty and Nassau St. and
felt pellets hitting my back, then a total whiteout. I feared a fireball
would soon follow so I was running to get to the back side of the building I
was headed to but the whiteout turned black and I among others I heard around
me hugged the building. I remember thinking where am I and what seemed like a
half a minute before I could see and make out that there was a safety on the
other side of the glass building. People I could not see since my eyes and
ears and lungs were filled with the soot pushed us forward but still that
instant you see what you think is safety and knowing you are on the other
side, that period is called panic. As someone is pounding on one of these
huge windows trying to break in we were whisked towards a swinging doorway,
and kept moving till we were 2 floors below the street. There I stayed for
about an hour able to make some calls to my Mom and some friends. Soon
afterwards I heard a huge explosion and heard it was the second tower that
came down. As I walked outside I felt this is what war must look like. People
dazed and confused, crying and hugging and shaking their heads. People,
myself included, covered with white soot walking and looking down. Streets as
far as 10 blocks away littered with burnt paper and soot as deep as 2 inches.
I walked home and arrived by noon.
I just write this account. I saw no acts of heroism and claim none but did
witness all kinds of acts of kindness and dozens of brave emergency workers
going towards disaster as I was trying to get as far away as possible. I am
OK, but very sad, my eyes hurt me, I saw too much. May God be kind and may
non of us experience close personal loss but not to be naive we all have
experienced a personal loss our fellow New Yorkers an attack on our very way
of life and first hand knowledge that we are not safe from global terrorism.
I witnessed true horror today. Let us mourn our loss.

Dave



Here is Story number 2 from my former college roomate:



I am so happy to be alive.

If I had been on time for my appointment 2 blocks from
World Trade or the poor misguided souls flying those
planes today had been 15 minutes late on their
gruesome errand this might have been an entirely
different day for me. Fully swallowing this facts
feels like... I don't know... indescribable... no try
this. Mixed in with the feelings of grief, shock,
fear, helplessness is the brightest vain of happiness,
which is my total relief to still be on this planet.
It makes me feel selfish and guilty to dwell on this
when thousands of other people are in deep life
altering pain tonight.

Despite the fact that my backyard has become the scene
of tragedy so much larger them my ability to
comprehend. Through the luck of the draw I was spared
and given a gift. The opportunity to spend the rest of
my life making sure not a single moment is wasted, a
beautiful day spent inside or the opportunity to smile
passed up. This is only confronting what has always
been true. My days here are short, wasting them is a
crime.

I wish the events of today on no one. But there is
beauty in narrowly avoiding catastrophe, close enough
to feel the suffering but far enough away to learn
from it. Maybe this is what I was supposed to learn
from so many other moments in my life. I regret it
took until today.

To say I fully comprehend everything happening around
me today would be a lie. I was witness to horrendous
destruction and loss of human life. These things do
not pass lightly through the human soul. I will with
my family, friends, neighbors and coworkers figure out
what this all means and how to re-assemble what will
pass for normal life in time.

But a life without those 2 towers that seemed to watch
over us. Reminding us with every glance what a special
place we lived in. How invicible we all were. Even now
looking downtown is disorienting because the view has
changed so drastically. It was impossible but it
happened.

But for now time has slowed down, the city a ghost
town but for the scream of sirens up and down the wide
empty avenues. The anonymous faces on the sidewalks
are hollow and expressionless from what I assume is
the shock of trying to accept the unimaginable. The
occasional roar of fighter jets passing over head
causes a flicker of fear. I can't imagine what it will
be like when the normal din of air traffic resumes.

Fall is peaking out, the days are quickly getting
shorter. Normally this change of season, the dry cool
days, gives everyone a little spring in their step.
The weather today was beautiful, a perfect fall day,
which some how makes it worse. In the coming months
the change to winter will help wash away the awful
truth. I look forward to forgetting this day.

- Dustin -