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 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 - 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 story1366.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. 2002-08-21 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 12.90.28.31