email202.xml
Title
email202.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
email
Date Entered
2002-08-03
September 11 Email: Body
Hi Sue and Viv,
My internet connection has been out since late yesterday, and the phones have been unreliable. It took several hours for Lizzy to get through to us and we couldn't reach her either. I have been able to speak to Liz and Mike and let them know that I was all right. Yesterday was a truly horrible day. It still hasn't fully sunk in. I was fortunate to have been out of the area when the first tower collapsed.
I got into work at 6:45 and worked at my desk all morning as everyone else came in. At around 8:45 a bunch of people rushed to the window and started shouting about a fire in the World Trade center. One of them even said a plane had flown into it, and I thought he was joking. But CNBC was on the TV, we have TV's tuned into CNBC on all around the office all day, and at that time it started showing pictures of the tower burning. Through the window of the office I could see papers flying through the air. We're on the 18th Floor of 110 Wall which is all the way on the end of Wall Street by the river. It's about 8 or 10 blocks from the World Trade Center. As a matter of fact my usual way into work was to take the E train to the Last stop and walk out through the World trade center Mall and exit from building number 4. I'm hearing reports that 1 Liberty Plaza is in danger of collapsing, which is another building I pass every day. Sue, you know the area very well since you worked only two blocks away from the Twin Towers. Thank God you were down in Florida.
Anyway, we were watching reports on TV and no one really knew exactly what happened; we started to hear reports that it was in fact an Airplane. Some people said immediately that it must have been a terrorist attack, but I couldn't believe that. Suddenly we heard a tremendously loud explosion and the building shook. I looked at the TV and saw the fireball burst out of the side of the building. It was unbelievable, we were all shocked. When the reporters said that it was a second airplane flown into the other tower and everyone realized immediately that it really was a terror attack there was a lot of shouting and cursing but most of the guys were like me, shaking their heads and trying to take it all in.
It was shortly afterwards that there were announcements that the NYSE was being evacuated. Soon we were told that trading would be suspended for the day. Since there was nothing any of us could do because there would be no trading, we each got our things together and prepared to leave. Some people were worried that there would be other attacks and were worried about the subways, bridges and tunnels. Some people wanted to get closer to the building to get a look at what was going on. Most people thought that was a pretty stupid idea and just wanted to contact their loved ones and get home as soon as possible. I called Ma and told her I would be heading out, but had no idea how long it would take me to get home. I knew that subway service in the area, if it was still running would soon be suspended. I planned on walking as far north as I could and catching whatever train I could out to Queens. Fortunately one of the people I work with, Chris, had a car parked nearby and offered me and another coworker, Cory, a ride to midtown. Three of us walked along Water St. to the parking lot. People were gathered at the corners of the sidestreets where they could get a clear view of the Twin Towers. The whole scene was surreal, I looked up every once in a while, the holes in the sides of the buildings were huge extending across several floors and different sides of the building. Flames and smoke were shooting out of the building and you could see the twisted metal. It was like something out of a movie. At the parking lot I had a wide unobstructed view of the two towers and I was thinking that New Yorkers coming to work tomorrow and for a long time to come would be looking up and seeing this and be constantly reminded of these mind boggling events, little did I know. The damage seemed to be confined to the top quarter of each building.
We got into my friends car and were fortunate to get quickly onto the FDR drive. We followed a police car that was pushing it's way through traffic. They must have been shutting the highway down because traffic was completely stopped southbound in the other direction, but there were very few cars going north, and those that were were moving fast. We had the radio turned on and heard the report that there was a fire in the Pentagon and a little later that it was another plane crash. I must have been missing a beat the whole day, because I thought that this had to be some kind of a wild rumor and couldn't possibly be true. When we got to 42nd, Cory and I got out of the car. We heard that one of the towers had collapsed. From what I saw of the damage, and remembering that the towers had stood after the attack in '93 which occurred at the base of the building, I once again made an incorrect assumption that it had been the top of one of the towers only that had collapsed. Even that seemed too devastating and I couldn't imagine the devastation at the foot of the building. Cory walked me over to the 7 train subway entrance and we wished each other well. I was able to get on a train quickly and it headed out of Manhattan. The first stop on the other side of the river is Vernon/Jackson ave. The train stopped and it was announced that all Subway services had been cancelled, but at least I was back on Long Island. I came out of the Station and started asking directions, hoping to catch a bus. One of the people I asked was saying how unbelievable it was that one of the towers had collapsed. I said that I had heard that the top of one of the towers collapsed. He said to me no, the whole tower had collapsed, and pointed over my shoulder. I turned around and could see a cloud of smoke and only one of the Twin Towers standing. I was stunned, I was seeing it but it was too much to take in, it was like a bad movie. I turned and started walking towards Queens Blvd, which was about a mile or two away. People were standing on the sidewalks looking toward the city shaking their heads in disbelief. About 10 minutes later a person in front of me said, "My God, the tower's collapsed!" I said, "You saw it?" He said, "No, Just this second, the tower collapsed!" I turned around and there was the New York skyline, changed forever. People were stunned, their mouths open. There were women on the street crying. I continued on my way home. Because there were no trains running, the buses were so packed that none of them were stopping. There were cabs, but they were occupied and I didn't have cab fare anyway. I kept walking along Queens Blvd about 6 or 7 miles till I got home at around one o'clock. Mom was greatly relieved to hear me at the door, she was very shaken up watching the devastation on TV. I was incredibly blessed to have gotten out of the area and off of Manhattan so quickly.
I'm like you guys, taking this in slowly, the horror of all this is too much. I go to church with a woman who worked on the 37th floor of one of the towers. I was able to find out that day that she was all right. I have another friend that I went to NYU night school with that worked on the 80th floor of the second tower to be hit. A mutual friend has promised to call me or email me when he finds out anything. A couple of the people I work with now come into NY on the Path train and would have been arriving that morning around the time of the first plane crash. I'm hoping that they were turned back before the train got to the World Trade center station. A good friend of mine from my old job was working in the world trade center a few months ago. I believe that all of our offices were moved to Jersey City a few weeks ago, I'm waiting to find out and hopefully he's safe.
It's amazing how many people have been calling me and trying to contact me by email. Phone service and the internet have only been working intermittently. It's gratifying to know how many people care about you at a time like this. The magnitude of this is going to take weeks to fully comprehend. For now trading is still suspended on the Stock Exchange. Even after it starts I don't know whether or when our offices will be opening. Going back into Manhattan will be like entering another country, a different world.
Take care of yourselves, Luke
My internet connection has been out since late yesterday, and the phones have been unreliable. It took several hours for Lizzy to get through to us and we couldn't reach her either. I have been able to speak to Liz and Mike and let them know that I was all right. Yesterday was a truly horrible day. It still hasn't fully sunk in. I was fortunate to have been out of the area when the first tower collapsed.
I got into work at 6:45 and worked at my desk all morning as everyone else came in. At around 8:45 a bunch of people rushed to the window and started shouting about a fire in the World Trade center. One of them even said a plane had flown into it, and I thought he was joking. But CNBC was on the TV, we have TV's tuned into CNBC on all around the office all day, and at that time it started showing pictures of the tower burning. Through the window of the office I could see papers flying through the air. We're on the 18th Floor of 110 Wall which is all the way on the end of Wall Street by the river. It's about 8 or 10 blocks from the World Trade Center. As a matter of fact my usual way into work was to take the E train to the Last stop and walk out through the World trade center Mall and exit from building number 4. I'm hearing reports that 1 Liberty Plaza is in danger of collapsing, which is another building I pass every day. Sue, you know the area very well since you worked only two blocks away from the Twin Towers. Thank God you were down in Florida.
Anyway, we were watching reports on TV and no one really knew exactly what happened; we started to hear reports that it was in fact an Airplane. Some people said immediately that it must have been a terrorist attack, but I couldn't believe that. Suddenly we heard a tremendously loud explosion and the building shook. I looked at the TV and saw the fireball burst out of the side of the building. It was unbelievable, we were all shocked. When the reporters said that it was a second airplane flown into the other tower and everyone realized immediately that it really was a terror attack there was a lot of shouting and cursing but most of the guys were like me, shaking their heads and trying to take it all in.
It was shortly afterwards that there were announcements that the NYSE was being evacuated. Soon we were told that trading would be suspended for the day. Since there was nothing any of us could do because there would be no trading, we each got our things together and prepared to leave. Some people were worried that there would be other attacks and were worried about the subways, bridges and tunnels. Some people wanted to get closer to the building to get a look at what was going on. Most people thought that was a pretty stupid idea and just wanted to contact their loved ones and get home as soon as possible. I called Ma and told her I would be heading out, but had no idea how long it would take me to get home. I knew that subway service in the area, if it was still running would soon be suspended. I planned on walking as far north as I could and catching whatever train I could out to Queens. Fortunately one of the people I work with, Chris, had a car parked nearby and offered me and another coworker, Cory, a ride to midtown. Three of us walked along Water St. to the parking lot. People were gathered at the corners of the sidestreets where they could get a clear view of the Twin Towers. The whole scene was surreal, I looked up every once in a while, the holes in the sides of the buildings were huge extending across several floors and different sides of the building. Flames and smoke were shooting out of the building and you could see the twisted metal. It was like something out of a movie. At the parking lot I had a wide unobstructed view of the two towers and I was thinking that New Yorkers coming to work tomorrow and for a long time to come would be looking up and seeing this and be constantly reminded of these mind boggling events, little did I know. The damage seemed to be confined to the top quarter of each building.
We got into my friends car and were fortunate to get quickly onto the FDR drive. We followed a police car that was pushing it's way through traffic. They must have been shutting the highway down because traffic was completely stopped southbound in the other direction, but there were very few cars going north, and those that were were moving fast. We had the radio turned on and heard the report that there was a fire in the Pentagon and a little later that it was another plane crash. I must have been missing a beat the whole day, because I thought that this had to be some kind of a wild rumor and couldn't possibly be true. When we got to 42nd, Cory and I got out of the car. We heard that one of the towers had collapsed. From what I saw of the damage, and remembering that the towers had stood after the attack in '93 which occurred at the base of the building, I once again made an incorrect assumption that it had been the top of one of the towers only that had collapsed. Even that seemed too devastating and I couldn't imagine the devastation at the foot of the building. Cory walked me over to the 7 train subway entrance and we wished each other well. I was able to get on a train quickly and it headed out of Manhattan. The first stop on the other side of the river is Vernon/Jackson ave. The train stopped and it was announced that all Subway services had been cancelled, but at least I was back on Long Island. I came out of the Station and started asking directions, hoping to catch a bus. One of the people I asked was saying how unbelievable it was that one of the towers had collapsed. I said that I had heard that the top of one of the towers collapsed. He said to me no, the whole tower had collapsed, and pointed over my shoulder. I turned around and could see a cloud of smoke and only one of the Twin Towers standing. I was stunned, I was seeing it but it was too much to take in, it was like a bad movie. I turned and started walking towards Queens Blvd, which was about a mile or two away. People were standing on the sidewalks looking toward the city shaking their heads in disbelief. About 10 minutes later a person in front of me said, "My God, the tower's collapsed!" I said, "You saw it?" He said, "No, Just this second, the tower collapsed!" I turned around and there was the New York skyline, changed forever. People were stunned, their mouths open. There were women on the street crying. I continued on my way home. Because there were no trains running, the buses were so packed that none of them were stopping. There were cabs, but they were occupied and I didn't have cab fare anyway. I kept walking along Queens Blvd about 6 or 7 miles till I got home at around one o'clock. Mom was greatly relieved to hear me at the door, she was very shaken up watching the devastation on TV. I was incredibly blessed to have gotten out of the area and off of Manhattan so quickly.
I'm like you guys, taking this in slowly, the horror of all this is too much. I go to church with a woman who worked on the 37th floor of one of the towers. I was able to find out that day that she was all right. I have another friend that I went to NYU night school with that worked on the 80th floor of the second tower to be hit. A mutual friend has promised to call me or email me when he finds out anything. A couple of the people I work with now come into NY on the Path train and would have been arriving that morning around the time of the first plane crash. I'm hoping that they were turned back before the train got to the World Trade center station. A good friend of mine from my old job was working in the world trade center a few months ago. I believe that all of our offices were moved to Jersey City a few weeks ago, I'm waiting to find out and hopefully he's safe.
It's amazing how many people have been calling me and trying to contact me by email. Phone service and the internet have only been working intermittently. It's gratifying to know how many people care about you at a time like this. The magnitude of this is going to take weeks to fully comprehend. For now trading is still suspended on the Stock Exchange. Even after it starts I don't know whether or when our offices will be opening. Going back into Manhattan will be like entering another country, a different world.
Take care of yourselves, Luke
September 11 Email: Date
Wednesday, September 12, 2001 10:11 PM
September 11 Email: Subject
Re: HI
Collection
Citation
“email202.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 8, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/37189.