nmah4972.xml

nmah4972.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-14

When the first plane hit the Trade Center, I was on a PATH train heading for the Trade Center with no idea what was going on. I got off the train as usual and as I was coming up the escalator I heard loud voices. As I got to the top, the police were frantically trying to get everyone out of the lobby. The lobby was beginning to fill with smoke. Several week before there was a subway fire. I thought that this was a repeat. As I exited at Church and Liberty Streets, I noticed debris on the ground. I quickly went to the park at the opposite corner. As I approached, I noticed a large crowd looking up with their mouths agape. I turned around and saw the top third of a trade tower on fire. Years before I worked for an insurance brokerage firm that experienced a high rise fire in Brazil. I assumed that this was similar.

As I walked along Liberty Street I noticed an incredible amount of debris consisting of burned paper and white ash. I went over to Wall Street to give myself some distance from the Trade Center. As I got to Wall and William Streets, there was a SUV with the windows down and radio at full volume. The announcement said that a plane hit the trade center. The best thing to do was to get out of the area. But how. Next best, I continued to my office at Wall and South Streets. By the time I got to my desk, a coworker picked up on a headphone radio that the plane was hijacked. Then, he said a second plane hit the trade center.

We all were invited in to the conference room where CNN news was on the monitor. The conference room had large windows. The top of the trade center towers were visible with black smoke coming from them. We were watching CNN as the first tower came down. Outside the windows it turned dark. Minutes later the second tower came down. Outside the windows, day turned to night with no visibility. The management at that point decided to evacuate the building. I waited a few minutes for the air to clear and left.

The NY City police would not let anyone go South. One block south is Pier 11 with ferry service to New Jersey. I walked north. All subway service was stopped; all bus service was canceled. All the busses I saw were on their way to the disaster site. With no other mode of transportation, I walked several miles to Penn Station at 34th St. It was closed. On a radio I heard that there was ferry service at 31st Street. When I arrived, I noticed that the pier was blocked by Sanitation trucks. The NY City police were using it as a heliport. Troops with rifles were guarding the site. A NY City policewoman told me to go to the Chelsea Piers at 26th Street. There, ferries were running and a long line formed. As I waited, a delta wing fighter flew overhead. I finally got a ferry, but to Weehawken, not Hoboken. Close enough. As the ferry docked I noticed the trade center site burning. Coincidentally, Seven World Trade Center collapsed as I watched from a ferry window. At Weehawken there were busses for the trip to Hoboken. As my bus got caught in traffic I finished the trip on foot. At Hoboken I got a train to my home town. On the train I borrowed a cell phone to call my wife. On arrival a local fireman met the train and inquired if anyone was injured and needed assistance. I was not. My wife was waiting for me at the train station (very glad to see me). I arrived home at 7:00 PM.

Working in lower Manhattan, I am constantly reminded of the events of 9-11.

America's vulnerability to terrorist attacks by enemies that appear to be all but invisible..

Yes. I flew the American flag constantly.