nmah6402.xml

nmah6402.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-01-10

I am a Bus Operator for the NYC Transit Authority. On 9/11 I was doing my usual route from Staten Island to lower Manhattan which had already taken me past the WTC earlier in the morning on a previous trip.My schedule normally put me in front of the WTC about the same time as the second plane hit.I was late due to the bus ahead of me being involved in a minor accident. I had to take on his passengers plus my own regulars.While driving over the Verazzano bridge into Brooklyn I noticed smoke coming from the north tower. I mentioned it and a passenger standing next to me said that was where he worked. He called his office and got thru to someone and found out a plane had hit the building. I recall him telling the person to get every one out of the office ASAP. I never saw the passenger again and always wonder ifhis co-workers survived.we only made it as far as the high point of the Gowanas expressway before traffic came to a complete stop. We were in the left lane and what seemed like every emergency vehicle,public and private,was racing past us into the Battery tunnel.The Manhattan side of the tunnel is only 3 blocks from the Trade Center.While we sat there a female passenger in the front seat noticed an airliner flying across the harbor from Staten Island. Before anyone could react the plane slammed into the south tower,the one closest to us.Our position on the hiway was only about a mile and a half from the building.People started screemingwanting to get off the bus fearing that there were other planes and we could become targets.It took a bit of effort to keep them on the bus.A few minutes after the second plane hit burning peices of paper began to fall like rain around us.We finally got off the hiway about a half hour later and it took 5 hours to get back to Staten Island via Brooklyn streets.

I feel the best memorial would have been to rebuild the towers on their original footprints using modern technology. Show the world that a terrorist act was not going to make us run and hide.

I am a U.S. Navy Veteran. I served during the Viet Nam War. I flew the flag before 9/11 and do so since with just as much if not more pride as I always have.