story21303.xml
Title
story21303.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2006-09-24
911DA Story: Story
On Sept. 11, 2001 I took my son to school for his first day. My son had arrived from vacation on a flight the night before. My family was very lucky I chose that night flight instead of the morning flight that they wanted or the plane would have been diverted.
I was on a bus on Northern Boulevard in Queens going to work when I could see a immense plume of smoke directly in front of us in Manhattan. The bus driver and I looked at each other. He turned on the radio and we heard about the first plane crashing. First thing out of my mouth was "Terrorist Attack!" He looked at me like I was crazy. The weird thing was there was no reaction out of the people on the bus--it felt like nobody cared.
I told the bus driver to stay safe and that's when we heard about the second plane--he started to cry. I told him to pray and I got off the bus. I hope his family was OK because he looked like he was in shock.
When I went into work at the hotel it was pandemonium. People wanted to check out but where would they go. Flights were cancelled. People were coming in from the airports. Alot of crying. We took in about 300 + people from the airports. They didn't have their medicines, luggage, and many didn't know english. People came wandering in who had walked from the World Trade Center and were too tired to get to Bayside and Long Island. We let them sleep on the gym floors and anywhere else we had space. We set up a large dorm room for the people. Some people were calm and understood what we were trying to do others cursed us out. I felt really bad for the old people and the kids. Meanwhile the TVs were on and everybody was in a state of shock. I knew people who worked in the buildings
My son was far from me at school and my brother worked in the immediate area. I was being pulled in all directions.
I worked 72 hours straight and really never got to see the televised coverage. All I remember was praying alot for the emergency workers and the families at the site. We were working on adrenalin and when I finally got home days later at 3am there was silence in the house and I broke down and cried like a baby.
Afterwards I remember the tourists wanting to go to the site.
I have never been there and probably won't ever go. It should always be a place of reverence for all the lives that were lost and not as a place of curiosity for tourists.
In the end I felt very comforted to know that New York and the nation pulled together in those immediate moments after.
Every night I pray for all the people affected and I pray for peace in the world.
DR
I was on a bus on Northern Boulevard in Queens going to work when I could see a immense plume of smoke directly in front of us in Manhattan. The bus driver and I looked at each other. He turned on the radio and we heard about the first plane crashing. First thing out of my mouth was "Terrorist Attack!" He looked at me like I was crazy. The weird thing was there was no reaction out of the people on the bus--it felt like nobody cared.
I told the bus driver to stay safe and that's when we heard about the second plane--he started to cry. I told him to pray and I got off the bus. I hope his family was OK because he looked like he was in shock.
When I went into work at the hotel it was pandemonium. People wanted to check out but where would they go. Flights were cancelled. People were coming in from the airports. Alot of crying. We took in about 300 + people from the airports. They didn't have their medicines, luggage, and many didn't know english. People came wandering in who had walked from the World Trade Center and were too tired to get to Bayside and Long Island. We let them sleep on the gym floors and anywhere else we had space. We set up a large dorm room for the people. Some people were calm and understood what we were trying to do others cursed us out. I felt really bad for the old people and the kids. Meanwhile the TVs were on and everybody was in a state of shock. I knew people who worked in the buildings
My son was far from me at school and my brother worked in the immediate area. I was being pulled in all directions.
I worked 72 hours straight and really never got to see the televised coverage. All I remember was praying alot for the emergency workers and the families at the site. We were working on adrenalin and when I finally got home days later at 3am there was silence in the house and I broke down and cried like a baby.
Afterwards I remember the tourists wanting to go to the site.
I have never been there and probably won't ever go. It should always be a place of reverence for all the lives that were lost and not as a place of curiosity for tourists.
In the end I felt very comforted to know that New York and the nation pulled together in those immediate moments after.
Every night I pray for all the people affected and I pray for peace in the world.
DR
Collection
Citation
“story21303.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 10, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/5302.