story946.xml

story946.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-07-30

I t was a beautiful September morning. My co-worker Arthur had decided to go to his desk and show me the latest pictures of his son instead of heading downstairs to have a smoke. Just as he got to his desk, I felt a rumbling under my feet. At first, I thought it was an earthquake,then as I was sitting in my desk, the whole floor shifted to the left for what seemed an eternity,then it shifted back into position. I looked across at my co-worker Jackie and we were both perplexed and did not know what had just happened.I then stood up and took a look, Mike our manager was streaking down towards the exit doors screaming, everyone out of the building. I screamed the same thing as loud as I could. I then went to the exit door and when I opened it, the ceiling was coming down along with black soot and smoke. I then waited by the door as my co-workers were heading down the staircase, looking them in the eye and telling them not to panic or hurry and waited until the floor was empty. I then began my descent down the stairs. Everyone was calm, noone really knew what had happened. I made my way to the 27th floor when one of my co-workers was standing there and asked me if I could help him get a man in a wheelchair down the stairs(That man was Ed Bugeya). I said no problem, standing there was myself, Felix, Fred, Ed & Abe. I knew we would be there awhile , so I pulled out my cellphone and called my wife to find out what had happened. it was know about 9am. At first she could not find it on the TV but about 5 minutes later she called and told me that a plane had hit the WTC. A plane? I said it out loud, everyone in the staircase thought that it might be a small engined plane. my wife told me to get out of the building, but I told her that I was helping to get a man in a wheelchair out of the building and I would be getting out soon. The only problem is when we asked Ed to let us help him, he kept saying that bldg. security had told him to stay and they would come and get him. So, we waitied. At this point Fred had gone down to alert security. my wife was now calling me every 2 miunutes pleading with me to get out of the building, while trying not to panic me. A fireman passed us in the hallway, I will never forget him. He was a big Irish guy, heavyset,with full gear exhausted from his climb, terror in his eyes,determined to get to his assigned floor. I begged him to be careful and said a prayer that he would be safe.
I started to panic, people were opening the doors to the staircase,each time this happened, more smoke billowed in, filling my lungs and making me dizzy. I asked Abe again to let us try and carry him down the stairs,but he wouldnt. His wheelchair had special features which supplied him oxygen, if we took him out of the wheelchair he would suffocate. That is when I said"Ed,if you are not going to let me help you, I have to leave". He said thanks and good luck. Felix and Ed were now with him and I started my descent down the staircase. I must have said the "our father" about 1000 times on my way down. I got to the 5th floor and a stream of water was going down the stairs, as I got to the third floor it was more like a waterfall. I catrefully made my way out down the stairs when I finally made it to the exit. there was a guard standing there telling me to put my head down and run as fast as I can to the breezeway leading to the world financial Center.As I was running there was debris falling all around me.
I met up with a friend of mine and we walked out by the Hudson River together. As we got outside I called my wife Dorothy to tell her I had made it out, that is when she told me it was a terrorist attack. There were thousands of people standing around, I finally turned around and looked up to see what was going on. There was fire coming out of the top of the tower, a haze was all around it and it looked horrible. at this point I said to my buddy jeff, lets get the hell out of here(in my heart I felt there was another plan coming to wipe us out). As we were walking away we were discussing how long it would take to repair the damage,we figured a couple of months at best. We started our trek uptown, we then hooked up with my buddy Tony and made our way uptown. When we reached 14th street, we heard a horrible crashing sound, we turned around and we then saw the building we had loved so much come crashing down. At that point I said that we are now "at war". We made our way to Madison squatre Garden where we went into a sports bar and for the first time on a TV screen I saw what had happened. That is when it all hit me. I called my wife and started to cry, telling her my story and asking why this had happened, realizing that I was a target.
My brother Dom called me and told me to go to 57th st and meet him at my sister Debbies office. That is when I found out her nephew Joe worked for Cantor Fitzgerald and was on the 104th floor. I knew he didn't make it, but did not tell her that, she went walking downtown scanning the hospitals, trying to find him. My nephew Neil found me and drove me home to my family.
There are details I have left out but I can tell you that I am still in therapy and I cannot watch movies with bombs or killing. I have flown on an airplane, but I prefer driving. God Bless America and the souls of the people who died and those who sacrifiecd theirs trying to save others.
Ed and Abe died along with the men trying to help him out of the building. But my buddy Felix survived.