story2033.xml

story2033.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-10

At the time, I was living at West and Horatio St. Its just under 2 miles directly north of the WTC/WFC complex so it was very easy to see from where I lived.

My wife had already left for class over at NYU Law. I was still in bed, half asleep listening to the Howard Stern show. Since I was barely awake, I only heard bits and pieces of the show, but I remember opening my eyes when Gary Dell'abate (bababooey) said, "Why does this always happen to the World Trade Center?" It was the way he said it - suggesting that something NEW had happened - that made me wake up.

I turned on my TV and saw both towers burning. I went to find my video camera, but the batteries were not charged. Instead, I grabbed my dog, my Nikon 35mm SLR and my digital camera and headed outside.

When I arrived, a huge crowd had gathered near our apartment along West st. I could see them all facing the same way, but I couldn't see the towers yet, because our apartment was in the way. It was one of many surreal images I would remember from that day. As I rounded the corner, the towers came into view. It was very strange indeed to see something on TV, and the walk outside my building and see it with my own eyes.

I started taking pictures - out of habit. I certainly did not mean to be disrespectful.

I heard a collective groan come up from the crowd. I saw something falling away from the towers. Briefly, I thought that perhaps the "siding" of the buildings had been loosened by the fire and was coming off. It didn't take long before I realized that the dust cloud was too big for just siding, and I had just seen the south tower come down.

I stood there, stunned thinking, "It is going to be very strange to see the skyline with only one of the twin towers standing." I had absolutely no idea that the North Tower would eventually come down as well.

I went back inside, dropped off the dog and came back out with my video camera that had now charged sufficiently to get off a few shots.

My first, and very naive, thought was that now that the south tower had collapsed, they fire department would now be able to concentrate on saving the north tower. Obviously I had no clue how bad things were down there.

I had only been out for about two minutes when I heard another, now louder groan. I pointed my camera south and watched as North Tower slowly dissolved into a mushroom shaped cloud of debris. Instinctively, I turned around and pointed my camera at the faces of the people around me. Their mouths gaped open and there was a look of fear in their eyes. A girl behind me yelled "Now they're is no more f-ing twin towers!" Her voice was filled with anger, fear and disbelief. A man walked by me and yelled "This is an f-ing war, you mother f-ers." I think he was mostly angry.

There was a low rumbling sound that I began to hear. I looked up and saw a pair of F-15's streaking high over head. I noticed my hands were shaking as it started to dawn on me the sheer impact of the moment. I'm a huge aviation buff, and I've been to many air shows, and seen military aircraft training many times. Here above me, were two F-15's not performing and not training. They were there to protect me and the other people around me from any other threats that could be headed our way.

The collapse of the North Tower had a greater impact on me because it was much more visable. The North tower masked most of the South Tower from where I was, and the North Tower was much closer. I felt absolutley sick, as I realized that I had just watched thousands of people die. I know I had never watched anyone die before that.

I went back inside, and my normally cheerful doorman looked green. He said, "I just feel sick."

The rest of the day, I was glued to the TV, just hoping and praying that they would find thousands of people alive in an "air-pocket" somewhere. Later that night, it really bothered me that there was a possibility that someone might have survived the collapse, but were dying in the rubble somewhere with no way to call for help.

The only thing that made me feel any better occurred the next day. Hundreds of people had gathered at West and Christopher street to cheer for the fire trucks, police cars, ambulances - even the fedex trucks. You could just feel that people wanted to do anything they could to help. The faces of the rescue workers were overwhelmed with emotion as they passed the crowd. On that first day, I don't think they were expecting it, and they were really overcome with gratitude.