~ World Trade Center ~
New York City, USA ~ September 11, 2001

An Eye Witness Account of the Day

This is an e-mail from a friend of a friend ~

Greetings! ~ Thank you all for your calls, prayers and concern over the last 24 hours. Although I was in World Trade 1 when the first plane hit yesterday, I was able to make it not only out of NY, but home and back with my family last night and am very thankful. Many of you have asked for a detailed account of what happened, where I was, etc., and everyone says its good to talk about it, so here are the events as best I can recall.

At 8:00am I left the Hilton on 6th and 53^rd, taking the 1 subway downtown for a meeting with Prudential Securities, scheduled at 9:00. As I was running a bit early, stopped off at World Trade, where I walked through the trade center underground to World Trade 1 and started having breakfast at a small cafe. As I finished breakfast around 8:45, there was a slight vibration in the air and the air pressure noticeably changed. Shortly after, people started running and shouting about a bomb. Instead of getting stuck in the mob trying to get out, I headed immediately back down to the subway 1 and was lucky to catch a train just leaving the station. I got out 5 minutes later at the South Ferry Station, which is where my meeting with Prudential was. South Ferry is a few blocks southwest of Trade Center where the ferries go across to NJ. I noticed WT1 was on fire and at that point found out a plane had hit the building from the crowds outside.

I paged my contact at Prudential and he called back. I described what was going on and suggested we have the meeting outside at the park. As soon as he came down, the second plane flew directly over our heads, coming up from behind us and exploding into the south building, World Trade 2, directly in front of us. The plane was close enough that we could actually feel it go by. The engines were screaming and seemed to be at full throttle. The plane was moving so fast we could only tell it was a large jet, not being able to make out the airline or whether there were any passengers from underneath. The concussion from the blast of the explosion nearly knocked us down, but luckily we were far enough away to be free of the debris. The deafening sounds of all the sirens was replaced with ringing ears. At this point we gave up on the meeting and he left to call his family. I attempted to call my family, but cell phones were already useless.

From here on I was alone.

I stayed and watched the fire for about 15 minutes from the park at South Ferry, where I had a good view of the hole on the south side where the second plane hit. Most of the fire was on the east side of the building, as the plane had pushed nearly through - probably most of the fuel as well. After awhile I could see several people waving frantically from the hole where the plane went in. At this point I decided to start getting out of there, as fire was getting worse in both buildings and everything was closing down. More and more fire engines and police were moving in. I started east towards Wall Street, where I knew there was a subway 6 station that could get me back uptown.

I arrived at the subway station at the top of the hill near Wall Street and had a very good view of the east side of the towers. The fire was much worse and I decided to stay and watch, knowing I could jump on the subway and get out of there if needed. I watched the sides of the building, probably aluminum, melt and drop in big glittery balls and the fire was very intense. The structural steel inside the building was glowing red. I was able to clearly see several people jump from above the floors on fire from WT2. Paper and other debris being caught up into the cloud of smoke was sifting down on myself and the others watching, as we were downwind of the towers. The bells at the church at the top of Wall Street chimed 10:00, and about the time I mentioned to those around that the building structurally was probably in pretty bad shape after an hour of very hot fire and the plane probably taking out support beams, two big I-beams or large girders seemed to explode away from the southeast corner of the south tower, WT2, and all the upper floors collapsed down very fast. Being only maybe five or six blocks away, I saw the huge cloud coming and ran with the rest of the crowd to get away. Watching behind me as the cloud very quickly approached up through the high buildings reminded me of the scenes of people running from nuclear bomb clouds in movies. People were running, falling, screaming.

The cloud was upon us in a matter of seconds and everything became very dark. The amount of smoke, debris and dust in the air was so thick you literally could not see the ground you were walking on or your hand in front of your face. Fortunately, I had a small hand towel I use normally as a sweat rag, and was able to use this to breath through. The buildings in the area were already closed and there was nowhere to go. Everything was silent - all the sirens that had been echoing were gone or dampened by the thick air. I stumbled around for awhile and at one point ended up in front of the NY Stock Exchange where the bull is. I had no idea where I stumbled; was just looking for air to breath. It was eerie, as there was no one else on the street, everything was gray with several inches of fallout and all was silent. It certainly did not feel like mid-day at the center of the financial world. I finally got a sense of direction and tried to head further west towards the river. After making it to where I could see a little better, police stopped me and actually turned me back towards the trade center area. They were trying to funnel everyone towards the west side where the ferries went to NJ, but I wanted to stay away from the crowds, so walked a block and got around police barricades, heading north, uptown. I made it north almost even again with the trade centers when the second building came down. This time I ran north towards midtown, stumbling through debris from the first implosion. There were parts of people's lives in the streets - clothing, shoes, lunches, body parts, that had been blown from the first building when it imploded. I clearly remember a baggie full of purple grapes next to a white sweater with an arm. Oddly, there was no blood. I finally made it north enough to get clear of the debris area, and finally past the northern police barricades. People were stopping me to ask if I was okay. Seeing myself in a store window, I realized I was covered in about 1/2 inch of fallout and looked like something out of a horror movie.

I shook off as best I could and found my way to Broadway and walked all the way North to 6th and 53rd, where the Hilton still had my bag. Almost to the Hilton, I finally heard from Amber, who I had been trying to call continually for three hours to let know I was okay. She had also been trying to call me and was frustrated knowing I was in NY, but didn't know where. I had lost track of time by this point, but it was just after 12:00. I had been running, walking from the scene for two full hours and just then realized I was drenched with sweat. The run, run and walk was miles. There was no subway, all the taxis had disappeared and there was no other way. Amazingly, as I got up through midtown, people were talking about it and gawking towards downtown, but didn't really seem to realize the scale of what had happened. People were still eating in restaurants, laughing; most staring at me as I stumbled on my way. Up in midtown, I saw no others like myself - most must have gone other ways.

I was fortunate enough to be able to change at the Hilton and headed back to Penn Station. Getting there, I found a huge crowd in the street and the station was closed. An Announcer using a bull horn said there would be no mass transit and to walk to the Brooklyn Bridge - several miles from there. This was the only way off Manhattan; tunnels, subways, everything was shut down. I decided to stick it out and see if maybe the station would reopen. Around 2:00 they opened the station and I was one of the first few in, but everything inside was closed and there were no ticket agents or Amtrak people. All had gone home when they closed the station. Finally they started letting trains go and I was able to get on the first Amtrak headed south, about 3:30. Amtrak allowed anyone on the train that wanted to get out of NY - no tickets needed. The train was very packed until Newark, where most NJ commuters got off. The normal 2 ˝ hour ride took nearly four hours to get down to Baltimore.

I'm happy to be home with my family and feel very fortunate. I feel sick for those who lost loved ones in the tragedy. I had friends at World Trade that probably didn't make it. ~ Jerry

Jacket and Shoes That I Had On, After Brushing Them Off

~ World Trade Center ~ New York City, USA ~ September 11, 2001 How It Is Now Telling It Like It Is ~ An eye witness account of the planes hitting the Twin towers. The individual writing it is a steel worker on the Pan Am building, within sight of the Towers during the strike. The morning sky was a brilliant azure with wiffs of high cirrus clouds. Sun sparkled the deco chrome eagles of the Crysler as tourists gathered at the Empire and Trade center observation decks. We can see them from our eagle aerie here at the 60th deck of the old Pan Am; like ants we see the reflection of their lens and chrome covers. The view of the Trade towers is distant; but we have brothers there. The steel workers are my crew. We are friends and they do my rigging. Sometimes in mornings we make pre arranged mirror flashes like clever boy scouts then salute each other by cell phone over morning coffee confirming our signal success and gaffaw like errant school boys. Eight am yesterday morning we are hanging rigs at the 57 floor; its a busy morning we are on the Vanderbuilt side with commanding views of lower Manhattan. The Hudson is majestic in the September sun. The Circle line and the tugs dart and ply the island like it was a holiday. Office workers pour into their buildings, many with coffee in hand. It's a Tuesday its warm yet you can feel a cool Canadian front upon us. Up high my foreman Tiny grins with his missing eye tooth. His rig rests over the side of the 57 floor; approx half the distance in height of the twin tower. We are gamming on about the weather; and and what we "gotta do"...When Tiny (who weighs 275) breaks conversation and sez "Getta load of this asshole"! With that all eyes focus on this incoming 757 wagging its wings coming over the Pan Am just 200 feet from our deck. As the huge jet approached it veered slightly to the right; the sparkle of the sun glistened its wings and the rays warmed its fuselage our men who hang precariously off the sides of buildings are outraged at the total disregard for saftey; stand and yell obscenity at the piliot shaking their trowels as the jumbo careens over Broadway just broadside of us. The sun is very bright just now we can see the white shirt of the pilot(?) and in the direct sun we can see the heads of passengers at their assigned windows I distinctly see a blond woman at her seat. This is unbelievable. Perhaps another low level tourist ride; perhaps he came low to avoid another air craft; perhaps ...perhaps .... as we watch the plane pass the Empire state Building and then diminish in size until ...until.....poof a large ball of flame emerges from the twin tower...... all at once everyone is screaming...radios crackle ... "IT hit the Trade Tower...Tower Hit...a plane just hit Trade center!!! We are slack jawed in disbelief; there is a deafening silence as we glance at each other in momentary stillness; radio calls are coming in from below asking for information...we watch the burning and tug at cigarettes and hang nails...... minutes pass and we observe what appeared to us a observer plane coming in for a "look see". But suddenly it too plows into the other tower ...explosion ..fire ball... no mistake this time ..that's deliberate.....all of a sudden it becomes apparent that we are a potential target.... everyone starts yelling ..."get down ..get down" like submarines under depth charge attack, huge hanging rigs and their crews drop down the sides of the building in fits and starts ...cussing and yelling as they push off the building face and scale down in record time. Once down we head for the corner Irish bars of O’Malleys And Patrick Connellys and the Ragged Sleeve where we stand six and seven deep, gain information from the sports TV 's over pints of black and tans. Office workers are ordered out of all buildings and jam into the saloons with us. There on large screens the tragedy unfolds in Washington and Pa; we think of our missing steel crew; unable to call loved ones; some crying others vowing for revenge.. all different nationalities all united as New Yorkers and patriots in America. There wasn't time for a second pint....Port Authority police from Grand central burst in saying "Get Out ..Get Out... "Grand Central is going to blow".....everyone dropped their conversation and took to the streets,,, I became separated from my crew as thousands ran down 44th street to Times Square ....... with that the towers collapsed; on 42 street many stood holding hands in prayer others by the thousands stood beneath mega screens 4 stories high trying to get some handle on it trying to come to grips with the totality of this criminal act. ...I wandered for hours ..all the while thinking and praying that quite possibly the world as we know it has changed. forever......... I do not know what future lays for us ..I do not know how to get home ...my first home call was at 2 am there was alot of crying and relief because we sometimes work in this area. It seems back home there is a run on petrol and ammo ..It will be sometime before I can get a flight out. .....Blessings to you Mon Oncle After the Japanese Navy's attack on Pearl Harbor, Admiral Yamamoto was being congratulated on the brilliance and success of the raid. He is said to have replied in a somber and stoic manner, "I fear that we have awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with terrible resolve."

~ World Trade Center ~
New York City, USA ~ September 11, 2001

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The morning sky was a brilliant azure with wiffs of high cirrus clouds. Sun sparkled the deco chrome eagles of the Crysler as tourists gathered at the Empire and Trade center observation decks. We can see them from our eagle aerie here at the 60th deck of the old Pan Am; like ants we see the reflection of their lens and chrome covers. The view of the Trade towers is distant; but we have brothers there. The steel workers are my crew. We are friends and they do my rigging. Sometimes in mornings we make pre arranged mirror flashes like clever boy scouts then salute each other by cell phone over morning coffee confirming our signal success and gaffaw like errant school boys. Eight am yesterday morning we are hanging rigs at the 57 floor; its a busy morning we are on the Vanderbuilt side with commanding views of lower Manhattan. The Hudson is majestic in the September sun. The Circle line and the tugs dart and ply the island like it was a holiday. Office workers pour into their buildings, many with coffee in hand. It's a Tuesday its warm yet you can feel a cool Canadian front upon us . . . .

~  ~ How It Is Now ~  ~