Preface

September 11th, 2001 has been referred to as the second Day of Infamy in American History. Few events have had such an impact on our lives. People who were anywhere near New York City or Washington D.C. were especially effected. It was a day of drama, heart break and unbelievable surreal excitement. For me, it will be (with any hope and the grace of Heaven) the closest I will ever come to truly being on the front line of battle.

The following is my account of where I was, what I saw and what happened to me on that day.

My Story

On 9/11/01 I was working in downtown Manhattan (New York City) on Broad Street which is just off Wall street. In terms of where the Wall Trade Center is (was) it's approximately 2 long city blocks South East of Ground Zero (city blocks are unusually shaped and sized in lower Manhattan compared to the general standard sizes and shapes of blocks in the rest of NYC). I used to get out at the Wall Street 4/5 train station, look up and see the towers silhouetted behind the Trinity Church steeple.

I was in my office when the first plane hit. I probably heard the impact but didn't take notice. There's always construction going on downtown so a loud BANG or BOOM is unremarkable. Then someone said they read on the net that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers. My first thought was it's an accident. Maybe mechanical failure or a navigation error or a computer bug or virus in the autopilot.

We (some co-workers and I) where standing around a common area reading various net news reports when we heard "BOOM" and the building shook. A moment later someone said a second plane hit the tower. Right away I immediately knew in the pit of my stomach this wasn't an accident.

I went outside to the corner of Wall Street and Broadway (in front of Trinity Church). I could see thick smoke pouring out of the first tower and a huge jagged gash along the south side of the second tower. Flames were coming out of the building and it was "raining" bits and flakes of concrete. There were burned and charred papers all over the street.

When I got back to the office someone had setup a radio and that's when we heard the Pentagon had been hit, shortly followed by the plane crash outside Pittsburgh. And at the time they were still saying there were 8 planes involved. Plus there were reports of many hijacking attempts foiled at JFK and other airports.

People were largely in a state of shock. A few people grabbed their bags and coats and just ran out (probably a very smart move, I should have done the same).

We stood around for awhile discussing what had appeared to happen. Then some ran over and yelled "Look out the window!" We turned and saw heavy gray cloud envelope the building. That turned out later to be the collapse of the first tower.

The VP of Sales/Marketing came running over and cried out "We gotta get out of here!", grabbed his coat and ran out (so much for executive leadership).

At that point the bosses decided to evacuate our office. We all went down to the lobby. The dust could as very thick by then, very twilight outside. People were crowded in the lobby. Many on the verge of hysterical panic. We have several pregnant women in our office and were most concerned for them. We had no news, no radio, cell phones didn't work and land lines were always busy. 

Some of the men tied their ties as masks. Others ripped their business shirts as head coverings and masks, then ventured out.

I decided that I have to go out and see what's happening. I had to look for myself. So I put my handkerchief over my mouth and went out. I walked back up to the corner of Wall and Broadway. It was very gray out. Not many people on the street. A few police and reporters (independents?) but few cars or people. There was a good 1/2 inch of dust on the ground. The streets were eerily calm, like the city at night during a major snow storm. When I reached the Trinity church I looked up but the dust cloud was so thick I couldn't even see the Church spire. So I went back to the office building.

Back inside we waited for about 20-30 minutes. I knew I had to get out of the area and head North. People were afraid uptown places like the Empire State Building and Grand Central station might also have been hit or soon to be hit. But the wind was blowing South that day so I figured whatever was waiting uptown at least I would be out of the dust cloud.

I convinced a couple of co-workers that we should try to get out of the area. We left through the front of our building and started walking up (North) Broad street. We only got in front of the stock exchange building when I heard low rumble and the ground shook like in an earthquake. The second tower had just collapsed (we didn't know it at the time).

I looked ahead and even in the still thick gray dust cloud I could see another black cloud rolling down the street towards us. I yelled out "Everyone back to the building!" and we all ran back. We just got in the lobby when the cloud enveloped our building. It was TOTAL BLACK outside! Like at midnight.

No one knew where to go or what was happening. I figured the subways probably had stopped. Some said the ferry to NJ was still running. I doubted it and even so that didn't help me get back to Long Island or to Queens were I had family.

After about another half hour I decided I had to try again to get out of there, especially out of Manhattan before dark. No one would come with me so I went alone. Every man for himself. I walked up Broad street past the exchange and up Nassau street. After that I'm not sure what the streets were, just followed my sportsman's internal compass and kept trying to go North and East.

By then there was a good 1-1.5 inches of dust on the ground (like snow). Charred papers all over the place. Lots of articles of clothing around - shoes, shirts, men's ties still knotted and looped - and tuffs of tan/brown fibers I hope were pieces of insulation and not human hair. I didn't see or notice any body parts and I wasn't particularly looking for them. I saw some people huddling in door ways but for the most part the streets were empty and eerie quiet. The kind of quiet the city gets during a heavy winter snow storm. Very surreal.

At one point I came across a breakfast vendor's mobile Kiosk. I popped open the door and stuffed a couple of bottles of water into my shoulder bag (never know when you need it). I left him a $5 bill. At the next block I came across an EMT who was handing out those paper masks. It helped but my throat was still raw for a week afterwards.

Finally I emerged from the dark at the Brooklyn bridge. I looked back and the whole downtown area was in total darkness, like a big current of black separated lower Manhattan from the rest of the city. I must have been a site coming out of that.

People were walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. I started to go but realized I had no idea how to get home from Brooklyn! Taxi's and subways would be sporadic at best. I decided that if the Brooklyn bridge was open the 59th street bridge to Queens was probably open too. So I started walking uptown along 3rd avenue.

I walked through the Bowery. All the missions and community centers were open, handing out cups of water and offering their bathrooms. I went into one to wash off as much of the dust from my hands and face as I could.

I walked up past the court house and Federal buildings. Armed guards, dogs and concrete barriers all over. Heavy trucks blocked the side streets.

I walked through the East Village. Many of the restaurants and bars were handing out water on the street and offering the use of their tables to rest.

All along people with radios were listening. Each person had another rumor of what was happening: Some said Camp David had been hit, the CBOT (Chicago Board Of Trade) building had been attacked, the Seattle Space Needle had been collapsed, the Sears Tower had been hit, terrorists had blown up the George Washington bridge (which connects NYC and NJ), Air Force One was missing and so on.

When I reached 34th street there was a big sign "RIDES TO QUEENS" and an arrow so I followed. It lead to the Queens/Mid-Town tunnel. The tunnel was still open but police were commandeering cars going through - they had to take a full load of passengers.

I hoped in the back of a truck that took me through the tunnel and dropped me off on Queens Blvd. From there I walked home. So overall I walked all the way from Wall street to my home in Queens. I often wondered if I could do it and now I know.

All the while I could hear fighter planes buzzing overhead. Saw them a few times. Even now military planes still buzz NYC and LI. In fact I was in a boat fishing the Hudson Canyon (about 100 miles South East of NYC) a week after the attack and we had a Navy S-3 Viking plane circle our boat twice, so close we could see the pilot waving back to us! The plane was clearly armed with missiles too.
 

Other Observations

I have a friend who works on Canal Street. He said he saw the second plane it. He thought it was odd it made no sound as it hit. He said he later saw people falling (jumping?) out of the tower, arms flapping. In the afternoon he walked down the West Side Drive as far as he could. He said he saw bodies everywhere - men, women and children - all mangled, torn up, some missing limbs, some decapitated. Police were pushing out any reporters. Anyone with a camera was having the film or tape confiscated. They didn't want the public to see the total human carnage.

I have another friend who's a NY fireman. He snapped some shots of Ground Zero a few days afterwards. It looked like war zone.

My wife's friend's husband, a welder, was working at 7 World Trade on that day. He said he and his friend were stepping over bodies trying to get to the subway. They were on the last train out of lower Manhattan.

The Victims We knew

We lost an employee, a young man 31 who was at Cantor/Fitzgerald on the 107th floor of the South Tower. We don't know if he died in the initial crash, was trapped and couldn't get out or just didn't get out in time. We went to his memorial service 2 weeks after the attack. He had only been married a mere 87 days. His wife was devastated.

Also, a friend of my wife ("Jane Doe #1" as she had become known in the media as she was the first civilian victim brought to the hospital with 9/11 injuries) was badly injured by flying debris. She has severe burns, broke both knees and shattered her ankles. They don't think she'll ever walk again in spite of several operations.

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