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I had just arrived at my office and someone in the parking lot said a plane hit the WTC. "Like a small plane?", -- "No, a passenger jet". Got to me desk, internet horribly slow, went to break room where we all watched the TV as events unfolded..
I was in a business meeting about 45 minutes away from my home town. As the meeting started one guy came in and was talking about a plane crash, I remember him saying that he couldn't understand how someone could accidentally fly into a building or if fog/weather was a factor. I never knew what building he was talking about, or what kind of plane, I figured a small Cessna or something like that. I had no idea where the building was located. It was just a casual conversation he was having with one other person attending the meeting and I just overheard some small details.
After the meeting I drove home. About 30 minutes into my drive I was listening to the radio and the daytime radio guy said that the World Trade Centre had been wiped off the map. I had no concept of how that could have happened. I got home about 15 minutes later and seen the images, nothing could describe what I was seeing on TV , it was beyond description, just horrific. My wife was home with our newborn and I was watching TV with my wife, my son was born in 2001 a few months earlier.
My father died in 1999, I am very grateful that he was not alive to see the events of 9/11. My father was the biggest fan of the United States, he loved everything about the US. I don't think you can find a Canadian who loved the US more than my father. He kind of instilled that into me as I grew up, and I have always been a big fan as well. My father would have taken it real hard to see the aftermath of 9/11.
Last edited by zeroptzero; 09-11-2024 at 06:26 PM.
Gary, I can't imagine how traumatic it must have been for you. Here I was sitting in my family room in Michigan watching it in shock. I'd been to NYC a few times on pleasure and for work but to be honest I had no idea what the WTC even was before that day. When I was there I never had any reason to have any connection with it. Thank you for sharing.
By the time I was able to visit NYC for the first time it was after the WTC came down , so I never seen the towers. When I was there they were starting to rebuild the new site. I was able to tour St. Paul's Chapel though, and I have to say it was one of the most moving experiences of my life. I've never felt such a feeling of heaviness as I did during that visit, I had a lump in my throat the entire time. Seeing all of the pictures of those who passed and the boots/shoes left behind by those who responded on a moment's notice was a very deep experience for me. I bought the illustrated children's book that is produced about the event when I was at St Paul's Chapel - The Little Chapel that Stood. I think that is my favourite place in the entire city. If I visited NYC again that is the first place I would return.
^^^ Some of your stories made the hair on my arms stand up.
We had visited the towers while sight seeing in NYC. They seemed so gigantic and indestructible to me. So when my son called me at work and said one of the towers had collapsed I didn't believe him at first. I immediately thought about the time the B25 crashed into the Empire State building and how the building had survived the crash. Then I went to the brake room to watch the news on TV and saw the second tower go down.
We have since been back when the excavation for the new tower were underway. We stopped by S. Paul's chapel and saw the many tokens of solidarity from fire and police departments from around the country.
I was fortunate enough to fly up the Hudson corridor several times when we still had our airplane. Bea took this picture on one flight. It's still sad to realize they are gone forever.
I've been trying to recall why I don't have any recall of the WTC. All my visits to downtown NYC were before it was completed. I may have only had one business trip there after they were up and I arrived at night from the airport and left for my meeting early the next day. Other visits to the general area were all in NJ.
The only other day that stands out in my memory is the day that JFK was assassinated. It was my 13th birthday and I couldn't wait for the school day to end. I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard the news.
On 9/11 we were all in the office except for one of the senior partners. When he called to tell us that a plane hit one of the World Trade Center's towers we all rushed into the conference room and turned on the TV. The TV had a rabbit ears antenna and the reception was quite fuzzy but we were able to see the events of the day as it was happening. We were all shaken.
The image that's burnt into my mind came the next day. I was driving on I-78 towards Newark to visit a client. In the past you could see the twin towers from the road. As I looked I saw the strangest sight I'd ever seen. To the left the sky was blue and clear but to the right the sky was full of smoke. It was as if someone had drawn a line down the middle and kept all of the smoke on the right side of the line.
Just a few years earlier Liz and I lived in a loft on 5th Avenue and 20th Street. Standing on the street in front of our building we could see the buildings, they were so close we almost felt like we could touch them. The next time we were in the City we looked and just saw empty space.
My county (Morris) lost a great many people on 9/11, a few from my town. Sadly many innocent people died that day, and in the years following.
One of my clients worked on a high floor of tower #1. She had a dental appointment that morning and intended to go in into work that afternoon. After 9/11 she requested a transfer into an office in New Jersey and has worked in New Jersey since then.
If you've never visited the 9/11 Memorial/Museum you should. Aside from the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, it is the most haunting and moving museum I've ever been in.
Gary, I can't imagine how traumatic it must have been for you. Here I was sitting in my family room in Michigan watching it in shock. I'd been to NYC a few times on pleasure and for work but to be honest I had no idea what the WTC even was before that day. When I was there I never had any reason to have any connection with it. Thank you for sharing.
Oddly Dave, I'm not sure of the right word. Surreal maybe? I also remember a few weeks after going to friends in Westchester NY or maybe CT and driving up the NJ Turnpike and seeing the smoke/smouldering still going on, similarly as Rob's post.
I will say that my emotional range is pretty narrow - I see everything in a pragmatic sense. So while I had these connections, I didn't sit at home sobbing for days, especially once I know my sister and cousin were safe. I fortunately knew no one personally whose life was lost. So lots of memories and lots of connections, but not the ultimate connection. In my own mind, I had created this quote "Only 2977 Too Many". It was a NYC election primary that day and theories say that many people were going in late after voting. The numbers could have been much higher.
A quick map below
The star was my uncle's luncheonette. St Paul's is the circle. To get to WTC 1 and 2 from the restaurant, I would cross the street and enter the concourse in WTC 5. Then walk the tunnels into the lobby. There was the elevators that went 2-33?, then a sky lobby at 34 and another at 78? You'd take an express to one of those, then a local to the floors in the next range. They moved so fast that if you jumped as they stopped on the way up, you could almost hit the ceiling of the elevator, maybe 12 or 15 feet high. If you jumped on the way down, your feet were planted to the ground as the express elevators slowed down. I think that way, maybe vice versa. As a 13 or 14 year old, this was awesome!
I also remember walking outside to the towers sometimes and you'd stand near the fountain between WTC 1 and 2 (where the words WTC Plaza are below). You'd go near the building and look up. It was unimaginable with the angle how high they were.
CNN's NY HQ and broadcast center was in the lobby of one of the towers. I used to deliver breakfast to Larry King.
Thanks for posting the map, Gary. Allows me to identify several of the buildings surrounding the twin towers in my photo.
As an aside, one of my co-workers at the time's son had just started working in the tower with the restaurant, and it was his first day there (and last, sadly)
09-11-2024, 04:19 PM
I often wonder about survivors’ guilt in this case. So many what ifs. Very sad…
