9/11 Attack Survivor on ESCAPING the WORLD TRADE CENTER | Giovanni Renteria

we were quickly trying to decide which way we were going to leave but we were still kind of trying to figure it out it was just very confusing at the time then all of a sudden we started seeing a tremendous amount of people running and we decided okay we we can't be last out so we started running and all of a sudden when um when we were about to hit the the exit I remember the entire floor just shaking and that's when the plane went through World Trade Center too you are about to Embark upon the great crusade to meet this mounting aggression and make no mistake about it good will prevail so it all started in 1999 um I interned at Morgan sanley and it was a great time because during that time it was the uh the era of technology stocks and the market was on a tremendous run so fell in love with the industry uh that was 1999 2000 graduated from University of Miami my goal was always to become an attorney and um but I kept getting a call from someone at Morgan sanley at the time it was Dean Whitter Morgan sanley Dean Witter and they wanted me to come back into the business and go into their training program and so I decided to give law school a year did great but then I pivoted into the industry and it was the best decision ever so the firm would put us up for 3 weeks and it was the best program out on Wall Street by far and um so we went up to uh New York for three weeks that morning I believe there were some elections in the city so it was quiet um you didn't really see a lot of police officers out on the street and so we would typically get to the World Trade Center by via bus um I want to say by 7 715 so at the time Philip Roth which was our chief uh technician at the firm so he he was the person in charge of just teaching us about charts for the market and so he he uh he ended his session a bit early and at the time uh my very good friend uh Bill Vanek was our MTA which is the person in charge of the program and he said uh we have 20 minutes um make sure make sure you get some coffee and uh don't don't leave don't leave the the building uh cuz the session is going to start uh very soon and you don't want to be late because if you're late pretty much you're gone I mean they were pretty St but at the time we wanted to take a break it was uh my first time um alone in the city so I I wanted to take a look at uh what the city had to offer so I just went downstairs with a couple of folks uh to go grab a cup of coffee and so when we went downstairs that's when um uh we we walked out of the Turning doors we walked out and and that's when somebody which was walking by it was bizarre someone with a book bag a young person walking with a book bag said uh get back in the building get back in the building and um at that time you you you started to to see that there was debris coming down and it was because the first the first plane went through World Trade Center one and is that the tower you had been in I was in World Trade Center 2 you were in Two yeah so we start running back into the building and um half of us are going one way and the other half are going the other way and then some of the debris was falling onto the building and was hitting some of the folks that were behind us and I just remember looking back and a piece of it was either a piece of the building or the plane just completely flattened out a taxi cab across street and that's when I knew that there was a major issue the person I was uh we were trying to get back in the building but we just one person kept we were pushing this way and another group were pushing that way every everyone was panicking and so um the guy in front of us started punching through the glass to try to get us in and uh he he finally punched through we got in and just Mass confusion and I remember my roommate at the time stating that was a plane I I heard a plane going through a hitting the building and I said to him I said Alan you planes aren't allowed to fly around you know that close to the buildings it that had to be a generator or helicopter maybe hitting the building but it was the plane what's interesting there is that um at the time I left everything upstairs I mean my phone wallet and um I told I told my room m i I have to go upstairs I have to go grab my stuff all my personal belongings up there and uh and he said uh no no don't do that don't do that I'm like I'll be right back so I walk up I walk up to security and they're like well there there was an accident World Trade Center one you're cleared you know we're we're safe you can go up go upstairs I mean uh take the elevator up and uh he pulled me aside again he said look do me a favor please if you're going to go upstairs you you have to say your prayer with me me and I I've known him for I think 48 hours and I didn't want to be rude so I said okay I'll I'll do it fine I was more concerned about about my personal belongings and uh and being late the class right so um he grabbed my hand said a prayer and I don't know what it was but something just completely changed my my my my mind and um I decided to stay and so as I reflect on it throughout the years if I would have taken that elevator up right CU we were you connect down on the 61st I believe at the time we were on 64 um I probably would have been in the Elevator Shaft when when the second plane hit so what did you do after you decided not to go back up we were just trying to figure out what the the next move was we were still confused because we knew something happened outside and um but inside it was it was calm and security again was very assertive that everything was fine but then all of a sudden we started seeing folks running downstairs and panicking and running out of the building and that's when we decided that look we we we need to get back to the hotel um something doesn't seem right and so we started uh quickly walking through the lobby of the World Trade uh World we're still in World Trade Center too and we're in the lobby and um we're walking out and all of a sudden you start seeing a lot of folks running and and I'm assuming that all these folks were seeing what was happening in World Trade Center one and so took the you know the emergency um exit and just wanted to get out of the building so we we started walking a bit um we were quickly trying to decide which way we were going to leave but we were still kind of trying to figure it out it was just very confusing at the time then all of a sudden we started seeing a tremendous amount of people running and we decided okay we we can't be last out so we started running and all of a sudden when um when we were about to hit the the exit I remember the entire floor just shaking and that's when the plane went through World Trade Center to I remember running out and the first thing I did was I stopped and I looked up and that's when I first saw both tires both Towers on fire engulfed in fire at the top and was there more debris coming down because of that impact yeah and so I ran across the street and I looked up and um it looked like it was snowing from all the paperwork from The Two Towers um they were just all coming down slowly it it was amazing and um I remember across the street there was um a work van and had the the AM radio was all the way up and so I'm I'm listening to it while I'm I'm observing being observing what was happening and uh the person on the radio was stating that he thought it was um an attack a terrorist attack uh because two airliners went through both towers and um but I remember just everyone running out of the towers um pure pure panic um people running over people just trying to get away so it was an astounding moment and so I was observing what was happening so the towers were on fire um and then unfortunately seeing folks um jumping off off the building you witnessed that yes yeah and um I I just I'll never I'll never forget someone standing next to me saying look at them jump out like flies they're jumping out like flies and so I was still in in the background that that working van was there and that AM radio was all the way way up and I remember one of the comments that they made was look those are those are two jets that went through the building and I'm sure there's a significant amount of fuel in um in those towers and at that moment I decided that I I needed to leave um I didn't know what to expect I don't know if the the building was going to explode whether it was going to melt down but I wanted to seek shelter and so the firm um at the time the training class uh was divided into two different hotels and um I decided I'm not taking the subway I'm not getting in the in the cab I'm just going to run all the way up to Lexington I think it was around 55th it's a good shelborne yeah that's a it's a hike but at the time I I wanted to find a pay phone to uh to call to call home to let every everybody know that I was fine what is your mind even able to process the reality of watching people jump from the windows to this day I I still reflect on that and it's a tough moment for me because um especially on on on the anniversary every year on that date um I reflect and and sometimes I ask why why me why was I spared and and other folks not um so very difficult um just seeing folks making the decision whether they were going to unfortunately burn alive or to to jump um but a after that um after listening to to the work van I I decided I needed to to to call back home cuz I'm I'm sure that my family was watching it on TV and uh and I know that they thought that I had passed away is that what they told you when you called yes my my mother my my stepfather at the time uh and the reason why I wanted to become an attorney was because he was an attorney by trade back in his home country in Colombia and uh he walked into uh my mom's uh office and said are you seeing what's happening on the news and um she said he's he's in that World Trade Center and she was like I can't believe what I'm saying and you know that that's not that's not what I want to say and he said don't worry about it he you'll I'm sure he found I know him he found a way to get out pure luck but um I'm really glad that I called I I was able to find a pay phone and and the line was very long very very long along um cuz all Towers were down uh telecommunication Towers were down and so um I'm happy I called because once my mother saw what was happening on TV she picked up the phone and she called the branch the local branch in Florida that I was um working out of and um she asked for the manager the manager was conducting a sales meeting at the time he exit the sales meeting gets on the phone with my mother and she uh she said are you seeing what's are you watching what's happening on the news and um he was briefed and he said don't worry about your son I know exactly where he is this is right after the first the first plane went through said don't worry I know exactly where your son is he's on uh World Trade Center to the other building and he's right in the middle of the tower the middle of the Tower uh that's where we have our our classes hangs up she has a sense of relief that she knows that I'm in the other Tower and then a couple of minutes later then the plane went right through the second World Trade Center and that's that that's why she thought um my had passed away so I'm very happy that I was I was able to make a collect call and got in touch with her and um and just put them at ease I can remember to this day I hang up the pay phone because there was a big line behind me hang up the pay phone wish the person behind me good luck I walked I I started running up the block I kept looking back I want to say 3 minutes into into 3 minutes after that phone call the first hour went down what are you thinking thinking about all the people that passed away at that point you had no idea if the rest of your class had made it out correct fighter flight and it was at that moment flight and I wanted to get back to the hotel as quickly as possible and um but just thinking of all the folks that um my peers other folks at Morgan sanley and just everyone in general uh just devastating moment and and took me a while to get back to the hotel but once I I got back to the hotel that's when I had that overwhelming feeling of sadness because For the first time in my life I walked into this hotel and some of my peers that I had spent the last two days with were on crying and um hysterically and couldn't keep their their emotions in check because uh they thought that they were going to die it was later on that night there was uh there was a briefing and um that's when they they told us that the the class was fine so we had over 300 uh trainees in that class again largest in in Morgan Stanley history for walth management and so um made us very happy which which was a sign of Hope although it was um one of the most difficult moments in in our in the history of our country New Yorkers always think that there there's hope um they fight for their cause tough demanding but yet at the same time um extremely supportive throughout the entire uh event um just seeing the way that the country rallied was incredible and we've said this before but we'd love to see the country you know act like that United all the time for many years it was uh very difficult for me to to talk about and and and again it went back to the premise of why me and so a after after a couple years I started to feel a bit more comfortable sharing the story with family members took me a while and um but as as as every year went on I felt more compelled to share my story which which is one of Hope one one of the things that um I really enjoy is when when I meet someone someone new um they uh they'll give me some feedback sometimes and in a business setting or or just a new friends if we move from one city to another like you're always in a good mood right you're always in a good mood and and if I don't know them that well I just tell them you know life is short um blessed with a wonderful family uh I've always worked at one firm and and life is good but as I get as I get to know the person and close family friends and and colleagues now they know that the reason why I'm always optimistic and the class is always half full is because I'm on borrowed time I shouldn't be here

Channel: American Veterans Center

Views: 1,306,083

Keywords: AVC, American Veterans Center, veteran, veterans, history, army, navy, air force, marines, coast guard, military, navy seal

Id: -J9XHW1WrUY

Length: 19min 2sec (1142 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 12 2023