We Were There, May 26, 2015

at 8:46 that morning when the first plane hit I was around the corner in the lobby of my local high school voting it was a New York City primary election day we heard this muffled thud it was not alarming then we went on the street and there were papers flying hundreds of feet up really freaky because there was no wind I ran home my neighbors are all out in the hallways saying papers on fire or landing on the windowsill what happened and the reason that we didn't know is because we live so close to the South Tower that we couldn't see around it so even though we're just a few hundred yards away we can't see it my aunt calls me up she says they're seeing on the television that a plane hit the North Tower but that's the one away from you guys right so you're okay and for 17 minutes we were okay and then that second plane came screaming up from the south and into the South Tower we ran to our windows in time to see the fireball big things immediately were falling off the building we're on the top floor so my sweetheart said you know we should go down lower in the building something could come right through the roof we went down to our neighbors on the third floor and we were sitting around their kitchen table all of us trying to figure out what to do when my neighbor looked out the window and saw the top of the South Tower start to tilt he yelled here it comes get in the back room we ran into their back room because it had no windows crouched on the floor and expected to die it was a hundred and ten story building falling down across the street from our little 12 story building there was a roar of noise all the windows were being blown out in the kitchen right next door you could not hear that it was just a roar the building shook from things hitting it the ground shook from the force of the collapse the weirdest thing was it felt like my head was being squeezed in and out later they explained to me that as that building Pancake down it was generating pressure waves in the air so that's what I was feeling we made an attempt to get out I was panicked I would have run but like Greg said pitch black you could see things on fire so the guys said stop we'll get into more trouble climbing over flaming debris we should just go back inside the building we went back inside half an hour later the North Tower came we had no signal of any kind we did not know what was happening by 11:30 in the morning the air had cleared enough for us to see so we left the building we went south which was the only way open there was debris in every other direction we had to go about four blocks until we got to a building that still had its windows intact because all the perimeter bill windows just got blown out it was a warm day I was wearing a shirt just like this one and I kept trying to brush dirt off my shirt we got inside and I finally looked closely and realized it was pinhole burns at 11:30 in the morning there was still enough molten material flying around to land on our clothes and burn through so I started to laugh that I was trying to brush burn marks off my shirt and I heard my voice start to go hysterical and I thought I know how many people work in those buildings there are so many more people in so much more trouble than I am right now I cannot add to the chaos of this day by losing control I didn't look anyone in the eye for the rest of that day because I just would have lost it we ended up with friends who live on Canal Street we made our way up to Canal Street and after two weeks we were contacted and told that we would be allowed a 15-minute police escorted visit back into our building by that time there was a perimeter fence up around the area so we had to meet at a checkpoint they swung the fence open I walked down my street and just wept again the high school where I had been voting had morgue spray-painted on the side they had to use the cafeteria freezers and refrigerators as temporary morgue space in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 I thought there's no way I'm ever gonna live in that building again this entire area was a graveyard to me and it was just too sad but after 15 months which is how long it took them to allow us to move back there they had everything cleaned up and I was in a survivor support group I thought moving back is going to be my way of remembering all those people that I waited on line at the bank with that I got my coffee in the morning with just all those regular people who went to work that day and it has been a way of remembering Judith mentioned that I'm a pet sitter and this being New York City I am so specialized I we take care of people's pet birds no dog walking no cat litter just Birds that day had eight birds in my care I could not figure out how we were gonna get them out Matt stacked up the little travel cases borrowed sheets from our neighbor made these bundles and then he hung the bundles off of a broom stick that he carried over his shoulders so we left the building looking like every picture of fleeing refugees you've ever seen with parrots the last thing I'm gonna tell you guys is after 9/11 I had to get my first cell phone because we're bouncing around different places of course family and friends are calling every day but also every client who ever dropped their bird off with me across the street from the South Tower is trying to call me are you okay do you need anything or the birds all right the result of this was that first cell phone bill was over $600 I work from home I have no home to work from I freaked out and my friend said you know the city has concentrated all the services for 911 victims up on Pier 94 maybe someone could help you I went up there they directed me to an organization called safe horizons which was the local United Way sat down at this temporary desk across the table from a guy hunched over a laptop he asked me my address put it in his computer whatever Google map came up he looked at me and said bring us the bill we'll pay it done that money came from everyone who was calling those telephones everyone who sent donations cards letters prayers gifts it all came here to New York I know some of you guys did and this is my chance to say it came here and helped people like me thank you [Applause]

Channel: 9/11 Tribute Museum

Views: 7,734

Rating: 4.9189191 out of 5

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Id: 6UphoetMaBg

Length: 6min 38sec (398 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 24 2019