My Remembrance of September 11, 2001 Dave Giordano 9/27/02
I thank god every night and pray for the victims. There’s not a moment that goes by when I don't think about that horrible day. I was at my desk on the 30th floor of the WTC Tower 2 drinking coffee when we felt a tremendous rumble. One of my co-workers turned and said, what was that and as a joke I said, it was probably a bomb, which we would say because of the first bomb attack back in 1992. No sooner than I finished saying that, the fuel on the jet must have ignited and the building shook violently and the echoing thunderous explosion will never be forgotten in my mind. This was the plane hitting the next building in tower 1.
When we ran to the windows we saw a rain of paper and flaming debris. Looking down, the burning debris was on vehicles causing them to burn. We thought that it came from our building on an upper floor, which prompted us to get the heck out of there. That decision may have saved our lives because if we would have known that the other building was the one that exploded we may have stayed behind not knowing what was to come. If our office faced the burning floors, we may have stayed and watched from our windows.
People ran for the elevators but we decided to take the stairs. Just 15 minutes early the co-worker I was with was stuck in the elevator for 20 minutes on his way up. How many might have been stuck when the building came down? As we walked down in a mannerly decent, the stairways were virtually empty until around the 9th floor where it slowed down a bit. When we got to the lobby looking out on Liberty Street it was like a war zone and was impassable with all the debris and a few burning vehicles. We had to exit and come out the square with the globe in the center court, which faces Tower 1. We stood their for approximately 15 min. looking up under the burning tower watching fiery debris raining down and I remember pulverized sand like substance which appeared transparent like maybe glass or plastic so we shielded our eyes while we peered upward. No one was coming out of Tower 1 at least not at that time. One of my co-workers said, lets go across the street and I said no lets stay awhile longer. We did not know it was a plane that had struck the tower. Anyway, he won and we crossed the street and stood on the corner of Church St. and Maiden Lane opposite Tower 2 watching Tower 1 burn when all of a sudden a huge fire ball went over our heads and again the sound of a thunderous explosion still etched in my brain. We turned to run and to the right of me, a man still looking up placed his hands over his head and yelled “HEADS UP!” We dove for a panel truck and crouched behind as heavy materials were falling all around us. Months later in a News Special Report I saw what appeared to be a jet engine on the corner of where we were standing. We did not see the plane as it hit the building from the opposite side pushing everything out the side we were facing. When it seemed to settle we scurried only a couple of hundred feet noticing women’s shoes and papers, many seared on the edges. We stopped and decide that we need to get home. My friends left to go north which I later found out that they eventually walked home to other boroughs because the subways were out of commission. I stood their maybe a half a block from the WTC and watched and overheard conversations of what people thought happened. Someone said the radio announced a plane had hit the trade center but I just thought that was not possible because we didn’t see it. (Because it hit from behind the building we were facing. I knew something wasn’t right when the second one exploded and thought more was to follow. I headed south a couple of blocks away to the Staten Island ferry. Papers where raining down everywhere. I could see the horror on peoples faces as they came out of their office buildings and stood outside just watching in disbelief and fearful to go back into their office. I heard someone say it was a plane that hit the WTC and I said to myself "that can't be" until my wife finally got
through to me on the cell phone and confirmed it. She was crying and thankful I made it out. That was the only call that came
through. She was watching the T.V. and seen the whole thing as it happened. The lines were dead the whole time I tried to call and even while I was walking down the stairs at Tower 2.
I arrived at the ferry terminal on the outside ramp, which is only a couple of blocks from the WTC. There was NO ferry service. The doors were locked and the crowd began to grow. There was panic in the air, people were dazed and many had a look on their face I'll never forget. Many women had no shoes as they probably ran out of them for their lives. Still no cell phones nor public phones were working. The ferry crew said that the ferry was on the S.I. side waiting for emergency vehicles to bring them on the Manhattan side. All of a sudden we heard a rushing sound, which sounded like a jet engine as some people were yelling it's another plane. We're being attacked. As I turned toward the WTC the dust and debris was coming down the streets from the collapse of my building. We were at the tip of lower Manhattan and was trapped. Nowhere to run. Every one pushed forward only there was nowhere to go. The doors were locked. We were then surrounded by this heavy fog like choking dust and the panic caused some people to jump off the docks and into the water. We thought we were going to die.
We pounded on the doors of the terminal, as the ferry docked and finally they opened and we rushed into the boat. Some handed out life jackets and we all got one. We threw jackets to the people in the water and still some were jumping off the boat. Most rushed to the front of the boat to get as far away from Manhattan as possible but I stayed on the outside rail toward the middle. If the boat was going down I wanted to be able to jump off and not be trapped. People were ripping off pieces of their clothes and handing them out so others can cover their faces to filter out the choking dust. I have never seen compassion like this before. Strangers, people concerned about the person next to them. Questions like: Are you all right? Will you get home all right? Can I help you? And we all consoled one another. Mid way out, around where the Statue of Liberty is located, the ferry turned right and the side
I was on now faced Manhattan. We watched in disbelief as the second tower, Tower 1 came down. The life was drained out of me as well as all that witnessed it. Some people collapsed others wept and many said "OH MY GOD" including myself. Someone yelled for a doctor and I latter learned that a person died of a hearth attack.
The ferry was the first and last boat to take passengers off the island that day. It was used for the Police, Fire and Army from then on.
When I got home my wife met me at the train. She hugged and kissed me and she cried and cried. Later that day I guess I broke down. It finally caught up to me. Maybe I was shell shocked from the 2 explosions. Every little noise I heard would make me jump and feel uneasy even weeks later. I watch the film clips and still feel as if it happened yesterday. Every once in awhile my express bus takes an alternate route and passes by where they are erecting the new Freedom towers and it gets to me.
