20th Anniversary Commemorative Edition
TOWER STORIES
AN ORAL HISTORY OF 9/11
by Damon DiMarco
Foreword by Governor George Pataki
Original Foreword by Governor Thomas Kean
Chairman of the 9/11 Commission
Copyright © 2021 by Tower Stories, Inc. and Damon DiMarco
All rights reserved.
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ISBN-13 978-1-59580-102-9
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tower stories : an oral history of 9/11 / [edited] by Damon DiMarco. — [20th Anniversary Commemorative ed.].
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-1-59580-102-9
1. September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001—Personal narratives. I. DiMarco, Damon.
HV6432.7.T69 2021
974.7’1044—dc22
2021015199
Cover and interior design and production by Future Studio
For all those people sung and unsung who worked to help others in ways large and small on that day and all the days that followed.
CONTENTS
Foreword by Governor George Pataki
Original Foreword by Governor Thomas Kean
Introduction
Timeline of Events for September 11, 2001
Map
At the Towers
Tom Haddad
Florence Engoran
Nancy Cass
Jan Demczur
Arlene Charles
Gabriel Torres
Homicide Detective “Y”
Outside the Towers
Anna Bahney
Jesse Lunin-Pack
Alberto Bonilla
Huston Stewart
Ellen Shapiro
Drew Nederpelt
The Turner Family
Mike X
Dr. Walter Gerasimowicz
Nell Mooney
“Joseph” Afse
Ground Zero and the Volunteers
Nick Gerstle
Roger Smyth
Salvatore S. Torcivia
Nicole Blackman
Tony Rasemus
Cassandra Medley
Antonio “Nino” Vendome
Bobbie-Jo Randolph
Rick Zottola
Mike Potasso
The Aftermath
Jessica Murrow
Vincent Falivene
Patrick Charles Welsh
Lauren Albert and Karol Keasler
Kevin Killian
Christopher Cass
Scott Slater
Brendan Ryan and Kristin Irvine Ryan
Mark Lescoezec
Omar Metwally
Ken Longert and Fred Horne
Jean Knee and Michael Carroll
John McGrath
Retrospectives
Alice Greenwald
Tom Haddad
Stephen Adly Guirgis
Father James Martin
Jillian Suarez
Glenn Guzi
Contributing Photographers
With Thanks To
And with Special Thanks To
Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing I do know: that we are here for the sake of each other, above all, for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of others, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received and am still receiving.
—Albert Einstein
FOREWORD
by Governor George Pataki
TWENTY YEARS after the horrible events of September 11, the stories are still fresh in my mind and the minds of many who were there. But for millions who did not have such an immediate experience, the heroism and sacrifice of that day have begun to fade.
People still remember the numbers. Three hundred and forty-three firefighters. Sixty Port Authority and NYPD officers. In total, almost three thousand innocent souls were killed that day. But the story amounts to so much more than numbers, for each of those figures represents the heroism of someone who reacted courageously on that tragic day.
Tower Stories allows these individuals to share their experiences in their own words. There is no better way for us to hear these tales than through the voices of those who were there. The testimonies gathered by Damon DiMarco include people inside the Towers; first responders who charged into the Towers; eyewitnesses and the bereaved; plus the thousands and thousands of volunteers, both from New York and around the country, who responded so courageously and generously on that day and for weeks and months thereafter.
These are stories that must be told. But, to me—more importantly—these stories must endure.
The story of September 11 contains three different plotlines. Yes, it is a story of the tragic loss of so many wonderful people. But it is also the tale of the tremendous courage with which people from every walk of life responded that day, and ultimately, it is the story of how Ground Zero rose from burning ashes to become a vibrant, active memorial and community.
Today, that community is overseen by the Freedom Tower. Soaring 1,776 feet tall, it shows the world that New York and America will not bow down to those who threaten our way of life. It reminds us that we must never forget the tragedy of that day or the vulnerability that people in a free society will always face from those who despise the freedoms we cherish.
Tower Stories is an important book. I urge all those who appreciate courage in the face of terror and strength in the face of horror to read it.
ORIGINAL FOREWORD
by Governor Thomas Kean, Chairman of the 9/11 Commission
IT IS DIFFICULT to remember that day, but we must. Time has its way of dulling the sharp edge of memory. Once the edge has sufficiently blurred, the distorting colors of apocrypha swirl in, smearing the true images of what we once saw and creating a fable. A myth. By whatever name you call it, the picture is false, yet people will believe it. In later years, they will have no choice since a myth is better than nothing.
This book is unique for several reasons, not the least of which is that it allows our American people to speak for themselves regarding the terrorist attacks of September 11. The events of that day are arguably some of the most traumatic to occur on American soil. There is ample evidence to support the need for a record such as this.
After the Great Depression had ravaged the United States through the early part of the twentieth century, President Roosevelt realized that America needed more than an economic kick start; it needed cultural inspiration, as well. He assigned writers and journalists through the Federal Writer’s Project to document the experiences of common people living through uncommon circumstances. Roosevelt knew that a culture which cannot remember its past trials and transgressions will doom itself to repeat them.
The memory of slavery was also fast slipping from the American consciousness. In some ways this was a sign of progress; in
other ways it was potentially dangerous. The FWP documented the recollections of thousands of former slaves in what would later become the Slave Narrative Collection. Nearly a hundred years later, these narratives are still performed around the country as theatrical events, assigned as required reading for university courses and read for self-edification by curious citizens. They are a part of our cultural body of evidence against what was, and an inspiration toward a brighter future for what might be. Some of our greatest works of literature were born of this need to bear witness. John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. Jack Conroy’s The Disinherited. Studs Terkel’s The Good War.
I’m proud and grateful to see this legacy continued.
What you are about to experience is not media spin, a five-second sound bite, or a coldly recycling film reel. It is a living time capsule of our nation’s humanity. The interviews contained in this book are seminal to our American history. They were conducted immediately following the attacks on the World Trade Center, before time had been granted a chance to blur the details. Reading these stories, you get the sense that there was just enough time between the Towers’ collapse and the click of the recorder for people to catch their breath and plant their feet on firm ground. Then they began to speak—directly and candidly. They spoke from their hearts, and I can’t believe they gave a single notion toward the idea that their words would be preserved forever. It was too confusing and painful a time to fumble with the weight of such ideas. Truth rings out in every word.
I hope this book remains in print for a very long time to come, because everyone should read it. Our children should read it. With regard to 9/11, we—as a people—cannot allow a myth to take root. We must ground ourselves in the reality of our pain if we have any hope of moving forward. And move forward we must.
One of the contributors to this book calls 9/11 “a Kennedy moment … Everyone knows where they were when John Lennon was killed. Everyone knows where they were when the space shuttle blew. It’s a Kennedy moment. A Pearl Harbor moment.” What a valid observation. Yes, it is common for human beings to remember sorrow, difficulty, pain, and loss. But only to inspire us toward higher goals and better times.
And so, I invite you this instant to clear your mind and think back for a moment. Where were you that day?
Watching the video clips spool over and over again on the television … listening to your car radio while driving to work … waking up to a household exploding with confusion and chaos … calling friends, calling family … inside the Towers … outside the Towers … on the streets of New York City, or halfway across the world, wondering where your loved ones were. Wondering. Just wondering.
You were scared. You were angry. You were vulnerable. We all were. But after that initial shock passed, what did you do? Perhaps the most important message recorded in Tower Stories is written between the lines:
You made turkey sandwiches for rescue workers rushing down to Ground Zero … you donated goods … you sent money to relief charities … you held a perfect stranger while she cried … you walked the streets of Manhattan, looking for someplace, anyplace to help … you gathered together in mourning. You prayed. You hung on. You went back to work. You picked up the pieces.
And maybe, like me, you made eye contact with people you didn’t know on the streets where you live, and nodded. Only this time, as our glances met, a new door was opened between us and we were able to share in a quiet secret that everyone suddenly knew—that we are all, in our own way, survivors.
Move forward we must. For we are Americans. This is our story.
INTRODUCTION
THIS TWENTIETH-ANNIVERSARY commemorative edition of Tower Stories features six new “Retrospectives” interviews that replace the former “Viewpoints” section. In all cases save one, I conducted these interviews by phone or video chat due to the COVID pandemic.
Like 9/11, the virus has challenged our models for personal, political, economic, and civic behavior. It has reminded us what can happen when a crisis greater than almost anyone could have imagined cuts through the blather of our lives to strike at what is important. Most of all, it highlights the choices we make as individuals, communities, nations, and a world.
Making choices is one of the most powerful things any human being can do. Yes, the tragedy of 9/11 is inescapable. Yes, we should continue to study why 9/11 happened. Yes, we must work to avoid similar incidents in the future. But none of this really matters until we examine the root of the problem: the choices we made before, during, and after the terrorist attacks took place.
Having read these accounts again, I am struck by the choices so-called “ordinary” people made when confronting perhaps the most harrowing trial of their lives. By valuing others as highly as they valued themselves, I believe they showed what is best in both American character and humanity.
Long before physicists teased us with notions of quantum entanglement, the poet John Donne wrote:
“No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main.”
He was making a point about interdependence. We human beings cannot exist, let alone thrive, without what the nineteenth-century naturalist Pyotr Kropotkin called “mutual aid.” The most complex and beautiful ecosystems only develop when various elements put themselves in service to one another. In this way, they maximize what is best in their partners while nurturing that which is best in themselves.
After twenty years of doing this work, I believe that quantum physicists, John Donne, Pyotr Kropotkin, and so many others are all saying the same thing. We are bound to each other in ways our tiny minds may never be able to fathom. In fact, if an ultimate truth exists, it might be that we function as mirrors held up to each other. Endlessly, we reflect one another. And while it may seem contra-logical, we are less defined by ourselves than by the way we treat one another.
I know this is lofty language. I know that committing to certain choices can be harder than I make it sound here.
In earlier editions of this book, I wrote: “The Tower Stories project sprang from the disturbing notion that the memory of September 11 might one day quietly fade from world consciousness.”
Two decades later, I am less concerned over what we forget and more intrigued by what we remember, and why.
When it comes to 9/11, no one should wear rose-colored glasses. But in my mind, the horrors of that day still pale in comparison to the unity we found. The compassion, fellowship, and empathy. And the love.
Any fool can tell you these are among life’s most fleeting powers. But a bigger fool might admit these are also the things worth living for. I choose to be the bigger fool.
These days, when I think of 9/11, I think we are all in this together.
There is no them; there is only us.
And here the work begins.
Damon DiMarco
New York City
April 2021
TIMELINE OF EVENTS
Tuesday, September 11, 2001
Note: All times are offered in EDT
The Planes Take Off
7:58 A.M.:
American Airlines Flight 11 leaves Boston for Los Angeles.
8:01 A.M.:
United Airlines Flight 93 leaves Newark for San Francisco.
8:11 A.M.:
American Airlines Flight 77 departs Washington, D.C., for Los Angeles.
8:12 A.M.:
United Airlines Flight 175 leaves Boston for Los Angeles.
The Attacks on the Towers
8:45 A.M.:
Flight 11 crashes into the North Tower (WTC 1) of the World Trade Center. A burning hole is torn in the building.
9:04 A.M.:
Flight 175 crashes into the South Tower (WTC 2) of the World Trade Center. Now both Towers are on fire.
The First Response
9:15 A.M.:
President Bush makes his first statement about the attacks from Sarasota, Florida. He says the nation is the victim of an “apparent terrorist attack.”
9:18 A.M.:
The FAA shuts down all New York area airports.
9:21 A.M.:
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey closes all bridges and tunnels into and out of New York. The NYSE and NASDAQ stock markets close.
9:40 A.M.:
The FAA grounds all flights in the United States. This is the first time in U.S. history that all airline operations have been stopped.
The Crisis Continues
9:45 A.M.:
Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon; the White House and Capitol are evacuated.
9:57 A.M.:
President Bush takes off from Florida.
10:05 A.M.:
The South Tower of the World Trade Center collapses, showering escapees and emergency rescue workers with tons of rubble.
10:09 A.M.:
Heavily armed Secret Service agents are deployed around the White House.
10:10 A.M.:
A section of the Pentagon collapses from the damage inflicted upon it. Flight 93 crashes in Somerset County, Pennsylvania; cell phone accounts from passengers on board confirm that the plane was hijacked.
10:15 A.M.:
Some 11,000 people evacuate the United Nations.
10:25 A.M.:
The FAA reroutes all international flights bound for the U.S. to Canada.
10:28 A.M.:
The North Tower of the World Trade Center collapses.
Further Chaos …
10:44 A.M.:
Federal buildings in Washington, D.C., are evacuated.
10:46 A.M.:
Secretary of State Colin Powell, in Latin America, makes plans to return to the U.S.
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