I’m a native NYer, but moved to San Francisco on September 11th 1999. My fiancé at that time, pointed out, that I had flown out to SF on the exact same flight that the terrorists crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, 2 years to the day, exact flight, exact route, exact time.
But on that fateful day, I was working in SF. I usually started at 6am SF time to coincide with 9am Ny time. , I’m in the financial field. While walking towards my office from the BART (SF’s subway), my office was across the street from the TransAmerica building (the famous pyramid looking building), On the way to the office, I saw a friend heading from the office back to the BART, he said, “go back home”. I didn’t understand.
When I got to my office building, I saw dozens of my coworkers standing outside of the TransAmerica building, we had employees in both buildings. Still confused, I go into my building, get in the elevator, and there’s a guy on his cell, he’s talking about a plane crashing into the WTC. My first thought was a small plane.
I get to my desk, an office a few doors over had TVs, now I see the damage, now I start to understand. My office first announces we are going to evacuate, because the TransAmerica building is a famous American landmark, and nobody was sure what the terrorists were doing. Then they announce we are staying. Then a final announcement to evacuate, after seeing the first tower come down.
I was in a daze heading back to the BART. Being a native NYer, I had been in the WTC thousands of times, I can still see, in my head, the layout of all of the stores and restaurants and newsstands, having commuted to the WTC thousands of times (subways ran through there).
When I get home, I see the video of the tower coming down. I thought it was one tower, but horrifically, it was the video of the 2nd tower coming down. I was in a daze. My company had just moved 400 people to the WTC in August 2001. They were on the 80th floor or something like that. I thought they were all dead.
The next day, while heading back to the office, they said they were going to have a conference call with the NY office. I was horrified, who could be left ? People who didn’t go to work that day ? I started to hear familiar voices on the phone that day. As the days moved on, more and more people checked in.
Miraculously, 396 out of 400 people survived. I knew one of the 4 people who perished from our company. I only dealt with her on the phone, but she was a delightful woman who always talked about her kids, and who I used to joke around with, two typical NYers. I was told she died a hero, she was trying to help people get out. They did get out, she didn’t. It was just a heartbreaking story, one of nearly 3000 heartbreaking stories from that day.
I couldn’t get a hold of my family back East, the phone lines were messed up that day. Though I knew none of them were anywhere near the WTC, it still was nerve wracking. Finally got a hold of them in the afternoon.
A little bit of me died that day, I’m sure that’s true for most Americans. Being a native NYer, it hit a tiny bit harder. I can’t believe it’s 20 years since that horrific day. My thoughts go out to all of those who were lost, and their friends and families. It’s still painful, may we never forget.
