World Trade Center attacks – a first hand account

Thane Thompson – 9/11 survivor, Morgan Stanley employee, and Iraq veteran – wrote a first hand account just after his experience on Sept. 11, 2001 in Tower 2. It’s an appropriate read this morning. Never forget.

Part One: I heard a muffled sound like distant thunder but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I leaned close to the window to look down to the street, but didn’t see anything. From above, office paper came floating down like a ticker tape parade. “What the hell” I thought and wondered if someone had pitched out a basket of paper from an open window. That couldn’t be because all the windows design not to open. When I saw the burning stuffing like material falling pass the window I knew something was seriously wrong. Continue reading part one…

Part Two: Coming out of the alley, I saw an emergency worker wearing a reflective vest. He had a beard, wore a Jewish yamulka and carried a radio. I asked about triage point location. He pointed to the north, said he heading that way, and motioned for me to follow. We were on West Street walking north when a voice came over his radio. The voice was shouting urgently in a Hebrew. We stopped and he looked up. I followed his gaze and saw people falling from Tower 2. He turned toward me and with a sorry look he said simply, “People are jumping.” Read part two…

Part Three: A man emerged from dust cloud panting and in respiratory distress. He looked as though he had been spray painted with think gray paint. His eyes were watered as he tried to clear the dust. I set the guy down and washed the dust from his eyes. He panted and said “They hit us, they hit us in Washington DC too.” Read part three…

Hat tip to Blackfive.