World Trade Center-- Part II.

Like everyone else, I'll always remember 9/11.
My wife and I got up unusually early that morning because she had scheduled some ambulatory surgery and we needed to drive to NY Hospital in Manhattan. But when we arrived, at maybe 6 am, there was such a back-up that the procedure was postponed and we drove home. I was exhausted and fell asleep on the couch upon our return. Some time later, my wife suddenly woke me up and frantically announced a bombing of the World Trade Center. I imagined a repeat of 1993, when terrorists exploded a bomb in the WTC garage, causing extensive damage but nothing catastrophic.

You can imagine our horror when I turned on the TV and we saw on the screen only a SINGLE tower standing instead of two! Cindy Hsu of CBS News was announcing that one tower had already fallen from the attack and that the second tower was in danger of doing the same. We sat stunned, speechless, and glued to the set for many long minutes. Eventually, the second tower also collapsed and then fell straight to the ground in about 10 seconds. The shock and horror of that day will never leave us. It seemed like a very authentic movie, except it was tragically real. Rescuers arrived on the scene and the digging for survivors-- almost none--began.

I was struck by a comment our Chinese renovator, who was working on our house at that time, immediately said. He declared without hesitation that anyone working on rescue would develop severe illness from breathing in the toxic dust generated from the debris. Why every other pro working at the site didn't know about this lethal danger escapes me. That afternoon, parents went to pick up their children at school,since classes were cancelled. One by one the children left elementary school auditoriums. I picked up our two boys. Fortunately, neither was traumatized by this event.I later learned that at the end of the day one child was left sitting in our kids' auditorium without a pickup.The reason was that the child's parent had been killed in the collapse.

That afternoon the sky over Park Slope in Brooklyn, about four miles from ground zero, was dark from ash and debris carried by the wind. A charred piece of memo paper fell near me. I picked it up and have saved it till this day. It was a Morgan Stanley employee's memo pad, with his name and title printed at the top. I never called to see if he survived. There was also a peculiar burnt smell in the air. I stayed indoors the entire afternoon watching the event on TV.

I eventually visited ground zero weeks later. The area was cordoned off, which seemed pointless after the attack, since there was nothing left except a huge pile of steel and other remains from the towers. Fires were still burning weeks later and there was a sickening smell in the air. My wife's office was two blocks away. They were relocated elsewhere for months while the cleanup proceeded. Eventually, all of the buildings comprising the WTC complex were demolished, not just the twin towers. About 17 acres were finally cleared after months for a fresh start. Every day tourists arrived with cameras to take pictures of themselves standing in front of what became a typical high rise construction site.

Almost 3000 people died in the attack. One friend who worked with my wife said she watched people jump out of the towers from high floors to their death. The heat from the burning building made suicide the only feasible option.k