The World Trade Center Disaster- Sept. 11, 2001
Although everyone has seen the video and pictures on the news, over and over, I can only tell you that having seen it in person, I continue to see it over and over in my mind. And it is not pretty.
The story started before the first picture. I arrived at Liberty State Park (where I take a train that runs along the river to Jersey City ). Upon arrival at the park and ride I look up to see the first tower billowing black smoke, but it only looked like one or two offices. I thought to myself, "damn, there's a fire at the WTC, and with the strong winds its gonna be tough to put out." At that point I knew something was wrong, but boy was I off.
About 5 minutes later, everyone on the train was either on their cell phones or had their faces glued to the windows. At one point, almost everyone had sat back down, but I focused on the burning building. The next thing I saw confirmed the magnitude of the situation. I witnessed a huge fireball explosion between the two buildings, which turned out to be the second plane. The explosion rivaled any movie special effect, and I yelled "Oh my God!"
The bulk of my day was spent with a cell phone glued to my ear, trying desperately to get a hold of my father, who is a stones throw from the towers. Neither my mom nor myself had any luck getting in touch with him. I have a blister on my finger from hitting the 'redial' button so many times. After the longest 4 hours of my life, I finally hear his voice.
These are the pictures I took with a cheesey disposable camera from directly across the river, at the Newport Marina pier in Jersey City.
