ny b47 statement of janice brooks fdr- entire contents- brooks typed personal account 926

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  • 8/14/2019 NY B47 Statement of Janice Brooks Fdr- Entire Contents- Brooks Typed Personal Account 926

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    ^Y00 2/57

    Tuesday September llth2001

    J. arrived in the office early asG\\ ; the CEO of Euro Brokers, andmy boss, was inLondon and I needed to faxover the previous day's New Yorkreports to him.It was aglorious day,Ihad beenup at sixrunning, coolingdown by walkingthrough Battery Park. I left for work relaxed and happy atabout 7.20am.I wasatmy desk by 7.30am, had breakfast - sent the first fax, was workingon getting the second set of figures for him, and had a wire transfer goingthrough to CIBC.I remember picking up the telephonetodial London,and I heard aoudbang...my pc screen flickered, the ights flashed on and off, andIsawpaperand dust floating through theoffice window opposite where I sat- it waslike an/American 'ticker tape' parade, as the paper swirled anddanced in theair.I ran around thecorner tosee Brian Clark, who told me not topanic, thatit was probably aconstruction explosion,and that he would investigate. Iwent back to mydesk, sat down, andthen I heard a mans voice shout"Everybody Out"...(Iwas ater to find out that it was BobTwohig from ourConvertible Bond desk) I remember walking along thecorridor, seeing MaryPaterno and telling her that I was goingtoleave...I then remember seeingWalter Dulski and telling him the same thing.Ithen went back tomy desk tocollect my bag. AsIwas about toeave,Ihesitated and decided to call London to tell Gil what was happening.Kerry Stewart; the London receptionist, couldn't find him, soIasked ospeak to Robin Clark; the Managing Director of the Londonoffice, anduntilrecently my boss, and I remember vividly my conversation with him:

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    J: Rob, something's happeningnext door, we're all okay, but we're leaving.R: Something's happening next door?!?!?!?!? Fucking hell Janice, a plane's

    gone into the building - get the fuck out of there!!!!

    The urgency in his voice made me move...I don't remember saying goodbyenor putting down the phone, I just grabbed my bag and ran. I ran right andinto thesmall bond dealing area where I sawBrian Clark, Dan Smith andDomenick Mircovich. AsranItold them what Robinhad said,Ivaguelyremember smelling what I nowknow tobeairline fuel asIran, and asking ifIshould stay orgo...Brian told me that whatever Iwas doing thatIneededto stay away from the windows, I remember Dan turning, walking towards meand smiling...! didn't even stop toalk tohim -Ijust kept running. I left hedealing area and ran into the maincorridor, still not knowing what Iwasgoing todo.The first person I saw wasSteve Chucknick -heand JoseMarrero were standing at the crossroads in the corridor, Steve said "comeon Janice - down you go". The decision to stay or go was taken away frommewith those few words, and he herded me into the fireescape staircase.The staircase was already full with people coming down from above, it wasa steady pace, but people were chatting, joking and relaxed. Achap fromEuro Brokers hadentered the staircase just before me, but three girlsseparated us, he kept looking back,but as thestairs kept turning I struggledto keep him in sight. Iknew that Ineeded tobewith someone Iat eastvaguely recognized, soaskedthegirls if Icould squeeze in.Ifelt happierbeing with someone from the same company,although I didn't know who hewas. I was wearing some ridiculously high clip-cloppy shoes,and hesuggested that itwouldbequicker if I took them off,soI put them in mybag, and continued down in bare feet.When we got down to the 72nd floor, there was an announcement from thebuilding seajrJiyt__They assured usthat ur building w n

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    offices. Our nearest was the 70th floor. We carried ondown two moreflights,andentered back into the buildingon the 70th floor...we followedthe crowd, walking into and through the offices of Morgan Stanley, and intotheir lift lobby.

    There was a further announcement whilst we were walking, repeating againthat our building was secure,andthat the lifts would start to work againmomentarily.When we got to the lift lobby there were already about ten people there,I was stillwith this chap I didn't know,but nowwe had caught up with someother people from Euro Brokers who I did know, in particular - Paul ilby(Daisy), and Robert Coll (Woody). Daisy isEnglish, and I remember sayingto him that I hoped this type of thing didn't happen toooften..."every eightyears" I remember him saying,and I knew that he wasreferringtohebombattack in 1993, when his dealing area was on the 31st floor of One WorldTrade Center. We waited for about three minutes, the liftsdid not comeback on, and a suggestion went up that we should start walking...Daisy andWoody turned and left very quickly...! tried to keep up, and remember callingto Daisy to wait for me...he called back "hurry up, old woman" and thenturned into thestaircase. I never sawhim again. I stayed with this unknownchap,and now several others I knew tobe from Euro Brokers,but again Ididn't know who they were - wewalked into the staircase which wasstill fullof people walking down...wetriedtowalk up, and I remember agirl asking mewhereIwasgoing. I told her that wehad been assured that our buildingwas secure so we were heading back to our office. She carried onwalkingdown. We waited for probably a minute or so, for the staircase to clear,andthen we started on our wayback up.There were nowabout seven of us./After walking for about ten minutes, we left the staircase andwalked into aconnecting corridor. Iwas about five steps into the corridor whenIfeltadull thud, the building shook for about five seconds, andIfell back againstthe wall,Ialso remember theceiling comingdown behind me,and smoke ordust filling theair, and I remember aman with awhite shirt running backand forth. He tried both the door that we had just come through and thedoor up in front of us...both were blocked with fallen debris and rubble.

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    Then Iheardawoman's bloodcurdling, high pitch scream,and I remembera man's voice shouting for helpandsome frantic banging. We all movedfurther into the corridor to see where the noise wascoming from, wecouldhear crying andshouting from the other side of the updoor, so, led by theman with the white shirt, wecleared the rubble, andpushedandpulled onthe door until it opened. /About six shockedanddazed people camethrough-all were bloody and the women were crying.The first woman hadbloodall over her arm, which wascut, almost neatly,from her shoulder toher elbow, I remember seeing the bone, and her skinjust flapping around...one of the guys took his t-shirt off andwrapped itaround her arm, tying it in a knot under her arm pit, she also had a woundedfoot,glass in her hair, andcuts on her face. She waswith a man who hadcuts all over his arms.One man had a cut across the back of his neck, and the back of his t-shirtwas soakedwith blood. Another man had a blood-splattered shirt and hadhuge pieces of glass in his chest, which the others were pulling out.One of the mensaid that he had heard a loud hissing sound, looked up andsaw a huge fireball coming towards them from the direction of the otherbuilding,andthat the windows were all blown in on them as they ran back tothe door. My initial thought was that Tower One had fallen on us.The last person to come through wasanother womanwho had long dark hair.She hadcuts all over her face, and had one eye full of blood...this was thewoman who was screaming...she wassaying that she couldn't see, and waswaving her arms frantically in the air...someone gave her abottle of water,she washedher face,and the blood in her eye was from a deep gash on herforehead, which haddribbled down. When she shook her hair,glassshowered everyone.We all then moved towards the down side of the corridor, to the door thatwe hadoriginally came through. This door was nowblocked with rubble andthe buckled wire ceiling grid that hadfallen down. Together wemoved allthe concrete andplaster and the man with the white shirt eventually pulled

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    the door open, as he lookeddown hesaid that the stairs were gone,and allthat he could see was smoke and darkness....almost magically there wasanother door...f lush with the wall/and the samecolour...one that I had walked straight past and never even noticed...again,the doorway was blocked...the m en all pulled back the rubble, and we openedthe door...just a little at first, assomethingwas blocking it from the otherside. The man with the white shirt squeezed through...he then pushed fromthe other side, as the men on our side pulled...(the man with the white shirtI was ater to find outwas Peter Rogers, whoworks on our Caps desk).Thedoor was then open enough for us to get through. I remember going throughsideways...and feeling with mybare feet to find a hold-there was a hugeplankofceiling that had fallen, and that I eventually walked onto. Therewas one lady behind m e, the same lady who was in the corridor when weheard the screaming, and she was coughing loudly. Then lastly was the manfrom Euro Brokers, whomade sure that everyone wasthrough before heleft.He came through, and then we all set off down the stairs...the lady with thearm and the badfoot was n front of me, with the other lady with the coughbehind me.(Iwas ater told that three other people from Euro Brokers were in thecorridor with us: Steve Hudson, Mario Lopez-Lena andGreta Mayans, allfrom our Mexico desk. I do recall seeing Steve Hudson-but I did'nt knowat the time who he was).We entered a well-lit staircase, which was ittered with pieces of ceiling,wire, plaster andconcrete. Plastic coke bottles had exploded,and therewasa broken pipe gushing water down the stairs, which mixed with the cokemade them very slippery... the woman in front of me wassliding all over theplace. It was very dusty, I remember coughing,and my feet feeling stickyand wet.After about six flights of stairs, the debris cleared, and he staircasewasdeathly quiet. All hat I could hear were people coughing, and the womanwith the long hair still crying.

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    As we were walking down, the man from Euro Brokers was constantly runningback and forth between the people at the front, and me and the coughinglady at the back. He kept telling us to stay focused, watch where we werewalking, to hold on to the handrail and to keep moving.I remember thewoman behind me crying, and coughing even louder, she toldme that she had asthma, and she had to keep stopping to take deep breaths.The woman in front, with the arm, keep saying over and over again that shewas movinghouse on Friday, she wascrying and saying that she would not beable to help her husband with a bad arm. Her left foot wasbleeding badlyand I saw hat she only had half a shoe on. Each step she took left a bloodyfootprint, I remember looking down atmy left foot and seeing blood oozingthrough my bare toes as I stepped behind her. I remember asheer panicsweeping over me, and a scream building inmy throat, until I heard avoice inmy head telling me to calm down, everything wasgoing to be okay, that it wasnot my blood, and that I needed tofocus and listen to theman from EuroBrokers.I stopped dead a few flights later when I sawblood on my shirt, itwas onthe front and on my eft sleeve, not much, but still it shocked me. Iremember pulling myshirt from mybody andmouthing to this stillunknownman "I've gotblood on my shirt" I kept repeating it again and again, standingdead-still. He put his arms around me,told methat it wasokay, but thatwe really needed tokeep moving. I remember starting tocry, and stoppingagain a few flights later andsaying "I don't even know your name". Hisnamewas Bob Mahon.We carried ondown - we never sawanyone else until we were onabout the8th floor - whenwe saw three firemen walking up...they seemed to look usover, probably noting that there were walking wounded amongst us, butotherwise that wewere okay, and then they carried on upwithout saying aword.With about ten flights to go, the lady in front of mestopped, started cryingloudly andstarted shaking uncontrollably, her foot washurting, clearly shewas having trouble walking. She said that she couldn't go on, that sheneeded to rest, that we were to leave her, and to send help when we finallygot to the plaza leveL.Bob said no, andwithout much fuss at all - he gave her

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    a piggy back, down -Idon't know, eight, ten, twelve flights ofstairs - hecarried her right to the bottom.At concourse evel it was a tad chaotic, and wewere directed by PortAuthority workers past CosmeticsPlus, towards the Path Terminal, thenacross by Sabarro's around past Nine West and then up the escalator byTorneau, all the shops were locked and empty. There was a steady stream ofFiremen and Police officers going back into the building as wewere leaving.We left the World Trade Center by^Borders book shop, andcameupontoLiberty Street, opposite the MMIenniumRcTtel - at that point the lady withthe arm, and the man who hadstayed with her all the time were taken to theemergency medical center which had been setup on thePlaza...the last Isaw, she was being led away by a paramedic.As I watched her leaving, apoliceman stopped us at the opof thestairs andtold us to "keep your heads down, don't look up, don't look back". Bobgrabbed my hand, and we took off running.As we ran I remember seeing a woman standing there, coffee inone hand,Krispy Kreme donut in the other looking up at the building in a total trance.I wanted to grab her...shake her, and tell her to run.

    We crossed the road, and ran towards a policeman who was wavingfranticallyat us, we ran past the Church into Vesey Street, and kept running until wecameto the mouth of the Brooklyn Bridge.Lower Manhattan wasclearly being evacuated, and the emergency services weredirecting everyone over the Bridge into Brooklyn.Bob asked me where I lived, I told him Battery Park, and so we madea planto start walking across the crowdsto myapartment.Heasked mewhat time it was.Jt w a f e 9.43am.

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    Then for the first time I looked upat heWorld Trade Center...Icouldn'tbelieve what I was seeing, whereour floor should have been there was ahuge gaping hole, and I could see smoke and flames... I could taste sick inmymouth as awave of nausea swept over me, and I stood in a trance...just likethe Krispy Kreme woman, and I started tocry. I cried all thewayhome.I walked barefoot through the streets holding Bob's hand and crying.Hewas wonderful, he kept memoving,and kept mecalm. People were looking atus, someone pointed at me and said - "look that girl has blood on her shirt".Icried even harder.The streets were full... and instead of leaving Lower Manhattan people wereall just milling around, not knowing what to do, there were Police andEmergency Service officers everywhere, directing people,andstillmovingthem towards the Brooklyn Bridge.We werestillwalking against the crowds, but eventually, we crossed FDRDrive, and walked into my apartment block.The park opposite was ull of people just standing around in small groupstalking and looking up at the Towers in shock and awe.

    [y apartment was on the 17th Floor of 225 Rector Place in Battery Park,Bob came in, tried to call his wife - the lines were constantly busy, so hegave meahug, told me that I was safe inside, and that I should trytorelax.Then he left.Once he had gone. I just kept trying tocall London. After abouttenminutes Iwas able toget through and Ispoke toGil. He asked me if Iwasokay, where I was,who I was with, and who I last saw on the floor. For thefirst time,Ithought about whoIhad last seen...I told him about Brian, Danand Domenick, and that it wasSteve and Jose who had herded me into thestaircase. I told him about Bob, that hewas okay,but that hehad left andwas going to try to get home to NewJersey.The line was disconnectedafter about three minutes.

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    I kept trying and eventually got through again. This time I spoke toRobin,and then tomy best friend Jill Whitfield. She later told me that Iwashysterical, which was strange...Ithought that under the circumstances, Iwas quite calm.I then tried tocall my family and friends inFlorida, and Ray, who was lookingafter my dog; Sidney, in upstate New York. I remember talking tohim, andagain the ine being cut. Each time I finally got through toanyone the inewas disconnectedafter a few minutes.When the first tower fell, I heard the rumble a long time before Isawanything. Ithought that itwasanother plane, andIremember screamingand ducking andwaiting for the inevitable crunching sound.There was asmall flurry ofdust and I saw paper swirling around outsidemywindow. The telly stayed on, andeverything in the apartment continued towork.I was still trying tocall my friends, the ines were either constantlyengaged, or just ringing, andthengoing to avoice recording saying that mycall couldnot be connected at that time.Then I heard the same rumbling sound that I had heard before -this onewas much louder...I was on the telephone to afriend in Houston, and the linewent dead, the telly flickered off, I felt the building move, the crockery inthe dish washer began to rattle, the windows were vibrating andmaking ahumming sound, and as I lookedupIsawdarkness creeping around mybuilding. I watched in atrance as thebillowing cloud seemedtomove inslowmotion as one by one mywindows were blacked out. It was as if therewassomeone on the roof unwindinga heavy roll of carpet...until eventually it waspitch black inside, and I couldnot even see my hand in front ofmy face, Iremember sitting down andcrying...I sat on the sofa rocking back andforth,andIthought thatIwas goingto die. Iwas so frightened. Iwas going todie, and I was alone. I will never forget that feeling. Even now, in mydreams I see this girl sitting alone in thedark rocking back and forth andcrying, thinking that she is going to die.

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    The humming andrattling stopped first as the building seemed to shudderand come to a rest.I remember being shocked into action, and getting up racing tofind a torch,trying the telephone, turning the telly on andoff, the lights...nothing wasworking, and I had no water...! ran into my bedroom to getmy sports radio,and I just sat in the dark crying and listening to the news.After a while the black turned to gray, then to light gray andthen to justswirling paper and dust. I remember standing up and looking outat theStatue of Liberty in the harbour - one side of myapartment looked like apicture-perfect summers day, the other side waschaos and people weredying.I wasshocked out of my daze by thetelephone ringing, theonly thing in myapartment to spring back into life, it wasSylvia Connors who wascallingmelooking for her husband Kevin. Whilst I was n London, Kevin stayed at theapartment, andstill had the keys...she washoping that somehow hewouldmake his wayback toBattery Park, and just turn up on my doorstep,Iwas tospeak to her at least three more times during the coming hours.Then I heard a commotion in thehallway outside my apartment...someonecalling for help - I opened thedoor to acloud ofblack dust, and called outfor them to walk towards the light...out of the darkness came firstlya younggirl,and then a young man.She hadbeen in the lift,which opened at myfloor, as she got off - the dustcloud came up the lift shaft. He wasfrom anapartment on my floor, whichwas nearest to the World Trade Center - he hadglass in his hair, andcuts tohis face andarms - but wasshocked more than anything else. He was lookingout of his windowas the second tower began to fall, and as he tried to closethe window it smashed and fell in on him.We cleaned him up, putting plasters on his hands andarms, and then sat,alternatively trying the telephone - but mostly getting the voice recording.The girl had a call on her mobile phone, one of her friends was at Pier 11, andthere were ferries leaving for NewJersey, so she left almost immediately.

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    She lived on the 19th floor, so wasfirst going up to her apartment to collectsome belongings.Igave her my telephone number and told her tocall ifsheneeded any help. I never heard from her again.After an hour orso, I went with theman back to his apartment - there wasdust and glass everywhere, all the windows on one side of his apartment hadblown in, and his belongings onthat side were scattered all over the place.He collected some clothes, and decided to make his way to Greenwich Villagewhere his office was andwhere most of his friends lived.I went back to my apartment and decided that I needed aplan.After Igotthrough, Ihad been leaving messagesfor Eileen McMahon; theEuro Brokers New York Personnel Director, and finally she called me. Shehad heard my messages,soknew that I was safe, buthad trouble gettingthrough to me.The trainshe was on had been terminated at City Hall, and she hadcomeup onto the street about ten minutes before the plane hit our building.After walking for over anhour she eventually found a Queens bound bus,which took her almost to the top of her road.

    I can't remember if she invited me, orI invited myself ...but a plan washatched that I would make my way to her place if thepowerdid not comeback on in myapartment.The plan wasset hat I would have to leave my apartment by 5.15pm, inorder toget toher before it started toget dark. So I busied myselfpacking a small bag.I tried tocontact the house management, there wasno answer at thereception desk of the building, sorandomly calling - I finally got an answerfrom the on-site dry cleaners...who actually told methat they were based atthe far side of Battery Park - he said that mybuilding hadbeen evacuatedabout three hours before, and thatIshould think about leaving...! told himthat I hoped that the power would come back on, and that I could stay - he

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    told me t wouldn't happen, that the wholearea had noelectricity, gas orwater.I told him that it waspitch black in thehallway outside my apartment, hetold me to get into the fireexit, andmake myway o the ground floor.Heasked ifIhad aorch...Ididhave, but t seemed toonly flicker on whenit wanted to...I told him thatIhad acandle - he told me not touse thecandle ashehad been told that there were underground gas explosions - Itold him thatIwould open thedoor and see if I could smell gas -he told methat bythen it wouldbe too late!!He wished me well, andsaid that he was ust leaving and wasgoing to try toget to NewJersey by ferry.Idid not havea mobile phone, soknew that onceIleft theapartment that Iwould not beable to get into contact with anyone - I remember feeling veryvulnerable, especially notknowingwhere togo...every subwaytrain that Ihadever taken had been from The World Trade Center, so I really didn't knowwhere to start.Eileen told me tohead toCanal Street, but again, theonly time I had walkedto Canal Street hadbeen via The World Trade Center.I remember sitting and hoping that thepower would come back on.It never did.I walkedout into thehall, opened the fireexit door, and as I could notsmellgas I knew that it wouldbesafe for me touse acandle.

    at 5.15pm, and after one final heartbreaking conversation with Sylvia, Ileft myapartment to head to Canal Street, in the hope of getting a train toQueens.I had twobags, my sports radio, and ascrappy piece ofpaper with Eileen'saddress and phone number.

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    As I locked my apartment, my bags strapped across me, and balancingacandle, Imade, my; wgy ,o,.the-^arej it_,thedoor---opened--easy -rbut--it--was-----pitch black inside and echoey...! called out several times, but with noanswer,I then started towalk down...when thedoor made aheavy clunk behind me -I started to cry. I stood inthe dark with my candle, my legs were like jelly,and myheart was beating sohard...Iwasankle deep indust and paper andcoming down those 17 floors was so muchharder than coming down the 84floors in the World Trade Center.I finally gottothe bottom,but whenI triedtoopenthe door...I couldn't, itwas blocked with dust and paper, andwhat looked like pieces of cardboard.Iturned to put the candle down,and asIdid itblew out, Iwas ntotaldarkness...my heart stopped, and again I felt awave ofpanic sweep over me...but this time there wasno Bob tohelp me, andIknew thatIhad todo itmyself ...so I started tokick all thepaper and dust out of theway,and keptpulling on the door. After what seemed a lifetime, but in realitywasprobably only aminute ortwo, I wasfinally able topull it open, and wasblinded by a flash of sunlight...the reception area wasdeserted, one of thehuge picture windowswassmashed, and there wasdust, paper and glasseverywhere.As I pushed the front doors open,Iwadedout into almost knee high dustand rubble - the park opposite was totally dust covered, andIwas the onlypersonaround...! shouted out several times, but no oneanswered...it lookedmuch like I image it would after anuclear explosion, and it was so so quiet...it wasreally spooky, nothing...no traffic,noferry horns, not evenabird.I would never have knownthat acity withareputation forbeing so loud,could be so deathly quiet.I stood for a few moments looking around, and then I started towards theBrooklyn Bridge, going wide of the way wecame before, as the road Bob andI had walked down was nowcovered inbuilding parts, and I could see carsflipped ontheir sides.

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    people move, and had me sit down. He talked to me the whole way,and alsostarted talking to two ladies that were sitting opposite, one of the ladieswas getting off where I needed tochange, and the conductor instructed herto take me to the R train. I remember walking up two flights ofstairs,before being on the right platform. She put me on the train with theconductors cab, and as before, she spoke to him before putting me on.The conductor came out of his cab, talked to mefor the rest of the journeyand put meoff at 63rd/Rego Park.Icalled Eileen from apetrol station just outside thesubway, and she cameto meet me. It was8.55pm, a normal 45 minute journey had taken menearlyfour hours.Icried whenIsaw her.Her niece Elaine, Elaine's husband Rob, and their daughter Ciara were there,and I remember feeling very detached, as we sat watching telly and eatingpizza.I don't remember much about anything else that night...!dorememberspending about anhour in the shower washing the dirt and dust away...andI remember lookingatmyself in the mirror and knowing that my life wouldnever be the same again.I was aware ofEileen talking toRoger Schwed; theEuro Brokers legalcounsel, on the telephone, and him telling her that 80 people were stillmissing, which I couldn't understand, and I know that she said that we wouldgo to the help-desk, which wasbeing set up at Michael Scharfs office onMadison Avenue,the following day. I think that I spoke tomy Aunt, and myDad, but I am not really sure.Jt is the only time that I can't rememberclearly what happened...everything else is so vivid and has stayed with me -this aloneam vague on.Idon't remember what timeIwent into bed...butIremember looking at theclock and seeing Sam blinking atme - I couldn't close my eyes without seeingthe flames andsmoke coming from our floor, and that billowing black cloudmoving slowly around my apartment. I woke exhausted.

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    Wednesday September 12th 2001

    e arrived at Michael Scharfs office at about 11.30am on WednesdaySeptember 12th./Already at the help-desk were SueSullivan, Roger Schwed andSteveVigliotti, together with Debbie Leible, whoworks for Michael Scharf.Sue,Roger and Steve had been there since the day before at about 11.00am, sohad worked through the night, together with Walter Danielsson - who hadleft about ten minutes before wearrived.I remember Sue giving me thepieceofpaper with thenames of thepeoplewho were still missing.Looking down at the ist...with eachname I sawa face, and recalledaconversation; some of themIhad seen themorning before inthekitchen,others I had made plans togo out with later that week...I sawDan's name,Domenick's, Steve's andJose's - of the last five people I saw on our floor,four were missing...also included in the listIsawKevin Connors name,andIthought ofmy conversations withSylvia theday before,and I rememberedhow, witheachcall and the passing hours, her voicebecame more and moredesperate, andIfelt particularly sad...all these people were missing, andIdidn't understand.Overnight the list hadcome down from 80 people to 60.Our main job was to answer the telephones, and give out what sketchyinformation wehad.Eileen and I arrived at thehelp desk at11.30am, and didnot eave until2.30pm the following day, and the telephones were ringing all night. The callswere heartbreaking. Desperate voices,all hoping for some good news...and inso many cases, we had nothing to say...