photo credit: Cristina Tiberi
For Gen-Z, Sept. 11th holds some sort of meaning, but it holds a whole new level of meaning for people who were alive during it or actually witnessed it. Sophomore Ava Boccio’s dad, Ron Boccio, was in one of the towers that day.
Boccio was in the towers because he worked there. He thought it was going to be another typical day at work.
“I didn’t figure it out until I was out of the building. I thought it was an earthquake,” Boccio said.
He was working in One World Trade Center on the 28th floor. He was able to get out of the building quickly.
“I walked out of the 28 floors and was out 15 minutes before the building imploded,” Boccio said.
Boccio also knew other people working in the towers at the time.
“Multiple co-workers and friends and my daughter were in 2WTC. My daughter survived but some of my friends didn’t,” Boccio said.
A story from NPR interviewed someone in one of the towers. Joe Dittmar seems to have similar experiences to Boccio.
“In an interview with StoryCorps last August, Dittmar, now 61, vividly recalled the scene, describing gaping black holes through the sides of that building, gray and black billows of smoke pouring out of those holes, flames redder than any red I’d ever seen before in my life, flicking up the side of the building”, according to an article from NPR.com.
Dittmar was on the 105th floor of the World Trade Center’s South Tower at this time. He had a business meeting, but before the meeting started, the first plane hit the North Tower. He watched the aftermath right there from the window.
“Some of the other people from his business meeting took the express elevator to try to get out and did not survive,” according to an article from NPR.com.
Dittmar took the stairs to evacuate instead of the express elevator. He was on the 72nd floor when the second plane hit the tower he was in.
“The train was packed with people sitting and standing,” he said. “Not a word was spoken — there weren’t any words to say” Dittmar said, according to an article from NPR.com.
Dittmar made it out alive and safe, and got to go back home to his family. Other people from other countries also heard about the attacks on the towers as well. Study Hall Aide Trudy Cooke was living in the UK when she heard the news.
“At this time, I was still living in the UK, before moving to the USA in 2008. It was on every news channel and people were shocked and deeply saddened. We thought it was a hoax at first as it was so surreal” Cooke said.
Although people in the UK weren’t physically there, hearing about this situation affected them. It was all over the news and was quickly known worldwide because of its significance.
Today, Americans remember all the victims and everyone affected by that day in any way. This tragic incident has affected and changed so many lives of the people who were present when it happened.
