By God's Grace: Surviving 9/11 from the 81st Floor
Jean and Dan Potter live a quiet life surrounded by woods and wildlife in Northeastern Pennsylvania. It's a stark contrast to 10 years ago living in a Manhattan apartment just a few blocks from the World Trade Center. Jean worked on the 81st floor of the first tower hit, on the morning of 9/11. [North Tower]
1:15 In the twenties, we start seeing firemen, which gave us all a sense of relief. One of whom was Vinny Giammona, who was my husband's lieutenant at Ladder 5. And I grabbed his arm, and I said, "Vinny, be safe." And I'll never forget that look on his face day. It would have been his 40th birthday. And he left behind a wife and four children, four little girls, who are now grown, but...I'll never forget that look on his face.
1:44 Lieutenant Vinny Giammona was one of 343 New York firefighters whop died that dark day. Jean's husband Dan, a firefighter at the time, knew 60 of them. When the terrorists struck, he was on Staten Island, but quickly raced to Manhattan to make sure that Jean was safe, not knowing that she made it out of the North Tower before it collapsed. It wasn't until he was a block or two away that he realized the magnitude of the situation.
2:00 Different sized body parts, and there's big pieces, and there's small pieces...it's all over the place
Dan arrived at Ground Zero to help, and had to take cover when the South Tower collapsed, and later the North Tower.
It sounded like a freight train, you know, maybe a hundred times more, and you figure, with that amount of noise, and you know it's coming down around you--it's just a matter of time.
Debris and concrete pelted Dan.
No comments:
Post a Comment