Thank you, Detlof, I'm OK, as I was not in the buildings at the time. I usually time my trip to the office so I'm coming up from the PATH under 1 WTC about 8:55 a.m. (just as the first plane hit, I understand), but yesterday I went in an hour early to get some work done before a 9:30 conference call. Our office is at Battery Park Plaza, on the tip of the island next to Battery Park, a 5-10 minute walk directly south of the WTC, and when the first plane hit, a group of us were watching the fire and smoke from our 20th floor office on the north side, figuring it was a terrible accident (we couldn't see the hole as it was on the north side of the building). As we were watching, there was a loud roar of jet engines accellerating as the second plane passed right next to our office--almost the same level we were watching, it seemed--and we watched in horror as it banked left up Broadway and accellerated into the WTC 2 tower and disintegrated with a huge blast and fireball. Our blood literally ran cold; we could not believe what we had just seen. At that point we got out of the building, although I did go back up to call my wife and gather some papers to work from home, and that was when the towers collapsed and I ultimately had to leave the building and go into the street, where it was raining ashes and debris and I got covered with ashes, dust and smoke. One of our firm's former associates worked on the 60th floor of 2 WTC--after the first plane hit the other tower, he left despite building announcements not to leave and came down to our offices and watched the second plane hit where his offices were located--the poor man was in shock. Can you imagine how he felt? Eventually, I walked over to a ferry to New Jersey and found my way home, although I was in a daze the whole day, and now.
One of the haunting memories of the day (besides watching that plane ram into the building) was as I was going to the ferry, where I noticed one of the millions of pieces of paper that had blown out of the buildings following the explosions. It was a charred page from an offering memorandum on a deal on which I am working; God knows how many of my friends and colleagues were in that building. My heart and prayers go out to all the victims of this act, but also to the innocent victims of terrorism in Belfast, Jerusalem and all parts of the world. Until you see it first hand, I guess you don't realize what a horrible thing terrorism can be. I would not wish what I saw yesterday on any person. The only good things I will remember from that day was the bravery of the firemen, police and rescue workers and the way all of us in Manhattan and this area came together to help each other during this crisis.
Thank you for thinking of me and everyone involved, especially the victims and their families.
Russ Prince
One of the haunting memories of the day (besides watching that plane ram into the building) was as I was going to the ferry, where I noticed one of the millions of pieces of paper that had blown out of the buildings following the explosions. It was a charred page from an offering memorandum on a deal on which I am working; God knows how many of my friends and colleagues were in that building. My heart and prayers go out to all the victims of this act, but also to the innocent victims of terrorism in Belfast, Jerusalem and all parts of the world. Until you see it first hand, I guess you don't realize what a horrible thing terrorism can be. I would not wish what I saw yesterday on any person. The only good things I will remember from that day was the bravery of the firemen, police and rescue workers and the way all of us in Manhattan and this area came together to help each other during this crisis.
Thank you for thinking of me and everyone involved, especially the victims and their families.
Russ Prince