9/11: Events of the Day

The attacks of September 11 were one of the most watched and documented tragedies in histories. Reactions were mixed with horror at their violence and pride at the courage, heroism, and grit of those who responded. Explore objects and stories from the Museum’s collection.

New York City Fire Department  - Chief of Department Peter Ganci

A 33-year veteran of the New York City Fire Department, Chief of Department Peter Ganci was the highest ranking uniformed fire officer killed on 9/11. On September 11, 2001, Ganci arrived at the WTC less than 10 minutes after the North Tower was struck, proceeding to establish a command post. He barely escaped the collapse of the South Tower, yet returned to the North Tower disaster scene, ordering the evacuation of all firefighters inside from his radio. He had also instructed Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, the fire commissioner, and others to clear the area, which he knew was unsafe due to rapidly deteriorating conditions. Ganci himself stood his ground, refusing to leave his men and the desperate rescue effort still underway to lead civilians out of the North Tower. As a result, he perished when the building fell at 10:28 a.m.

The radio Chief of Department Ganci used that morning was donated to the 9/11 Memorial Museum's collection by the Ganci family.

Lower Manhattan Resident Kathleen Gupta
 
Kathleen and Udayan Gupta’s Battery Park City home overlooking the World Trade Center was severely damaged on 9/11. Listen to Kathleen Gupta speak about residential life in lower Manhattan before and after September 11 and why the Guptas decided to donate a chair from their apartment to the Museum’s collection.  Listen >>

Stories of Loss

A Life Remembered: Rosa Gonzalez

The family of Rosa Gonzalez donated personal items to the 9/11 Memorial as a way of honoring her memory. This material, accompanied by accounts and stories provided by her family will be preserved in Rosa’s memory in the Museum’s permanent collection. They reflect the types of artifacts that will be shared with visitors in a memorial exhibition designed to honor the vibrant individual lives of the nearly 3,000 victims of the September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993 terrorist attacks.

Clothing and Missing Posters Donated in Memory of Richard Caproni

The parents of 34-year old Richard Caproni donated personal items that were part of his favorite casual wear sported by Caproni, whose promising life ended on September 11, 2001 when hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 plunged into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Marisa DiNardo's Story

On September 11, 2001, Ester DiNardo lost her daughter, Marisa.  Ester remembers how on her last night, Marisa brought her to Windows on the World on top of the World Trade Center to celebrate her birthday. Click here to listen to Ester's StoryCorp interview

On September 11, 2001, Marisa DiNardo had been working as a bond trader at Cantor Fitzgerald for approximately one year. The night before, Marisa celebrated her mother Ester’s birthday with family and friends at Windows on the World.  Marisa had already arrived to work at World Trade Center 1 when the plane hit the building and did not survive the attack.  A year later, Marisa’s heavily damaged and charred pocketbook was returned to her family.  Until the morning of their StoryCorps remembrance, the family had found it much too painful a task to rifle through the contents of Marisa’s bag, but after doing so, decided to gift the pocketbook to the Memorial Museum.  The contents within her recovered bag included various credit cards, a Blockbuster card, ID cards, and the receipt from the celebratory dinner at Windows on the World from the evening before in honor of Ester’s birthday.

9/11 Victim’s Item Returned by NYPD WTC Property Recovery Unit

As they did every workday, sisters Eileen and Patricia Fagan rose early in Toms River, New Jersey, on the crystal clear morning of September 11, 2001, to board a commuting bus together, each heading for jobs in Lower Manhattan. Upon arrival Eileen proceeded to the Bank of New York; Patricia entered the South Tower of the World Trade Center, exiting the elevator at floor 98 where she worked as an insurance claims adjuster for AON. A "classic gabber," Patricia, age 55, loved her work, her colleagues, her clients and the unparalleled views afforded by her office windows on high. At 8:46 am, Eileen Fagan felt a jolt, soon explained as the brute force of an airplane slamming into the Tower 1 of the World Trade Center. Immediately, she tried to contact Patricia by phone but the line was busy. Thereafter, Eileen was instructed to evacuate her workplace. Eileen assumed that her older sister, too, was descending to safety and that the two would reunite later. However, Patricia was never again heard from or seen. 

Although Patricia's physical disappearance baffled her grieving family and friends, many months after the attacks the NYPD's World Trade Center Property Recovery Unit informed Eileen Fagan that her sister's black zipped pocketbook had been found. Returned to Eileen all its contents intact, that same bruised purse with its personalized belongings has been donated to the Memorial Museum’s permanent collection. On a recent visit with Museum staff, Eileen share details of Pat's richly layered life, rhythms of spirit and habit tokened by some of the ubiquitous items that survived in her pocketbook: extra coins carried for the homeless and poor, rosary beads and saint prayer cards evoking her devout faith, scribbled notes referencing co-workers' upcoming birthdays and self-reminders to call a plumber for her elderly father, cheerful spring-toned lipsticks bought at Macy's, a daily calcium pill to fortify her slender frame, a monthly bus pass, and a supplementary pair of eyeglasses. Despite the traumatic circumstances and pressures endured by the bag, when Eileen gently opened the eyeglass case she was amazed to see that only one lens had been jostled loose from its frame.

Survival Stories

9/11/01 NYC Primary Day

The events of 9/11 represented a rupture of normality and of America’s understanding of the world, none of which was clear as the events began to unfold. Many people recall that the day began just like any other, marked by a strikingly clear blue sky, just as vividly as they can identify exactly where they were upon hearing about, or witnessing the atrocity as it startlingly unraveled.
Learn more >>

Fire Lieutenant Mickey Kross Shares His Story

FDNY Lt. Kross was with Engine 16, responding to the fires at the World Trade Center, on September 11, 2001. Listen to his harrowing and uplifting account of surviving the collapse of the North Tower. Listen >>

Leather FDNY helmet worn by Lt. Mickey Kross on September 11, 2001.

Tom Canavan and his Story of Survival

Tom Canavan was a securities specialist working in a bank on the 47th floor of the North Tower. While trying to evacuate the building, he became trapped in the WTC underground shopping mall as the South Tower collapsed. Canavan escaped to safety via a stairwell that has come to be known as the “Survivors’ Stairs.” Listen >>

Adrienne Walsh, a Firefighter on 9/11, and Her Story of Response

Off duty on the morning of September 11, 2001, firefighter Adrienne Walsh responded to the WTC with the second wave of fire fighters to leave FDNY’s Ladder Company 20 on Lafayette Street in Soho. In this interview, Walsh, now a lieutenant, recalls the fall of the North Tower.. Listen >>

Stories of Response

John Stiastny
One of nearly 2,000 members of the New York City Police Department dispatched to the World Trade Center site on September 11, 2001, John Stiastny arrived at the disaster site at about 1:00 that afternoon. A 12-year veteran of the NYPD then assigned to the Auto Crime Division in Queens, Stiastny was hit by falling debris and taken to Bellevue Hospital where he was treated for a broken leg and injuries to his neck. Although his efforts to participate fully in the rescue and recovery effort were cut short by his injuries, Stiastny nonetheless carefully preserved the mud-encrusted boots and gloves he wore that day, along with the handcuffs that he carried, and recently donated them to the 9/11 Memorial Museum. These components of Stiastny’s police uniform signify all the officers who responded to the emergency that day, and will enable the Museum to document the vital roles of all first responders. Through such artifacts and stories, the Museum hopes to be able to fully inform future visitors about the NYPD’s presence at the World Trade Center throughout the entire rescue and recovery.

Brian Van Flandern
On September 11, 2001, Brian Van Flandern witnessed the attack on the World Trade Center on television from his girlfriend’s home in Queens. Trained as an EMT, he made his way to the disaster site on that day, seeking to help in any way he could. Listen >>

Matt Higgins
Matt Higgins 
In the minutes following the attacks on the World Trade Center, New York City Mayor Giuliani called for a press conference to disseminate information to the public about the unfolding disaster. Matt Higgins, the Mayor’s Press Secretary, and his colleagues organized a press conference on a street corner near the Trade Center where the Mayor was being briefed by the Fire and Police Departments. With the burning towers only a couple blocks away, Higgins and his colleagues decided to move the press conference from this potentially vulnerable location. Listen >>