Blind 9/11 Survivor Shares Story with High School Graduates

Blind 9/11 Survivor Shares Story with High School Graduates

A bouquet of white roses has been left at a name on the 9/11 Memorial. A single yellow rose is seen placed at a name in the background.
Tribute left on the North Pool of the 9/11 Memorial. Photo by Jin Lee.

Michael Hingson remembers hearing an explosion and the alarm in the voices of his colleagues but he kept his composure, although he could not see.

Blind since birth, Hingson was the voice of calm on Sept. 11 as he helped direct his colleagues, leading them down the stairwell to evacuate the 78th floor of the North Tower. Since he could not see signs, he became familiar with the building's layout and evacuation plans.

Now a motivational speaker, Hingson shared his story on Thursday with Manassas Park High School graduates during an awards ceremony in the gym, according to The Washington Post.

"All of you can make this a better world by creating teams, by accepting people who are different than you...by recognizing that we all have skills, no matter what we do," Hingson said. "If my story means anything, it has to be that we need to reconnect and create that sense of interdependence again."

Read more.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

9/11 Survivors Reunite at Survivor Tree 10 Years Later

9/11 Survivors Reunite at Survivor Tree 10 Years Later

Survivor Richard Eichen embraces the stranger who drove him home on September 11, 2001, in the front yard of a home on a sunny day. An American flag stands to the right of them.
Survivor Richard Eichen and the stranger who drove him home on September 11, 2001. Photo courtesy of Richard Eichen.

Although Richard Eichen and Lucy Gonzalez both worked on the 90th floor of the North Tower, they were strangers before September 11, 2001. On that day, the pair evacuated the building together, escaping its collapse by seconds. Ten years later, on September 12, 2011, the two, along with other 9/11 survivors, reunited for the first time under the Survivor Tree at the 9/11 Memorial.

Eichen, a consultant at Pass Consulting Group, had started working at the World Trade Center in early September 2001 and didn’t yet have a key to the office suite. On the morning of 9/11, he was waiting near the 90th floor elevator for his colleague to arrive when he heard a loud bang and was hurled to the ground as the office erupted in flames.

Despite sustaining a severe head wound, Eichen found his way to an adjacent office where he connected with four others, including Lucy Gonzalez. They decided to evacuate as the smoke billowed and they saw large severed pieces of the building falling outside. However, Gonzalez was reluctant and wanted to wait for first responders.

“I told her, ‘Lucy, we’re not leaving anybody behind. We got to get out of here, we’re starting to burn,’ Eichen remembers. "I took her hands, and put them on my shoulders, and I held them so she wouldn’t let go.”  

Lucy Gonzales and Richard Eichen at the Survivor Tree on the 9/11 Memorial plaza, September 12, 2011.

Overcome with anxiety, Gonzalez fainted near the 25th floor on their decent down the stairs. After FDNY firefighters revived her with oxygen, Eichen grabbed Gonzalez and yelled, “wounded coming through!” and descended the final flights of stairs. The building collapsed minutes after they exited.   

Leaving Gonzalez with paramedics, Eichen walked to Downtown Beekman Hospital to seek treatment for his head wound. In the waiting room, he first learned of the terrorist attacks from the news. Still bloody, wearing his hospital gown and a bandage wrapped around his head, Eichen discharged himself and walked over the Brooklyn Bridge toward his parents’ home in Rockaway, Queens. After he crossed the bridge, a stranger offered him a ride and he soon was reunited with his parents.

Weeks later, he tried to locate Gonzalez. Finally able to connect through email, he confirmed that she was okay. It was not until 10 years later that the two decided to reunite and confront their memories together.

They met at the then-newly-dedicated 9/11 Memorial under the Survivor Tree at a special event for survivors. “I really believe the beauty and peace of the memorial affected everyone there,” Eichen said.  

 By Jenny Pachucki, 9/11 Memorial Content Strategist 

Flashlight Symbolizes Survivors’ Journey to Safety

Flashlight Symbolizes Survivors’ Journey to Safety

A red and white flashlight used by survivors on 9/11 is displayed on a black surface at the Museum.
This flashlight serves as a momento of the survival of two employees at the World Trade Center on 9/11. (Photo: Deena Farrell)

Although Brian Clark and Stanley Praimnath were in two separate offices of the South Tower on 9/11, each heard the impact of hijacked Flight 11 crashing into the North Tower.

Praimnath, on the 81st floor, began evacuating with colleagues down the stairs. But, at the direction of a security guard – who assured Praimnath that the danger was confined to the other tower – Praimnath returned to his office. Praimnath was again sitting at his desk when hijacked Flight 175 struck the South Tower.

According to The New York Times, Praimnath could see the plane flying past the Statue of Liberty, directly toward him. When the plane crashed, its nose ended up about 130 feet from his desk.

Trapped behind a wall of debris, Praimnath banged on the wall and called for help. Clark, a volunteer fire warden who had been heading down from the 84th floor, heard Praimnath’s cries. Clark assisted Praimnath out of the rubble and used his flashlight to light their way down the stairwell.

The two men evacuated the building minutes before it collapsed. The pair was eventually separated when the North Tower fell.

A year later, Clark gave Praimnath the flashlight that had guided them to safety as a memento of their survival.

By Deena Farrell, 9/11 Memorial Communications Intern

Replica of 'Manhattan' Carpet that Once Adorned WTC Restaurant Now Part of Museum Collection

Replica of 'Manhattan' Carpet that Once Adorned WTC Restaurant Now Part of Museum Collection

WindowsontheWorldCarpetMEMO.jpg
(Courtesy photo)

A replica of a World Trade Center restaurant carpet, which was designed to look like the island of Manhattan, has been donated to the 9/11 Memorial Museum's collection.

The Domaine du Cellier aux Moines in Givry, France, donated the replica Manhattan carpet, according to a news release. A similar carpet had once decorated the entrance of the Windows on the World restaurant in the north tower at the World Trade Center.

The release said the Manufacture de Moroges, which produced the original carpet in 1996, completed the replica a few months ago.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

Small pieces create bigger 9/11 picture

Small pieces create bigger 9/11 picture

Ticket-4.jpg

This is a big week here; baseball season has officially started.  There are several die hard New York Yankees fans on staff: 9/11 Memorial President Joe Daniels being the most enthusiastic, by far.

As work continues on the 9/11 Memorial Museum, after a while, everything seems to connect to the larger story of 9/11 - even the Bronx Bombers. We have several objects in our ever-expanding collection that relate to the great New York baseball club.  Some survivors credit the rained out  Yankees-Red Sox game on Sept. 10, 2001 with saving their lives because it meant they instead watched the New York Giants play. Monday Night Football ran very late, and  in turn, many who watched it were running behind to work on the morning of September 11, narrowly escaping a fate shared by thousands.

Recently an EMT first-responder donated the ticket stub from the September 23, 2001 interfaith “Prayer for America” service that was held at Yankee Stadium to honor the victims of the WTC attacks.  Thousands attended.  Many recall the emotional service and felt it was fitting for New Yorkers to mourn the loss of life and try and heal a wound together at the home of  New York City’s famed club.

Then there's a much more personal connection like the well-worn Yankees cap donated to the museum by the family of Steven Morello of Bayonne, NJ. Morello, who died on 9/11, worked as a facilities manager  in the north tower of the World Trade Center.

The curatorial team at the 9/11 Memorial Museum is working to document these stories of fate, and collective grief and healing.  Sometimes a simple artifact, such as a ticket stub, is worth its weight in gold, and helps to visualize these bigger feelings and concepts that are the fabric of this history.

By Jenny Pachucki, Oral Historian for the 9/11 Memorial Museum

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