Stories of survival & loss at Ground Zero
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Public media is no longer federally funded, but the NPR network remains yours in service to and powered by you. Keep public media public with a donation today at donate.npr.org and thank you. This is Fresh Air. I'm David B. and Cooley.
Today we commemorate the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Attacks that took place on the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington, D. C., and on United Airlines Flight 93, which was heroically diverted by passengers and crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. For anyone who is old enough to remember the events of that day, they also remember what they were doing when they heard about it or saw the coverage live on TV. Today's show will focus on what happened at the World Trade Center and the interviews we recorded in the aftermath.
First, we hear from former Deputy Chief Jay Jonas of the New York City Fire Department. He was a captain on nine eleven and led his men up the stairs of the North Tower. After the South Tower collapsed, they headed back down the stairs, presuming the North Tower could fall as well. On the way down, they found Josephine Harris, who could barely walk. Chief, you knew you were risking your men's lives and your own life to rescue Josephine Harris, and that the odds were you wouldn't save her either because she was so slow and the building was on the verge of collapse and you were, what, on the 27th floor?
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