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I was late for work. That morning, I was working in the Time-Life Building, in midtown at 50th and 6th. My train got into Grand Central Station around 8:50 and it was a fifteen minute walk to my office.

When I got to 48th and 6th, I heard a low-flying plane. It was an odd sound. Planes don’t fly low over Manhattan. I looked up, saw nothing, and looked around at my fellow pedestrians. No one else seemed to have noticed anything odd.

I passed by the News Corp building, home to Fox News and checked the time on the outside clock. A couple minutes past nine.

I made it to the office around 9:05. And soon started hearing the news. The Time-Life Building was considered a possible target so everyone was encouraged to go home. No trains were running. Crowds of stunned people were in the streets, walking to their apartments or to the bridges out of the City.

I stayed until I was sure that everyone had a place to go before I left. Other bosses hightailed it out without a look back. That gave me something to be angry about besides the Towers. I guess that was the start of my feeling that we were at war, and we’d damn better be strong.

I called my wife and told her I was walking north. I figured I’d walk out of the City and get some place she could drive and pick me up.

So I walked from 50th into Harlem at 125th Street—just as the trains began running again.

The next morning, the New York Times banner headline was “An Act of War”. (My, how attitudes have changed!)

How about you guys?

I was in the middle of nowheresville on a mini-vaca, the first in a very long time. I had no idea it had happened for over an hour since there was no TV or phone in the cabin. We just happened to find out when trying to set up a canoe trip. Found a radio and listened to coverage for a while, then decided to pack it in and head home. On the way home we passed gas station after gas station with long lines like I’d never seen before.

I didn’t see any TV footage until we stopped in a liquor store that night, right before getting home. It was beyond shocking. I was always grateful I hadn’t seen any video footage until the reality had sunk in.

Here on the left coast when I got up and turned the TV on the first tower had already been hit. I was unsure as to the scope of the situation because the reporting was sketchy and there were reports of other possible problems.

I thought at the time something could be going on in an organized manner, I was sure of it when the second tower was hit. I woke my wife and we watched, stunned as the different events unfolded.

I have wondered about your experience many times, Red, knowing you worked pretty close to ground zero. Thanks for relating your experience and for taking the action you did for your employees.