so you had the world trade center on one side. he stairs down were gone. - we never went back. our office was- the twin towers obviously collapsed on our building. so i remember that they went back. a couple of- i think (indistinct name) and a couple people went back to retrieve anything they could for people. - so everything then, when they rebuilt and redid, it was all new stuff that had to be purchased and set us up with because that office was gone for yea- i don't even think they opened it for two years after. (optimistic music plays) - [narrator] the calls recovered from the 9/11 machine are a reminder of the pure evil that was directed at so many innocent people. all the employees at cibc whose voices were recorded from that machine made it out alive. - there were no fatalities from the people that worked with us. you know, it was just the people that we all knew. people that worked across the street. the fact that we didn't lose anybody is a miracle. - [narrator] in total, 2977 people were lost as a result of the attacks on

. fin months before the 9/11 attacks here on the world trade center.- on the world trade centeron the 20th anniversary, do _ on the world trade center. on the 20th anniversary, do you - on the world trade center. on the 20th anniversary, do you feel - on the world trade center. on the 20th anniversary, do you feel your work is now in abeyance? in 20th anniversary, do you feel your work is now in abeyance?- work is now in abeyance? in the months leading _ work is now in abeyance? in the months leading up _ work is now in abeyance? in the months leading up to _ work is now in abeyance? in the months leading up to 9/11, - work is now in abeyance? in the months leading up to 9/11, we l work is now in abeyance? in the i months leading up to 9/11, we did not know what was coming. we were raising alarm bells about human rights atrocities in afghanistan and no one was listening. even in the women's movement it was not a priority. 0nce 9/11 happened, all of a sudden everyone wanted to know about the women of afghanistan and what they thought. in a strange way i find what they thought. in

, or what used to be the world trade center. it was like in the nation's capital today, first the news of the world trade center had been hit by a plane, then a second plane and hit the other tower, that of course conjured up immediate visions that this was some kind of a terrorist attack. then, the pentagon was hit by a hijacked airliner. donald rumsfeld, the secretary of defense, was in his office at the time and. -- two of the rings of that fortress like building, the fires continue to burn their tonight. there was a code red on capitol hill, that meant that house speaker dennis has stretch, who is third in line in succession, had to be taken to a secure location. condoleezza rice, the national security adviser to the president, was on the phone with. him he was at a literacy event in florida, and she told his staff they than suspected terrorism as a result of the second attack. she went to the operations room in the white house. vice president dick cheney, colin powell turned around on a trip to lima, and started back for th

i had never been to the world trade center. i had not been to new york at that time more than four or five times in my life. there was a constituent i knew, from the local high school, he was working in one of the towers . his mom was a kindergarten teacher, she did a book, written by all of her kindergartners, the proceeds were given to help afghan refugees. it was something else, i converge -- remember virtually every second from sitting in my car, driving through traffic home and back to the hill. >> [indiscernible] i probably forgotten a lot of things, one thing i have not forgotten is where i was on 9/11. i did not know -- i was the minority leader in the florida house of representatives. i was sitting in my office in the capitol, it was early in the morning. i was not sure if i saw or my chief of staff came in and told me that a plane had crashed into a building in new york city. i remember watching cnn within, seeing a second plane crashing. i first reaction was -- i did not ask -- suspect a thing sister at the time. my

the attack began, rescue workers are painstakingly combing through debris that used to be the world trade center. >> it was with those words "world news now" went back on the air for the first time since the 9/11 attacks. we're looking back at one story in particular from that day. fighter pilot heather penny was asked to give her life, to ram her unarmed jet into flight 93 over pennsylvania. it was a suicide mission, she accepted without hesitation. linsey davis had an opportunity to talk to this american hero. >> reporter: let's go back almost 20 years ago. >> i'm charles gibson. >> i'm diane sawyer. it's september 11th, 2001. >> reporter: you hear somebody say, someone has just flown a plane into the world trade center. what was your immediate response? >> we did not appreciate or have the full knowledge that this was an airliner that was flown into the world trade center. >> we want to tell you what we know as we know it. we just got a report in that there's been some sort of explosion at the world trade center in new york city. >> we don't know if it would have been deliberate or accidental

uses history to inform the present, to tell their story. >> a plane has just crashed int the world trade centerew york city. >> at 8:46 a.m., american airlines flight 11 crashed into the world trade center north tower, building one. it was one of four planes hijacked by 18 al qaeda terrorists that day. at first, it seemed a tragic accident-- an airplane off course. >> as i'm watching this trying to figure out, do i have to go to work? the second plane hit, and i saw it on tv. and that was it. >> al i seen is this huge fireball coming out of tower two, out of the south tower. and for a second i didn't know what it was. i thought maybe just the building blew up. >> i ran downstairs, and i'm looking southand both towers are on fire. and it was stunning. >> sreenivasan: with the second catastrophic strike, it became clear that the country was under attack. new york city mounted its largest rescue effort in history, dispatching more than 2,000 firefighters, medical workers, and police officers to lower manhattan. >> it was a little hard getting through the streets because there was debris all over.

he talks about this experience and says i had 220 stories of the world trade center fall on top of me but in our lives we all have our world trade center's that fall on us and for some of us it's the loss of a family member and some it is the loss of a job. for some it's thinking we can't even make it through the midterm next week and for him his message is that it's all about how you handle the trade center when it falls on you is what ends up mattering but when i say we are still living with 9/11, we are of course seeing the unfolding of the depths thereafter. this summer we marked one of the main characters in the book and he was the highest ranking official to survive that day. the morning after he becomes the chief of department and today he's the fire commissioner. this summer dan announced of the death of the 200th firefighter from the world trade center related injuries and diseases. so for a department that saw 343 people die that day, they've lost now two thirds of that number in the years since. down here. >> in your research did you come across the type of flight instructi

one world trade center was transferred from our ownership to the port authority. it we then opened -- >> and one world trade is the freedom tower, am i understanding that correctly >> that's correct. >> one world trade -- >> that name after some time, that was the early name for it they call it one world trade center now >> okay, okay. fantastic. and then other buildings down in that area you have built back up, quite a number of them how would you describe -- for people who aren't familiar with downtown new york and there are many millions of people who visited there but a lot haven't, how would you describe the change that has taken place as that neighborhood has been redeveloped and rebuilt? it is much more residential and much less office dependent now, it seems to me >> i would say that prior to 9/11 it was a very financial services oriented office market, and now it is a 24/7 vibrant community that is not dependent on the financial services sector at all it is very diversified into technology, into media and advertising and legal and the bars and restaurants

of that was carcinogens, the by—products of combustion which led to many individuals getting world trade center., ., center diseases. absolutely and that is the lingering _ center diseases. absolutely and that is the lingering effect _ center diseases. absolutely and that is the lingering effect of _ center diseases. absolutely and that is the lingering effect of what - is the lingering effect of what happened, the injuries and illnesses plaguing many people who were there at that time. how do you go about helping people and their families who have gone through that? 50. helping people and their families who have gone through that? so, the --urose of who have gone through that? so, the purpose of the _ who have gone through that? so, the purpose of the foundation _ who have gone through that? so, the purpose of the foundation is - who have gone through that? so, the purpose of the foundation is to - purpose of the foundation is to honour every firefighter who dies in the line of duty in our country and then help the families rebuild their lives, so we work with the individual family members to

as well as finding out where their families are. >> the south tower of the world trade centernding at this point. >> i have a direct line of sight to what is left of the world trade center. the fire continues to burn. i can see the flames streaming through the smoke. >> by this time chief pfeifer had found a safe exit. and tried to radio the men in the lobby. no answer. >> i walked across the bridge back towards the trade center. still trying to call on the radio. >> the guys that had been there, they're not there any more. >> they had already gone out another way, carrying the body of father michael judge down the street to st. peter's church. they laid his body on the altar. father mike's death certificate is number 00001. the first official casualty of the attacks. the chief and juuls walked outside underneath the foot bridge they just crossed and into a scene that none of them could even comprehend. >> and there's debris everywhere. there's dust covering the entire place. and we look and the tower's here. we said, okay, probably something else. the tower is standing. the o

that looked up and i saw what looked like a huge hole in the world trade center. s trained as a paramedic and i my currently licensed but i started walking toward the world trade center on greenwich street. i saw arms and legs and pieces of bodies and a lot of bad stuff. i put on my latex gloves and i walked up i got to the front door and there is this guy from fema who was -- i said i'm not license but i'm trained as a paramedic and he said that doesn't matter now, come on in. we went in and went under the basement to the other side of the building and basically, people were coming down the stairs in the fire department was arriving in groups they were going up the stairs. there was a group of us and people were leaving out the exit and they were getting killed by debris that was falling. we would corel people and groups of 50 or 100 and go out the door and look for debris. and we would tell them go and they would run out in groups we did that maybe 15 or 20 times when the second plane hit. at that point i started cursing i turned to the fbi agent. i said we are s

assignment at a maternity fashion show in mid town when his office called. >> the planes at the world trade centeranes at the world trade center. >> reporter: he dove into the subway and emerged at the southern tip of manhattan. when did you start making pictures? >> when i came out of the subway. >> reporter: what goes through your mind? >> you just do your job. all of your senses are heightened. >> reporter: on the other hand, you have to basically shut something down in order to do your work. >> you do. you have to pretend it's not there. you just do your thing. >> reporter: richard drew has been doing his thing since age 19 when growing up in a suburb of los angeles called temple city he bought a police scanner. >> i would listen to the police and go chase a car accident or a fire or something. >> reporter: if he wasn't chasing breaking news, he learned to put himself near where news might break. >> we can start to work together. we are a great country. >> reporter: on june 5th, 1968, he decided to see presidential candidate robert f. kennedy speak at the ambassador hotel in los angeles. >> th

>> dispatch: engine 1-0, world trade center 10-60. erything you got to the world trade center now! >> pelley: dispatch launched an armada. >> dispatch: engine 2-1-1, ladder 11, engine 4-4, engine 22, engine 53... >> pelley: 121 engines, 62 ladder companies, 100 ambulances, 750 members of the f.d.n.y. >> dispatch: attenion 68 engine, 35 engine, 50 engine, 64 engine, 94 engine, 83 engine. >> pelley: at f.d.n.y. headquarters in brooklyn, 54-year-old chief of department peter ganci, jr. raced to his car. he was the boss, leading the second largest fire department in the world, after tokyo. dan nigro was his number two. >> nigro: so we went downstairs quickly, got in the car and headed over the brooklyn bridge, where we could see the damage, see the smoke, see the fire. that's when i said to pete-- "pete, this'll be the worst day of our lives." and, you know, that was before i knew the half of it. >> peter ganci, jr.: car 3 to manhattan, k. >> pelley: pete ganci's voice was recorded en route. >> peter ganci, jr.: transmit a fifth alarm for

i had never been to the world trade center. i had been to new york maybe four or five times in my life. we lost a constituent. a valedictorian of a local high school. he was working in one of the towers. she did a book written by all of her kindergartners which the proceeds were given to afghan refugees. >> i lived a pretty long life so i probably have forgotten a lot of things, but one thing i have not forgotten is when i found out about 9/11. i didn't know. i was the minority leader in the florida house of representatives. i was sitting in my office in the capitol. i remember it was early in the morning. not sure if i was watching cnn or my chief of staff came in and told me that a plane had crashed into a building in new york city. i remember watching cnn with him and then seeing a second plane crash. and then my first reaction was i didn't suspect anything sinister at the time, but my first reaction which was totally ridiculous, oh, look, the planes went into the buildings but the buildings are holding up. that was my first

holy shit. >> the world trade center tower number one is on fire. nter now. >> we have a very tragic alert for you right now. an incredible plane crash into the world trade center here at the lower tip of manhattan. >> it's believed a 737 has crashed into this. speculation at this point. but at least three floors taken out. crashed into the side of the billing. joining us right now one of the producers with fox report. owen on the scene. what do you know? where are you? >> i'm on the roof of my building which is about five blocks of the world trade center. i'm looking right now at the world trade center. there is a massive gapping hole on the second tower. it's about 15 stories from the roof. it's just unbelievable to look at. >> it looks like something out of a movie. there is a huge hole in the side of tower number 1. >> we have- >> we have a number of floors on fire. it looks like the plane was aiming towards the building. >> it looked like intentional: it could be a terrorist attack. >> roll every available ambulance you have got to this position

the early 90s and in 93 was when there was a bombing in the basement or in the garages of the world trade center facility, and i had been at 7 world trade at that point in time so when i first heard there might be an explosion at the world trade center i was like this might not be something to kind of really think about a whole lot, so i think the initial reaction was like let's just get out of here and see what's going on, and then some information started to dribble in and so forth. liz: here you are today. >> right. liz: thank you so much. >> sure. liz: tim anderson one of the brave traders whose been here for so many years now. up next, you just heard tim talking about one world trade, 7 world trade, there were a whole constellation of buildings that were decimated. the man who worked tirelessly to rebuild financial district in the years after the 9/11 attacks , virtually had destroyed lower manhattan's real estate market. rxr realty chairman and ceo scott reckler is the man. he joins us next wait until you hear the story of rising from the ashes. the "clayman countdown" is coming right back

his father, joseph, worked at the world trade center.my mum was standing there with tears in her eyes. she told me what had happened, and we had a moment in the hallway. i think i was just very confused at first. you're an innocent ten—year—old thinking, "the world is great." and then, you find out someone killed your father. hundreds of miles south in florida, andy was also at an elementary school. the chief of staff to president bush knew he had to interrupt him. that's when i walked up to the president and i leaned down and i whispered to him, "a second plane hit the second tower. america is under attack. " ann was in her car when she heard the news, and she knew as people were trying to escape the twin towers, her firefighter husband, bruce, would be heading in. my kids went to bed. emily and megan were 17 and 14 at the time. - i stayed dressed, i laid down with them but i didn't go - to sleep because i figured - someone was coming to the house and i would be in my pyjamas. it's weird, the things you worry about. - at about midnight,

at the world trade center, the pentagon, a field in pennsylvania, in parks and at firehouses, celebratinghose who ran toward the danger and remembering those who lost their lives >> robert j. - >> ceecee ross lyles >> steven lamancia >> donald freeman. >> kevin w. yokeham. >> presidents past and present paying tribute today. >> we remember your loss we share your sorrow >> george bush's emotional call for a return to civility the new developments today in the war fought in 9/11's wake, and the new divisions in the country as we face a new threat two decades after we all united in the face of another one, a nation forever changed by that day tonight the country fulfills its promise to never forget. ♪ ♪ >>> this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. america remembers 20 years later. >> good evening, everyone the gleaming buildings that have risen here at the world trade center site have erased the physical scars of destruction from two decades ago, but today on this 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks we confronted the depths of the unhealed wounds to our hearts. unspeakable loss, moment

had hit one of the world trade center buildings. i thought, gee, what an accident. i live on the 15th floor and i ran to my neighbor's house and she has a clear view of her downtown manhattan. i looked out her window and saw the second plane hit the second building. and it dawned on me, i brother works there. my brother is in that building. and i sort of went crazy. then i went about the day doing what all those other people did, calling every hospital trying to find out if he had been brought to a hospital. i went down to the hospitals to see if his name was on the list. then i realized he had died. and because he had stayed behind to stay with his quadriplegic brother -- i'm sorry, friend -- who could not get out, although he was on the 27th floor and he could have saved himself, he died. amy: how do you know that? >> he was on the phone with my other brother and my sister-in-law. he said, don't worry, we are waiting for the firemen to come. ed was in a wheelchair and could not move. but by the time the firemen came, the building collapsed and it was too late. and

- were that tuesday morning two decades ago. >> apparently, alane has just crashed into the world trade centerin new york city. >> proportions we cannotegin to imagine. >> oh my god. >> this terrorist attack changed the world. nearly 3000 people died and thousands more had their lives altered. this is the story of three of those who found themselves in the eye of the storm. >> my dad was an amazing human being. >> he was a 10-year-old schoolboy when he was called to the principal's office. his father joseph worked at the world trade center. >> i went down the hallway and my mom was standing there with tears in her eyes. she told me what had happened, and we had a moment in the hallway. i think i was just very confused at first. you know, you are an innocent 10-year-old thinking the world is great, and then you find out that someone killed your father. >> hundreds of miles south in florida, and he was also at an elementary school. the chief of staff to president bush knew he had to interrupt him. >> that is when i walked up to the president and i leaned down and whispered to him "a second plane

i was at 120 wall st, directly across from the world trade center. building, and i quickly moved to our conference room, which had an expansive view of the fire. both world trade centers. it was a beautiful fall day like today, magnificent weather, i opened the window and in the 15 minutes between the first play and the second plane, the whole of downtown new york was filled with sirens, police boats. with sirens, police i of downtown new york was filled with sirens, police i remember a4 paperflying with sirens, police i remember a4 paper flying everywhere. that's what i remember. it was like a ticker tape parade and i knew there was no ticker tape parade today, and then we heard the sound of this jet coming straight at us and at the last moment plane veered and crashed into the second building and then i knew something terrible was in this and it was time to evacuate as quickly as possible. evacuate as quickly as possible-— evacuate as quickly as ossible. �* ., , ., possible. and how did you get out? well, — possible. and how did you get out? well, m

world trade center one.rom 9/11 are still there. one of them is john. >> the new guys coming on are just as good as the guys we had before. they're so eager to learn and work. now i'm one of the old guys in a firehouse. >> there's nothing like getting on a rig, hauling down broadway with lights and sirens. johnny mack, as he's called in the firehouse, had been there for eight years on september 11, 2001. >> it was just a terrible day and it's tough being the hero. that's why i don't like that whole thing and whatever anybody says about that. we were there. we saw it firsthand. for me, the best thing i ever did was stay at the firehouse and stay down there. i think that was my therapy. a lot of guys after 9/11 had a lot of trouble. drinking and depression and post traumatic stress. that's real. the only support groups were the firemen, the other men. that's all. the firehouse for me. >> have a good night. >> bye. >> still, that same firehouse for steve rogers, too. >> the firehouse is a big family. you have f

he said we need help because a plane hit the world trade center. i am a former reporter and my husband learned not to take messages for me. he literally walked into the shower and handed me the phone. she told me plane hit the world trade center and like most people come i thought small plane, it must've been a horrible heart attack or accident. then i turned on the television and saw that second plane hit the second tower. i remember falling to my knees and saying a prayer for the people in the building. it never occurred to me that there were passengers on the airplane. i called immediately after that my deputy who was with the president in florida and i said dan, a second plane hit the second tower and he didn't know. i remember the shock in his voice and he said what kind of plane. i said i don't know, a big plane like a passenger plane but it never occurred to me that it actually was a passenger plane. >> john taylor, listening to this so far, if you watch too much television as i've done in my life, you get the feeling that the white house, ev

two airplanes have crashed into the world trade center in an apparent terrorist attack on our countrylapsing the north tower falling 20 minutes later. in washington the center of american leadership the pentagon targeted and another hijacked plane. flight 93 crashing inching so pennsylvania. on wall street the explosion of the first building to calm down was being felt in real time. >> i just came back from outside and i'm cover was set, i was outside with the third explosion occurred. the whole area turn pitch black when the third explosion happened. i don't know if you could see my jacket in my shoes but i'm completely covered in white smoke. >> we were attacked by a faceless coward. and freedom will be defended. maria: i'm filming in the very place that i recorded 20 years ago after the attack and what was most important for me that day was to communicate to the world that everyone was accounted for here at the new york stock exchange. >> it was a real team effort. >> president barrasso, one of the many unsung heroes that day. >> during the 1993 bombing and sadly we got the same me

i worked at the world trade center on the 81st floor. >> the 77th floor. >> i was on the 90th floor. this feeling in you like, i'm on top of the world. >> they were over 100 stories tall. >> about 50,000, maybe more, people worked at the world trade center. >> we were told that this building was so massive that it was built to withstand five helicopters crashing simultaneously into it without taking it down. >> we lost radar on him. that was about five minutes ago. he was 8 miles east of jfk. >> american 11 was flying down -- evidently down the hudson river. it was going at very high speed. >> we saw a plane right behind the empire state building heading right towards us. >> battalion chief joe pfeifer out on another call about to hear that plane overhead. 8:46 a.m. >> the plane hit almost directly above me, three floors up on 93, ripping through the building followed by the exploding gasoline. >> this is at the world trade center, and there has been some sort of explosion. we don't fully know the details. there is one report that a plane has hit the world trade center. >> there's no

two airplanes have crashed into the world trade center in an apparent terrorist attack on our countrytower falling 20 minutes later. in washington the center of american leadership the pentagon targeted and another hijacked plane. flight 93 crashing inching so pennsylvania. on wall street the explosion of the first building to calm down was being felt in real time. >> i just came back from outside and i'm cover was set, i was outside with the third explosion occurred. the whole area turn pitch black when the third explosion happened. i don't know if you could see my jacket in my shoes but i'm completely covered in white smoke. >> we were attacked by a faceless coward. and freedom will be defended. maria: i'm filming in the very place that i recorded 20 years ago after the attack and what was most important for me that day was to communicate to the world that everyone was accounted for here at the new york stock exchange. >> it was a real team effort. >> president barrasso, one of the many unsung heroes that day. >> during the 1993 bombing and sadly we got the same message and my folks

i walked out of the subway two blocks from the world trade center's. i saw that one building was on fire. that was obviously a horrible feeling in itself. then i walked to where my office was and i looked up and i saw the two buildings were on fire. in that moment, i knew that this was a life-changing moment because that's not an accident. i spent that day, i was unable to medical technician many years ago. i spent that day with doctors, nurses, and others in the staten island ferry terminal where we expected hundreds of casualties because of the enormity of the event. obviously, as we know now, if you were in the buildings you didn't survive or you were far away from the buildings. there were very few people coming in. firefighters and police officers. toward the end of the day, i began my walk up to midtown through the devastation. i suppose what i remember most now is the remarkable outcome -- outpouring. tens of thousands of new yorkers. these are not normally exuberant people. looking to do everything they could. huge lines to give blood, people b

the planes slammed into the world trade center in new york city and the pentagon, while another crashednto a pennsylvania field. it is the deadliest terror attack in world history. this morning, a remembrance ceremony will be held at the national september 11th memorial and museum located at ground zero, the site where the twin towers of the world trade center once stood. >> at sunset the tribute in light will beam four miles into the sky to honor the lives lost in the attacks. president biden will visit memorials at all three sites today, shanksville, pennsylvania, the pentagon, and first at ground zero. that is where we begin our coverage with michael george in lower manhattan. good morning. ♪ >> reporter: good morning. family members and guests are beginning to arrive here, and at 8:46 a.m., that will mark the first of six moments of silence. the first marking the exact moment the first plane hit the north tower. now a lot has changed in our lives since 9/11, especially when it comes to safety. that continues today as security officials are on high alert. >> you mess with new york, t

he said we need help because a plane hit the world trade center. i am a former reporter and my husband learned not to take messages for me. he literally walked into the shower and handed me the phone. she told me plane hit the world trade center and like most people come i thought small plane, it must've been a horrible heart attack or accident. then i turned on the television and saw that second plane hit the second tower. i remember falling to my knees and saying a prayer for the people in the building. it never occurred to me that there were passengers on the airplane. i called immediately after that my deputy who was with the president in florida and i said dan, a second plane hit the second tower and he didn't know. i remember the shock in his voice and he said what kind of plane. i said i don't know, a big plane like a passenger plane but it never occurred to me that it actually was a passenger plane. >> john taylor, listening to this so far, if you watch too much television as i've done in my life, you get the feeling that the white house, ev

. 9:00, the port authority orders world trade center evacuated. 9:03, a second commercial aircraft, this one crashes into the south tower. 9:37, the third plane crashes into the pentagon. 9:59, the south tower of the world trade center collapses. 10:03, a fourth plane crashes, this one near shanksville, pennsylvania. it would later emerge the passengers had recaptured the plane from the terrorists would hijacked it, intentionally forcing the plane down in an empty field. 10:28 a.m., the north tower collapses. 2997 people either died or sustained injuries on which they would soon die. all in less than two hours on a beautiful autumn morning. where were you? condi rice, where were you? how did you first learned of the attack? and i think this is something we all felt but how did you process the information? did it seem at first unreal to you? >> it was a day that none of us will ever forget. it started like any other day. i was supposed to give a speech later in the day about national defense. i had not traveled with president bush. it was our pre-9/11 thinking that he was only to my

american soil. nearly 3000 people were killed. 14 passenger jets were hijacked, crashing into the world trade center. the pent again and the field in pennsylvania commemorations began in new york at ground 0, where the twin towers. one stood president's past and present, joined the families of those who died. and at 1246 jim t, the 1st silence was observed to mark the moment when american airlines flight 11 crashed into the north tower of the world trade center. there were similar scenes at the pentagon and in shanks vill, pennsylvania. george w bush was president at the time, delivered a message of unity at a memorial to remember the passengers and crew of united airlines flight 90. 3 question salumi begins are coverage with her report from new york alongside the memorial pools, which traced to put prints of the twin towers, family members of the victims gathered with leaders and 1st responders for what is now the 20th time. remembering the nearly 3000 people who died on september 11th, 2001 to decades is more than long enough for some attendees, who have no memory of that day to have become adults

the world trade center in new york was the first target.ere most of the nearly 3,000 victims lost their lives. among them, a husband and a father who worked on the top floor. gary tuckman has a personal connection to the family and he shares their story. >> reporter: on the morning of september 11th, 2001, lewis and diane were excited getting ready to move into a renovated house in westchester county, new york. diane, a friend of mine for more than 35 years, says her husband did not have to go to work that day. but felt it was important to just go in briefly for a morning meeting. >> do you remember anything about him going to work that morning? >> yes, because we were so giggly and silly. >> reporter: lewis was a senior vice president of a fiduciary trust company, he worked on the 95th floor of the south tower of the world trade center. he called diane from the office that morning asking if the movers had arrived. >> and then he started to reflect a moment and he said oh, my gosh, and i said what, what's wrong and he said oh, i think that

to be at the world _ york in 2001 and he happened to be at the world trade _ york in 2001 and he happened to be at the world trade centerf septemberthe11th. here that was on the morning of september the 11th. here he is being interviewed on that day as the attacks had happened. irate as the attacks had happened. we had as the attacks had happened. - had that big explosion for much, much lower. i don't know what on earth because that can that thing that strikes me as the terribleness of the incident, whatever the cause, but to whatever the cause, the terribleness, the hugeness of what's happened, so huge in fact that most of the people around simply cannot understand what happened. we can now speak to steve evans who was the bbc�*s north america correspondent in 2001— he happened to be at the world trade center on the morning of sept 11. he now works as a journalist in australia. and to speak to you, 20 years ago, i rememberthat and to speak to you, 20 years ago, i remember that vividly and hearing and watching you there. what do you remember, why were you there, to start off with? i why were you there, to start off with

apparently a plane has crashed into the new york world trade center. >> an image we will never forget, the world trade center on fire, thick black smoke, the beginning of a terrorist attack that would change our country and this world. on 9/11, it started at 5:45 a.m. hijackers clear security at portland international jet port in maine connecting through boston. by 8:00 a.m., they along with three other hijackers are on board american airlines flight 11 departing from logan international. then at 8:19 a.m., betty ong contacts ground personnel. d per. at 8:46 a.m., flight 911 crashes into the world trade center. that crash killing everyone on board, severing emergency stairwells, trapping hundreds of people on the top floors of the tower. by this point, united airlines flight 175 also originating from boston had been hijacked. at 9:03 a.m. with 65 people on board, flight 175 hits the south tower of the world trade center. >> i've never seen anything like it. >> shortly after that second crash, president george w. bush is informed that america is under attack. at 9:37 a.m., american air

history, unfolding at the world trade center, the pentagon, and in shanksville, pennsylvania. nearly 3,000 lives lost. two more victims identified just this week. tonight, as this country comes together, we hear from those survivors and the first responders, and their hope now 20 years later. >>> and two decades later, one of the central questions -- is our country safer? how do we keep this from ever happening again? with the u.s. now out of afghanistan, what are the terror risks, from the taliban to al qaeda to isis-k. and authorities at home who now warn the greatest terror threat may come from right here. martha raddatz and pierre thomas live from the pentagon and the justice department. >>> and the coronavirus tonight. president biden doubling down on his vaccine mandate that will affect up to 100 million americans, including federal workers, companies with 100 workers or more, and health care workers, too. rachel scott asking the president about republicans now threatening to sue. the president's response tonight. the u.s. now reporting about 140,000 new cases a day and

i was at a brokerage on 120 wall st, directly across from the world trade center. north building and i quickly moved to our conference room which had an expansive view of the fire and both world trade centers. it was a beautiful day like today. magnificent weather. i opened the window and in the 15 minutes between the first and second plane, all of downtown new york was filled with sirens, police boats, and i remember paper, a4 paper flying everywhere. that is what i remembered. it was like a tickertape parade and i knew there was no parade that day. and then we heard the sound of a jet coming straight at us and at the last moment the plane veered and crashed into the second building and then i knew something terrible was amiss and it was time to evacuate as quickly as possible. and how did you get out? myself and one of my friends, first we evacuated two floors of our office. a mandatory evacuation and we walked down 30 floors and because the building is an old building, there was a subway, a lexington subway stop and we jumped on the subway and went to grand cent

phone with our new york office, and office in the world trade center on the ninth and tenth. l trying to digest the moment, a bomb went off in the world trade center? how would this be? a bomb had already gone off their years before that. we didn't find out about the plane until a bit later in my bosses office, we turn on the news, breaking news and we watched the second plane coming. the agents and i, we took a minute, are we watching a horror movie? is israel? i'll never forget one of the guys in the office with the young agent and he was a navigator in the navy and he said that's not an accident. i float on a thousand planes, that's not an accident. drove into our john f. kennedy office at the jfk airport and we had all these agents in the city, the general assembly was going on, we had hundreds and hundreds of agents so we went through this list trying to track them down and it took hours and hours and hours, we didn't have cell phones for the secret service backman so we had two-way pagers and went the signals would open up, would get people and check them off and we went