“There’s No Worse Sound”: Witness to 9/11 Terror Shares Heartbreaking Details 25 Years Later

As we are now 25 years removed from the horrific day that was September 11, 2001, it’s human nature that even some of our most powerful memories of those events have waned, softened, and even distorted over the years.

We promised we’d never forget, and while we may not have forgotten, we might not exactly remember everything, either. The feelings we had on 9/11 and in the days following were so raw that it’s understandable if we let a scab form over that wound that has since hardened into a scar.

With a quarter-century of distance now between that day and today, certain things that might have felt awful and disrespectful at that time – such as politicizing the tragedy, sharing conspiracy theories about its origin, or even being anything but completely somber regarding it – have now become commonplace.

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I took a call this morning on my radio show that cut through the 25 years of fog that had seeped into the outer edges of my 9/11 memories and clouded them over time, and the emotion he conveyed in his call instantly took me and the listeners back to that dreadful morning.

25 Years of 9/11: The Striking Parallel of a Beautiful Morning

During his call, he pointed out one small, specific fact that, for some reason, hit me in a very direct way: September 11, 2001, started off as an absolutely beautiful day, just like today. That day featured a clear, bright blue sky with lots of sunshine and comfortable temps in the mid-60s. Today’s weather was exactly the same thing.

Suddenly, 25 years didn’t even feel like 25 minutes.

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The caller said on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, he was working at 3 World Financial Center, directly across the street from the World Trade Center. He had been up late the night before, watching the Denver Broncos beat the New York Giants on Monday Night Football, but he remembered what a beautiful morning it had been to wake up to – before that all changed so quickly.

“When the first plane went into the building, it felt just like when the parking garage bombing happened,” he said, referencing the February 1993 attack on the World Trade Center. “Everybody on the trading floor was kind of told that there was a plane that had veered off track, and radar, etc., and that just made no sense. I was sitting in my office and looking at what was happening and the second plane went into the building.”

Inside the Chaos at the World Trade Center

His voice began to crack as he became emotional recounting what happened next.

“Everybody ended up scattering, because a couple of planes were missing,” he said, noting that it was assumed the World Financial Center could be the next target, so people began exiting the building.

He then described being outside in the chaos that ensued after the planes had struck, and seeing those who had decided to jump to their deaths from the Twin Towers rather than wait to be engulfed in the flames that were tearing through the building.

“Watching people fall out of the sky and hitting the pavement,” he said through tears. “There’s no worse sound than a human being hitting the pavement.”

Spencer Platt, Getty Images

9/11 Witness's Vital Message of Unity and Respect

While sharing these horrific memories was surely cathartic in some way for this man, he did have a deeper message he wanted to share with the radio audience.

“I’m just heartbroken that people would politicize this day, because we lost a lot of Americans,” he said of the 2,753 people that died in the World Trade Center attack and the 2,977 people killed overall in the three attacks that day. “People that woke up that day, a beautiful day, not knowing what was going to happen, lost their lives in a horrific way.”

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“People need to remember what happened that day and not be callous,” he said. “Remember, we’re all Americans. We’re all citizens of this great country. No matter what your views are, you better remember that we’re all for this country.”

We said we’d never forget, and while we will always remember so many of the details, time has eroded some of the emotions of that day. We didn't forget, but we became desensitized.

Take a listen to this call and they will all come rushing back, and along with them, the lessons we thought we’d keep with us forever: