9/11 Stories: No One There Got Out Alive

Alison Witlow recounts sitting in a midtown restaurant the evening of Sept. 11, 2001.

“The restaurant was crowded, but nobody was talking," she said "We all just sat there staring at the TV as if we were seeing the planes hit and the buildings crumble for the first time. Except for the wailing sirens of fire engines and police cars racing downtown, New York was silent. For the first time ever, the conversation had stopped.”

Witlow grew up in Mediterranean South on Linwood Avenue where, if you were in an apartment facing east, you had a clear view of the Manhattan skyline and beyond. She attended Fort Lee School No. 1, the Intermediate School, and was a member of the Fort Lee High School Class of ’84.

“My heart will always be in Fort Lee,” Witlow said. “It was the best place to grow up. I had the best friends, the best time. It will always be home to me.” 

On Sept. 11, 2001 Witlow was working in the Client Executive Practice for Marsh & McLennan, one of the largest U.S.-based global insurance brokerage firms located on 6th Avenue and 46th Street. She arrived at her desk early that morning and suddenly realized she was supposed to be somewhere else. She was supposed to be in a computer training class at Marsh’s offices at 1 World Trade Center where the IT department occupied the 93rd through the 100th floors, just below Cantor Fitzgerald. 

Witlow couldn’t believe that she forgot she was scheduled to go to training.

“I never mess up like that," she said. "I always know what’s going on in my calendar. To this day I don’t know how that slipped my mind.” 

Knowing that she could never make it downtown in time for the class, she started on the work that was already beginning to pile up on her desk when her phone rang.

“It was one of my clients--an executive from Colgate Palmolive," she said. "He told me that an airplane had just flown through Tower 1. He was watching it on TV and said that it looked like it went right through the windows where our offices were located.”

Alison paused before continuing, “If this phone call had been from anyone else other than a trusted client, I would have thought it was a prank call and hung up.”

Then the phones, computers everything went dead--all the systems operated out of Marsh’s downtown offices. 

Not only were the office phones not working, but cell phone service was failing as well. In an effort to find out what was happening, some employees went to a higher floor where they had a direct view of the Twin Towers. That’s when they saw the second plane hit Tower 2. 

“When word trickled down that a second plane hit Tower 2, I thought people were mixed up and were repeating information about Tower 1," Witlow said. "It didn’t make sense that there could be another plane accident.”

With the phones and computers out they were instructed to go home. 

As Witlow stepped onto 6th Avenue, the streets were clogged with people trying to get home. 

“It was complete mayhem," she said "There were no cars, just people panicking and running in different directions. Everyone kept looking up towards the sky afraid that there was going to be another attack.”

As she neared her apartment, Witlow decided to go to the Food Emporium to stock up on bottled water and supplies, like flashlights and batteries. 

“I couldn’t believe it," she said. "It wasn’t even noon yet and there wasn’t one drop of water to be found in the entire store. The shelves were emptying fast.”

When she finally reached home, she turned on the TV and saw the horror of people jumping from the top floors. And, in a state of complete shock, she watched as the tower crumbled. 

“I remember thinking how much worse was this going to get? Were we done being hit? Was I safe in my apartment?," she said.

And then the smell and ash from Ground Zero drifted uptown to her apartment and layered its gritty dust all over everything. Like the angel of death, it even managed to seep in through closed windows. 

Witlow would learn in the days to come that one of her friends, who had just returned from maternity leave and worked in a subsidiary office in Tower 2, never made it out alive. 

On Sept. 14, Marsh & McLennan opened a family center at the Millenium Hotel for families of employees who worked for them at the World Trade Center. 

“I was responsible for receiving people when they first walked in," Witlow said. "I’ll never forget the elderly couple who had just arrived from the midwest searching for their daughter, who worked at the Trade Center. They hadn’t heard from her and were desperate to find her alive.” 

But nobody survived. The first plane that hit Tower 1 cut a gash from the 93rd floor to the 99th floor--all occupied by Marsh & McLennan. A total of 295 employees and 63 consultants died that day. 

“For months I went to memorial services," Witlow said. "A colleague was responsible for keeping a spreadsheet of all the dates of the each service so that we could attend. Some memorial services didn’t take place until months later--until families came to accept that their loved ones were not alive.”

After 10 years, Witlow still carries the loss of all her friends--all those innocent people--around inside of her.

“I feel like we were blindsided on 9/11," she said. "Ten years later, I mourn, but I’m prepared for any other emergency. Before 9/11 I’m lucky if I had a flashlight and a few bandaids in my apartment. Now I always have emergency supplies because you have to be prepared for anything that might, and can, happen.”