"It was our second day of training. The bus in front of our hotel left
promptly at 6:45 a.m. and arrived at the WTC complex at about 7 a.m. As
we pulled up in front of the building, ironically, in the back of my head I
was wondering where the bomb had gone off years ago. My roommate,
Linda, and I quickly made our way through the main mall to WTC 2,
passed the multiple security checkpoints, and then proceeded to the
elevators that took us to the 61st floor, Morgan Stanley's Learning and Nguyen
Development Center. Classes started promptly at 7:30 a.m.
"This morning we had a speaker, Phil Roth, Morgan Stanley's Chief Technical Analyst.
He was scheduled to finish at 8:45 a.m., but there were fewer questions than were
expected, so we finished about 8:40. This is when our head trainer, Bill Van Scoyoc,
announced our first break. We would have 20 minutes and then regroup in our respective
classrooms. Some went down to the ground level to smoke, some went down to the
cafeteria on 44 for breakfast and others just hung out in the lobby. Normally, I would go to the phones right outside my room and call Chris and the office, but it wasn't even 8 a.m. in Houston yet, so I decided to go check my e-mail in the computer room instead. There were only a few available computers and a girl from my class asked if she could go before me, so instead I went to the lobby to find my other classmates that I had not yet seen that morning. Most of the trainees had gathered to look out the windows at the various sights and landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty.
"It was a perfect day -- cool, clear and blue.
We had only been standing there for a few minutes when we heard and explosion above us and off to the right. Everyone rushed to the windows as we watched paper and debris rain down from the sky. At first, it looked like a ticker tape parade. Then, I noticed some of the paper was on fire, In the seconds it took me to turn away from the window, I could already start to smell the smoke and gas in our building that lead me to believe it was us who had been hit. "The trainers began to evacuate us immediately. They stood at the stairwell doors instructing us out. Some of my classmates had already decided they had seen too much and went directly to the stairwell. As I passed my classroom to pick up my purse and book bag, I noticed some chairs had been knocked over onto the floor. I was told later that the blast had also knocked the windows of my classroom out, but I hadn't noticed. What if we had been in there? I then proceeded to the stairs that were filling up very quickly.
"We proceeded fairly slowly, thinking the explosion was purely an accident, perhaps a
small plane had veered off course. There was joking in the stairwell about how that had
been our homework being thrown out the window. One of the cooks from the cafeteria
apologized for burning today's lunch and invited us all to his house. Everybody laughed
and kept moving.
"When I was somewhere around the 40s, an announcement came over the loudspeaker.
There was too much commotion for me to actually hear exactly what was said, but
apparently they had announced, 'Building 2 is secure, please return to your office.'
Everyone ignored the announcement and kept moving. We complained about the long
walk and how sore we would be tomorrow. Maybe I could skip my workout tomorrow.
"Then, somewhere in the 30s, there was another explosion above us and the whole
stairwell swayed like when a bus stops too fast. The walls started to fall apart and the main lights went out and the emergency lights came on. People started screaming. Those that had been knocked down were trying to get up before they were trampled. People started to yell, 'Go! Go! Go!' We tried to move faster, but couldn't. The stairwell was too full. I couldn't believe this was happening. I thought either the other tower had fallen over on us or our building was starting to collapse on top of us. Either way, we were dead. I thought about all the people I loved and how I would never see them again. My legs turned to Jell-o. I looked around to find a familiar face, but there was no one I recognized from my class. I turned the guy next to me and introduced myself and told him I didn't want to die alone. He said his name was Jerry and urged me to 'Keep moving. It's gonna be OK.' "Women began to kick off their shoes as they came down the stairs, but I was too scared about what would be on the ground, if we made it out. I kept thinking about that scene from Diehard when Bruce Willis is stuck under the desk with no shoes and the scary German realizes this and tells his friends to 'Shoot the glass!' I was keeping my shoes. I struggled to keep my legs moving like I wanted them to. Some were tired and stopping to take breaks between floors. They urged everyone to keep moving around them. I was too scared to stop.
"Somewhere around the 10th floor, the stairwell began to fill with dense smoke rising
from the bottom. I put my jacket over my face, but it didn't help. What were we running
into? Was there a bomb down there? Fire? People kept moving, so I did too. I couldn't
even see the person in front of me, but continued down the stairs grasping the center rail.
When we finally reached the bottom, the stairwell exited right into the mall. We were still not safe. My heart sunk a little bit. There were police and fireman herding us through the mall to the safest exit, which was not necessarily the closest one. They asked us not to run. They were pretty much ignored. At this point anyone in front of me was a hurdle. They turned us away from some exits because I think there was too much debris. I was confused about where they were directing us, but kept running. We went down corridors and up escalators. "When I finally saw the light of day, I was told to cover my head and run. There was stuff falling everywhere. The ground was covered in debris. I didn't notice much going on around me, I just ran. My classmates said there was blood and glass all over the ground. I was astonished at how many people were amassed on the street just gawking. I weaved through them to get as far away as I could. Once I crossed the street, I noticed the windows had been blown out of the surrounding buildings and jagged pieces of glass were falling all over the ground. It was like the disaster obstacle course. What was next? I was glad I had my shoes. I continued to weave through hundreds, even thousands of onlookers for blocks. They had obviously not been in the building, because if they had been, their first instinct would also be to get the hell away.
"After a few blocks, I began to slow down as I realized I was alone and had no idea
where I was going. All the signs were in Chinese. I searched frantically for a familiar face in the sea of people when I saw Dale and Terry, two classmates from Arkansas running down the street. I quickly joined them. Dale took my bag and we kept running. They were yelling about how the tallest building at home was five stories high and they were never coming back to New York. We all wanted to be home. None of us had any idea where we were. I think we were heading to the river. Police were beginning to try and clear the area. I tried to ask directions, but was yelled at to, 'Keep moving!' Finally, someone offered to lead us in the right direction. All we knew was that our hotel was across the street from Madison Square Garden and we needed to keep moving.
"Amazingly, I ran into my roommate on the street. She had two classmates with her and
they quickly joined us. Traffic was halted. People stood in the streets staring up at the flaming towers, some in shock, some crying. Car radios were turned up trying to get any news on what had happened. I heard bits and pieces about hijackers and planes. People screamed into cell phones in disbelief. Others were lined up at pay phones. I kept thinking that I needed to call home and let everyone know I'm OK, but there was no way we were about to stop. My roommate wanted to stop and get on the subway since we
were still miles from home. Over my dead body, I thought. I wasn't about to be stuck
somewhere underground while things were collapsing over my head. "I only looked back a few times. How would they fix it? We thought. How long wouldwe be in New York? It would take at least a week, we groaned, still not realizing the seriousness of the situation.
"We were about eight blocks away when the south tower, WTC 2, collapsed. 'It's gone,'
we kept saying in disbelief. "Oh my God, it's gone.' Terry urged us to keep running.
There would be a stampede of people trying to escape the wave of smoke and debris. We
ran a little faster. My feet felt like they were gonna fall off. We passed Foot Locker and I was so tempted to stop and buy running shoes, but the guys assured me that we were almost at the hotel. We kept running. I wanted to take my shoes off, but not on these streets. Emergency vehicles raced by us as they headed towards the towers. We were at about 14th Street when we stopped for a moment to watch the second tower crumble (WTC 1, north tower). Hundreds of people stared and gasped in shock. We were still not home, only 16more blocks, over 1.5 miles. "I noticed a woman next to me walking and crying quietly to herself. I asked if she was okay and put my arm around her. She said she had been at work in the building and couldn't believe what was happening. She was holding on to me tightly, obviously scared and shaken. I was a visitor here, but his was her whole life. I couldn't imagine how she was feeling. I told her I had been in there, too, and it was only my second day in New York. She kinda laughed, and then began to cry again. I'm not sure she knew where she
was headed, but we continued to our hotel.
"As we entered the lobby, it was utter chaos. Emergency medical stations were already
up and running. Morgan Stanley employees were told to sign in at the front desk.
Multiple TV s were set up and people crowded around them. I headed straight to the
elevator. I had to call home and let everyone know I was alive."Phone lines were tied up and it took multiple attempts to get through to Houston, but I was finally able to call the office. All, I could say was 'Hi, it's me.' Kim began to cry
when she heard my voice. I could hear her say, 'It's Monica, it's Monica.' The office had closed and sent everyone home, but a few people had been waiting at the office for over two hours to hear from me. That's when they told me what was going on -- the attack on the Pentagon, the crash in Pennsylvania. All I could think of was that I needed to talk to my parents and Chris. I had them connect me because I was afraid to hang lose the line. I got through to Chris first. Told him I was OK and that I loved him and asked him to call everyone in my address book and let them know I was OK. Then, I called my parents. My mom answered the phone with, 'Monica!' Apparently, she had answered every call like this for the past few hours, my sister told me later. We were hysterical -- I was alive. "I ended up being stuck in New York until Saturday because I kept scheduling flights and they kept getting canceled.
I spent a lot of time walking around the city to remember its attributes and not the horrible thing that had happened there. I would come back someday. I also talked to a lot of friends and family who wanted to make sure I was all right and it just made me want to get home faster. "Morgan Stanley finally arranged for us to get home by chartered bus. There were three drivers, and we went nonstop, dropping people off along the way. We pulled up in front of my apartment on Sunday, about 2 p.m. One of the drivers even ran out and hugged Chris before I did. They were happy to have helped us get home. Chris' parents were there with flowers and balloons and my parents arrived shortly after. I was finally home.
"I will never forget how I felt and what I saw and heard that day. I hope to never
experience anything like that again. I was saddened by the tragedy, numbed with fear and thrilled to be alive,all at the same time. They say that your life flashes before your eyes, but all I could think of was, 'What my last words were to my loved ones? Would Chris take good care of my pets? Would my nieces and nephew remember me?'
"Has it changed my outlook on life? Well, I feel incredibly lucky to be alive and want to make a point of telling my friends and family that I love them as often as possible. I feel like my life is precious because of the people who are in it. I still believe that people are inherently good. Should you live every day like it's the last day of your life? I don't think so. I think you should embrace every day like it's the first."
Monica H. Nguyen, 30
Financial adviser,
Training in Tower 2 floor 61
September 11, 2001
