Kenneth Wisinski

I was working on a Corporate Convention at the Javits Center in downtown New York City, about 2 miles from Ground Zero. We had just sat down for rehearsals at 9 a.m. when the show caller said there was a report of a small plane hitting the World Trade Tower. Walking out to the lobby on the second floor, which was all glass, I could see the top of the two Trade Towers and a hole in one of the buildings with smoke coming out. We were told to evacuate for fear the building was a target. All traffic was stopped. As I walked across the street, I looked over the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel and saw it was blocked with buses to prevent anyone from leaving Manhattan. Then about 20 minutes later, people were running down the street covered in soot. That evening, the streets were empty — the only time I have ever seen no traffic in Manhattan. We made our way to a pub and watched it on TV. Then we decided we should walk down there to see if we could help.