9/11 survivor: ‘We had no clue’
"Everyone in the country knew more about what was going on. We had no clue," Dittmar told
Dittmar, who was a fire insurance underwriter, credits split-second decisions that were "tried, tested and galvanized" as he made his way to get out of
He has made presentations annually since
His ordeal started with a flicker of conference room lights at
Moments later, Dittmar and 53 other insurance executives were asked to leave. They started a trek down stairwells to the ground floor.
Dittmar was the last to leave the meeting room.
"It was because I am a typical type A business person. I wanted to have the meeting. I had flown all the way from
"It was a fire insurance meeting -- how ironic was that?"
Dittmar would be just one of seven people who'd been in the meeting to survive the day.
The experience has taught him to "be more aware of your surroundings, be more understanding that isn't just you, that the world doesn't revolve just around you," he said. "You have to take a level of precaution.
ISU student was in
Parsons said she was a young student when her mother, an emergency medical technician, picked her up at her
"It was chaos. I was younger and only remember my mom crazily running toward me as our school was on lock down," Parsons said. "It was a long process of even getting out of the school. My mom was in a state of shock."
It was a moment that Parsons said helped her decide to go into criminology.
"My mom was an EMT and my grandpa was a cop, so I want to be that person who is running toward the problem. (The events of 9/11) had a big influence on me," Parsons said.
In
Dittmar didn't see the
At the time, Dittmar was assistant vice president for
Another colleague,
United Airlines Flight 175 went into the
"I never felt anything like that in my life and never want to again," he said. "The stairwell started to shake from side to side, hand rails breaking away from the wall. ... We feel this heat wall blowing by and smell the jet fuel," he said.
At the 35th floor, he started passing firemen and paramedics going up.
"Just the looks in their eyes told the story. They knew," Dittmar said. "They knew they were marching into the bowels of hell," he said. "Could you be that brave? Could you be that strong?"
He eventually encountered a friend,
They were about eight blocks north of the towers when they heard their first broadcast report saying the attack was terrorism. That's when the
Looking back
Dittmar, a graduate of
Dittmar said
"I think there is that natural humanistic notion of let's go back to normal, except, being careful is the new normal. That is what we have to be aware of, and we have to practice that new normal," he said.
Reporter
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