This is my younger brother Jamie's account of his encounter with the WTC tragedy.

He works just three blocks from the former twin towers. We had many anxious moments yesterday waiting to see if he made it thru OK.

Jon Flanders

>> Date: 12-Sep-01 17:55:08

From: Jamie Flanders >INTERNET:JFlanders@tigerinfo.mi8.com

Subj: RE: Jamie got clear

Hey Jon,

Thanks for contacting everyone and thanks to all family and friends that have left messages or have been trying to call our home in NJ.

I will try and recall the events of the day but these are my recollections a day later.

Greg and I set our early yesterday and decided to go to Newark and leave the car there so that I could go to my flight lesson in the afternoon. We had both had wierd dreams and Greg said that he had a dream about body parts and I just remember having nightmares. I remember that I was reading the NY Times and wondering about the primary that day and wondering who was going to win on my way into NYC on the PATH train. I remember leaving the WTC from an different exit on Vesey Street(Right below the first airplane crash.)and it borders) 7WTC. I never take that exit but for some reason I thought I might stop at the Borders Book store before going in to work. I didn't and went to get a cup of coffee before I headed up to the office.

I have been getting up and going in early because the economy and our business has been struggling. Little did I know that this would be the worst day at the office ever!

It was a very sunny clear day and my office does not have any blinds on the window and I remember that I couldn't see the screen of my PC very well and was struggling to look at pictures taken from my 40th Birthday Party this past Saturday. I made various phone calls to one of our CT offices and had a brief meeting with some of our staff and then started to walk around and see the staff for my tradional walk around the office.

I went to the other half of the 12th Floor and started talking to one of my staff members. We both agreed that it was a beautiful day and then we both heard what I thought was a sonic boom then the sound of a Jet Flying very low and then another boom. We have heard things like this before but I knew this was not just a low flying plane. It sounded like a missle to me. We immediately heard fire alarms and new that something was wrong. The person(Boe) and I headed down the elevator and went out onto William Street and see what was going on. I looked up towards the Stock Exchange and saw smoke and papers flying hunderds of feet in the air. People were running and saying a plane hit the trade center.

An officer of some sort then tried to push us back into our building and said to get off the street. We then returned to Tiger and got others and went to the roof and see if we could see anything. We are just a few blocks from the WTC but a large office building blocks our view. When we couldn't see anything, my friend Jill and I decided to head down to the street and see if we could see what exactly was going on. At this time, the city and radio stations did not know much.

Jill and I headed down the street to Fulton and then got our first view. Fire Trucks and police were already beginning to pour onto Fulton. We could see the flames and the peeling of the flames heading down the building. A woman then approached us with a small child and asked us if we knew which Tower was . She was weeping because she thoulght her husband was on the floor which the first plane hit. At this time, we had hopes that this was merely and accident. When Jill and I began to see people jumping from the tower some holding hands and some in large groups it was too much for both of us to watch. I spoke to Greg when I got back to Tiger and he said he could see a hole in the Tower from his view in midtown.

When we got back we tried to find a working TV. William(another coworker) had found one in a closet and one which I had watched so many events of my history at Tiger, the OJ verdict, the space shuttle disaster and the bombing in Oklahoma. We had just gotten a picture of the WTC on Fire we heard another Jet and felt the impact of the next plane. I was able to speak to Eunie in Boston and Naomi and other friends who had started to call Tiger about how we were doing. It didn't seem much longer when we saw and heard the first building collapse. I thought maybe this was it if the building was to fall our way.

Our phones went dead. The smoke and dust began to come into our windows and once we all started to cough we grabbed our First Aid kits and paper towels for our mouths. We got to the lobby and a group of people were already down there. The outside was dark and white and I was cops people wounded rushing by with covered faces. Our doors to our building remained open and all seemed unreal that this could be happening.

I was thirsty and people were asking me for paper towels to cover there mouths and someone handed me a bottle of water. Once the dust calmed down, some of my coworkers tried to make a run for it and head towards the East River. I had made it to Fulton and heard another boom and realized the other Tower was falling. I decided to head back to 130 William Street. I had a handicapped employee that works for me and she was behind me and I didn't want to risk her falling from the terrific winds that seemed to be caused by the collapse of these buildings. Some folks in the family may have heard me talk about her. Zoe Kopolowitz is the always the last finisher of the NYC marathon. It can take her about 24 hours to complete the NYC marathon every year. We tried to get into the Duane Reade Drug store first but the doors were locked.

We got back into the building and the whole street turned completely dark. It was terrifying. We now had about 8 people from Tiger left along with some couples with baby's and other people that ran into the lobby from the street. We had the radio on but it was hard to hear because the WTC tower has many of NYC's radio and TV towers on it. The storm continued to brew and I thought we were going to die. We found a water fountain and water bottle dispenser on the second floor. I went and bought water and brought them downstairs.

Once the clouded street seem to calm down. We decided that we should get out of lower Manhattan. I think we finally heard something from the city that we should do that. At first most folks like ourselved including the Trade Center were told over the radio and TV to stay put. I am glad we left. It was totally white out and they were handing out medical masks on the street. I used my undershirt. It was so odd to walk down Fulton that looked like a bad B movie set and then start walking towards China town and the Brooklyn Bridge and see that it looked perfectly normal. It was so wierd to walk into China town and see thousands of refugees walking up the Bowery in bright sunshine and some sense that nothing had happened. It was so quiet and so bright after being in the dark halls of Wall Street. People were handing us water and offering us restrooms if we needed them.

We were all trying to use our cell phones with no luck. Finally as we were leaving Chinatown, my friend MJ was able to reach her boyfriend at work. He took Greg's number and was able to reach him on his cell phone for me later. We got to the East Village and then our party broke up and some of us stopped at a coworkers apartment and used the bathroom and used their phones to try and reach family. I was unable to reach anyone outside but did get word that Greg was at Penn Station NY and waiting on 8th Avenue for me. Greg finally reached me on my cell and confirmed that he was there. They have been and continue to be quiet about transit here and they were running trains but not annoucing this. The city and the milatary was out by this time and moving people by boat and by train out of NYC.

I then walked up and through Chelsea and saw folks eating at cafes and it struck me so odd. I was covered in dust and stuck out in the crowd. I would see an occaisonal car with tons of debris on it go by me. But otherwise if was oddly normal NYC day.

I saw Greg waiting for me and we hugged each other and cried. There was a huge crowd on the soufth side of the station and in true NYC fashion everyone was getting on that line. Greg had been there since 10am and knew that there was no line to get in to Penn Station in the north. I thought this was funny. We slipped on a train and found ourselves in Newark 12 minutes later and then drove back to our house in Plainfield. We had tons of messages from family and friends and I think the whole day was such a blurr for me. I have now found out of some friends and coworkers spouces missing and it all seems so incredibly sad.

Some friends in Plainfield had made dinner for us New York workers and many neighbors gathered together for a dinner and continuous NEWS!!!!!

We have had friends over today and many saw much worse things than I did. Some had friends not able to find cover with the first collapse and get cut in half and one of my coworkers had a body fly in front of her as she tried to get to work. This may not be the best written thing but I figured I should write it down so I don't ever forget this horrible event.

Love,

Jamie