9/11 Memories: ‘Manhattan was ‘strangely calm’

(Above) Mullingar native Dermot Murray.

Mullingar native Dermot Murray was working in midtown Manhattan on September 11, 2001, the day Al-Qaeda terrorists crashed planes into World Trade Center.

“We were around three miles away, but I had an unobstructed view of the twin towers from the 14th floor of my office building on 6th Avenue so was able to see them on fire after the planes struck.

“We were moved down to the lower third to fifth floors of my building after it became obvious it was a terrorist attack. Security was worried about planes hitting the upper floors, as well as car bombs affecting the lowest floors.”

Dermot recalls that when he left his office building in an attempt to go home, midtown was “strangely calm”.

“People weren’t freaking out – they were just determined to get home. I think we were all in shock. Some of my colleagues, who lived in the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn, walked home because the subways and buses stopped running.

“I lived in White Plains, so that wasn’t an option. I went to Grand Central around noon, but it was closed while the NYPD were checking for bombs. So I went back to my office building and hung out there until they announced Grand Central was open again around 4 or 5pm.

“I remember we were all ushered through quickly to the waiting trains, which made all local stops to get as many people out of the city as possible. We all sat in silence on that train. I think I got home around 6 – still in shock.”

“When I was waiting in my building for Grand Central to open, I remembered that RTÉ covered the previous World Trade Center attack in the early 90s live (I was still living in Ireland), so it dawned on me that my family was watching it at home. So I called my Mammy from the office building to let her know I was alright. She asked if I knew where my brother was (he installs security cameras in the NY area) and I told her that it was unlikely he was anywhere near the towers, as he usually works in the suburbs. Turns out he was actually working in lower Manhattan that day and got out as soon as he could.”

Based in Memphis for the last decade, Dermot had lived in New York for a number of years before 9/11 after moving to America in 1993. It took the city and the rest of America a long time to recover from the events of 9/11, he says.

“NY was a very dark place after the attacks. People put up flyers all over the city trying to find their missing loved ones. It was desperately sad. And of course the constant coverage of police and firefighter funerals added to the sadness.

“There were armed police and soldiers at Grand Central and on the streets. And there was a rising anger and fear about the attacks, which led to the invasion of Afghanistan to root out Al Qaeda (justifiably in my opinion), and was cynically used by the Bush administration to invade Iraq a couple of years later (it was considered “un-American” to question Bush and his hawks).

“It took a good few months for things to get to some sense of normality, although people were back at work days after the attacks. I remember being on a conference call a couple of days after and feeling miffed that my co-workers were carrying on as if nothing happened.

“Americans don’t have the concept of ‘national days of mourning’ like other countries do – it’s more of an individualistic society.

“But eventually things got back to normal – the flyers came down and the rebuilding process in Lower Manhattan began. I would say that things were more or less back to relative normal within a year or so.”

Twenty years on, Dermot believes that while scarred by the tragic events of 9/11, New York has moved on.

“I left the NY area a decade ago, but my sense is that most people have moved on from the 9/11 attacks. Of course the families and friends of those who died can’t do so, but the rest of the city seems to have moved on, especially as there haven’t been any major attacks since then.

“There is probably a more palpable sense of what happened in Lower Manhattan, especially where the memorial is, but if you go to other parts of the city, it’s business as usual. That’s my opinion anyway.”