Speaker 1: Welcome to Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in
Speaker 1: this addition is Ron di Francesco. Ron was working in
Speaker 1: the South Tower of the World Trade Center on September eleventh,
Speaker 1: two thousand and one. He is believed to be the
Speaker 1: final person to emerge from the building alive before it
Speaker 1: collapsed shortly after it was struck. And Ron, thanks so
Speaker 1: much for being with us.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Where were you born and raised?
Speaker 2: I was born in Hamilton, Ontario, in between Toronto and
Speaker 2: Niagara Falls.
Speaker 1: So born a Canadian. And eventually you moved to New
Speaker 1: York City for work? Correct?
Speaker 2: I did? I moved down in two thousand the year
Speaker 2: two thousand and brought my wife and kids as well.
Speaker 1: And which company were you working for?
Speaker 2: I worked for a company called Year Brokers Max, and
Speaker 2: I was a money market broker. I used to trade
Speaker 2: a US dollar in European currency.
Speaker 1: What kind of day were you anticipating before everything happened.
Speaker 2: I love the energy of the city. I would get
Speaker 2: on the train at five forty two in the morning
Speaker 2: and take the train from my town down into Hoboken
Speaker 2: and then take the Path train into the city, and
Speaker 2: just the energy from getting off the train, getting onto
Speaker 2: the path train and running into the World Trade Center.
Speaker 2: It was energizing.
Speaker 1: And so you got the five forty two. What time
Speaker 1: were you at work?
Speaker 2: Probably around six forty six fifty, so you were at
Speaker 2: work a couple of hours already. Yeah, you had to
Speaker 2: get in early just because it's twenty four hour markets.
Speaker 2: So we're Tokyo was closing their markets, the Asian markets
Speaker 2: were closing London, and the Europe was halfway through their
Speaker 2: day and we were just starting our day.
Speaker 1: Did you ever have any misgivings about working at the
Speaker 1: World Trade Center given that there had been bombing several
Speaker 1: years before that.
Speaker 2: No, I was working in Toronto when the ninety three
Speaker 2: bombing happened. I guess I was, I don't want to
Speaker 2: say clueless about it, but it just terrorism wasn't on
Speaker 2: my radar. It was, you know, I grew up in
Speaker 2: a steel city and then making it in Toronto on
Speaker 2: Bay Street, which is like Canada's Wall Street, and then
Speaker 2: making it down into New York. It was didn't think.
Speaker 1: Of that at all. So explain what happened and what
Speaker 1: you remember. As the first plane hit the other tower.
Speaker 2: So we were in the trading room and everybody was
Speaker 2: analyzing numbers, talking to their clients, running through what had
Speaker 2: happened the evening before and what was happening in Europe
Speaker 2: with the markets. And then we were settled into the
Speaker 2: day and back to the right, there was a loud
Speaker 2: explosion and then we looked to the right and just
Speaker 2: saw huge fireball sucking in on itself and thousands of
Speaker 2: pieces of paper just billowing outside the Trade Center.
Speaker 1: What are you thinking?
Speaker 2: I had no clue. And then we ran over there.
Speaker 2: We ran over to see what had gone on, and
Speaker 2: there was a huge gaping hole in the side of
Speaker 2: the building and people in the windows, and some people
Speaker 2: were doing the unthinkable. The heat was so intense that
Speaker 2: they decided to jump they saw that. Yeah, I didn't know.
Speaker 2: You know, when we're trying to listen to the news,
Speaker 2: they said a light aircraft had gone off course and
Speaker 2: crashed unexpectedly into the World Trade Center. So and the
Speaker 2: PA system was saying the same thing that you know,
Speaker 2: building too is secure. Please go back to your desk.
Speaker 1: Did you think about leaving at that point?
Speaker 2: I didn't. A lot of my colleagues that were there
Speaker 2: in ninety three had left, but you know, there were
Speaker 2: no words of terrorism or anything. It was just I
Speaker 2: went back to my desk and I was taking phone
Speaker 2: calls basically from some of my clients, friends and family
Speaker 2: as well. And I was there and people were leaving
Speaker 2: the trading room, and then eventually a friend of mine
Speaker 2: up in Canada who was a trader called me and
Speaker 2: yelled at me and told me to get out of
Speaker 2: the building.
Speaker 1: And the second plane was about what about seventeen minutes
Speaker 1: after the first one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I grabbed a colleague of mine and we
Speaker 2: were leaving the trading room when the second plane hit.
Speaker 2: So American Airlines flight hit from seventy eight to eighty five,
Speaker 2: and the right wing sliced right through our trading room.
Speaker 1: So if you had stayed there a few more minutes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I probably wouldn't.
Speaker 1: Have would have been the end. What floor were you on?
Speaker 2: I was on the eighty fourth floor.
Speaker 1: What do you do next?
Speaker 2: Well, we got knocked flying, and then all the ceiling
Speaker 2: tiles came down and we got I picked myself up
Speaker 2: in my colleague Mike, and we cleaned ourselves off. Then
Speaker 2: there were other people in the hallway and we went
Speaker 2: towards the stairwell. The elevator bank, so obviously were shut down.
Speaker 2: So we went towards the stairwell and went in the stairwell.
Speaker 1: We started to.
Speaker 2: Go down, and I guess about two flights down, we
Speaker 2: met this heavy set lady being carried by two men,
Speaker 2: and they said, you can't go down there, there's too
Speaker 2: much smoke and fire. At that point we heard I
Speaker 2: was with a few of my colleagues. We heard this
Speaker 2: cry for help, and I went with one of my
Speaker 2: colleagues to try to help this man who was trapped
Speaker 2: the floor below and try to help him. But I
Speaker 2: was overcome with the smoke, and so I headed up
Speaker 2: started climbing the stairs with my other colleagues.
Speaker 1: Climbing up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just there was well. When they said there
Speaker 2: was no way we could go down below, we started
Speaker 2: to climb and we tried every floor, and I guess
Speaker 2: we got to about the ninety first floor and realizing
Speaker 2: that there was no exiting. All the floors are locked
Speaker 2: from the inside for security reasons, right.
Speaker 1: So.
Speaker 2: At that point, I guess true panics started set in
Speaker 2: and I realized I just wanted to get out and
Speaker 2: see my wife and kids again. So we started to
Speaker 2: head back down and I guess We got down to
Speaker 2: our floor, maybe a floor below, but the smoke was
Speaker 2: really thick and heavy, so people were lying down trying
Speaker 2: to get beneath the hot, choking smoke, and we were
Speaker 2: drifting off. We were starting to sleep, go to sleep,
Speaker 2: and that point I heard a voice and someone calm,
Speaker 2: calling me and telling me to come this way. For
Speaker 2: those who are God believing me understand who that is.
Speaker 2: Others may say it was just my adrenaline field synopsis
Speaker 2: working overtime. But you know, if I heard a voice
Speaker 2: like that again, I'd go towards it because it maybe
Speaker 2: get up. And I went towards the flame and the
Speaker 2: fire and the thick smoke, and I lasted Jeffort. I
Speaker 2: pushed against the wall and it revealed the staircase down below,
Speaker 2: so I slid down there, and then I ran through
Speaker 2: three flights of stairs that were on fire.
Speaker 1: With the adrenaline running as high as it was. Was
Speaker 1: it agonizing immediately or was it only after you?
Speaker 2: I didn't even feel it. I didn't even realize that
Speaker 2: I was burnt. I just I just, you know, ran
Speaker 2: through it and then kept running and running and running,
Speaker 2: like I have burns on my arms and my body.
Speaker 1: But once you got below the impact site, what was
Speaker 1: it like.
Speaker 2: I was by myself, so it was cool and calm
Speaker 2: in the water. The sprinklers are running, and I guess
Speaker 2: I got about halfway down and I ran into three
Speaker 2: firefighters that were coming up. I explained to them I
Speaker 2: was having trouble breathing, and they just told me to
Speaker 2: go down below and once I got there, I would
Speaker 2: get some help down below.
Speaker 1: What happened when you got to the ground level.
Speaker 2: So I just wanted to get out of that place.
Speaker 2: And I came out the exit facing the courtyard in
Speaker 2: between the two towers, and there was a security guard
Speaker 2: there and she wouldn't let me out. You look back
Speaker 2: on it and there were bodies and debris and there
Speaker 2: was stuff falling out of the sky. So they wouldn't
Speaker 2: let us go run outside there. They made us go
Speaker 2: down underneath through the path system to get out towards
Speaker 2: the Church Street exit. As I went down one set
Speaker 2: of stairs there, I came across a colleague of mine
Speaker 2: who was walking along, and he was a sweet, jovial man.
Speaker 2: And as we were walking towards a Church Street exit,
Speaker 2: that's when we heard the loud explosion. I looked to
Speaker 2: my right and I saw a huge fireball coming at us,
Speaker 2: and I just yelled at John to run, and I
Speaker 2: ran as fast as I could to try to get out.
Speaker 1: And.
Speaker 2: Got knocked on the head and woke up three days
Speaker 2: later in the hospital.
Speaker 1: That's Ron di Francesco, a survivor of the terrorist attacks
Speaker 1: in New York City on September eleventh, two thousand and one, and,
Speaker 1: according to some the last person to make it out
Speaker 1: of the World Trade Center alive. Still to come. More
Speaker 1: of Ron's detailed reflections on what happened that day, the
Speaker 1: long term impact of the attacks on him and his family,
Speaker 1: and why he decided to start speaking publicly about his
Speaker 1: horrific experiences that day. I'm Greg Corumbus and this is
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Speaker 1: This is Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in
Speaker 1: this addition is Ron di Francesco, an investment expert working
Speaker 1: in the South Tower of the World Trade Center when
Speaker 1: al Qaeda terrorists attacked on September eleventh, two thousand and one.
Speaker 1: Ron just told his harrowing story of fighting through flames
Speaker 1: and smoke to get under the South Tower and into
Speaker 1: the train tunnel. When the South Tower came down and
Speaker 1: he was knocked unconscious. DeFrancesco now picks up his story
Speaker 1: by speculating where he was in the tunnel complex when
Speaker 1: the south tower came down. How far away from the
Speaker 1: the towers did the path exit bring you out?
Speaker 2: So I wasn't out of the I think I was
Speaker 2: under five four old trade. It was a big complex underneath,
Speaker 2: so there was more. I think it was three, I guess,
Speaker 2: I'm sorry three. And so we were running through the
Speaker 2: path system to get out, and they were strategic about
Speaker 2: it to try to get us as far away from
Speaker 2: those two towers as possible, and the building had started
Speaker 2: to implode at that point, and we ran.
Speaker 1: Do you remember what that sounded like?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: You mentioned you woke up three days later.
Speaker 2: Yeah, did you.
Speaker 1: Remember at that point much of what had happened or no?
Speaker 2: I A couple of things is that I didn't know
Speaker 2: the buildings had come down. I just, you know, when
Speaker 2: our building got hit by the plane, I thought it
Speaker 2: was just a generator down below. I had blown up,
Speaker 2: And everybody was telling you, right, it was like the
Speaker 2: first plane that hit, it was just, you know, a
Speaker 2: light aircraft had gone off course. So when the second
Speaker 2: one hit, it's different because the world's watching now exactly
Speaker 2: what's going on, but you're watching from the outside. I
Speaker 2: was on the inside. I had no clue what had happened,
Speaker 2: and my wife didn't tell me, probably for seven eight days.
Speaker 1: What were the extent of your burns and other injuries?
Speaker 2: So I got hit on the back of the head.
Speaker 2: I have a major laceration on my head. Here I
Speaker 2: had burns on sixty percent of my body and my
Speaker 2: contact lenses were melted to my eyes.
Speaker 1: So what type of treatment did you need to go
Speaker 1: through to treat the burns I was.
Speaker 2: They went bandaged me up. My arms were quite bad
Speaker 2: and I while I was in the hospital, I don't
Speaker 2: really remember much. They were just I was on morphine
Speaker 2: just to keep the pain at bay, and they were
Speaker 2: changing him every few hours.
Speaker 1: I think, how long did you stay in the hospital?
Speaker 2: I just stayed twelve days when I realized what had
Speaker 2: happened when my wife told me, I was just I
Speaker 2: was quite antsy being in the city. I was at
Speaker 2: Saint Vincent's Hospital right down by the trade center, so
Speaker 2: I was quite agitated and I didn't want to be
Speaker 2: in the city anymore. So they brought me home and
Speaker 2: I got home care.
Speaker 1: Did you notice that the hospital was chaotic? I assume
Speaker 1: it had to be given all the injuries that had happened.
Speaker 2: So I didn't see any of that. I just I
Speaker 2: was out of it for a few days, and I
Speaker 2: was heavily medicated to deal with my burns, and they
Speaker 2: thought I had had a broken bone in my neck,
Speaker 2: but it wasn't. So I didn't know what was going on,
Speaker 2: and I was quite sedated. So when I started to
Speaker 2: come around and realize what it had gone on, I
Speaker 2: didn't know the buildings had come down.
Speaker 1: So you mentioned that your wife. How did she finally
Speaker 1: find out you were knocked unconscious for a number of days.
Speaker 1: How did she finally hear what had happened to you?
Speaker 2: I think they found me relatively quickly because I was
Speaker 2: close to the Church Street exit, so they brought me in,
Speaker 2: and I guess they called her around two in the
Speaker 2: afternoon and told her that I was there. She was
Speaker 2: quite elated, so she hung up. But it's funny now,
Speaker 2: but she didn't know what hospital I was at. She
Speaker 2: was just, you know, she was just to hear that
Speaker 2: I was alive, and she didn't know the extent of
Speaker 2: my injuries. They just said, to your husband's here, and.
Speaker 1: How many children did you have at this point?
Speaker 2: We have four children, and what ages were they back then?
Speaker 2: They were ten, eight, six, and three.
Speaker 1: When you came home. Obviously it's much better than being
Speaker 1: in the hospital that How had life changed for you
Speaker 1: and them as you all deal with this?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was kind of blank for a couple of years.
Speaker 2: Didn't really you know, didn't want to hear noises, didn't
Speaker 2: really pay attention to the kids.
Speaker 1: I just.
Speaker 2: I just kind of existed. And my wife took the
Speaker 2: brunt of it all. She right, we were not new immigrants,
Speaker 2: but we were new to the country relatively, and she
Speaker 2: had to keep the house together and keep everybody organized
Speaker 2: and keep the kids going. And I was It was
Speaker 2: a slow recovery for me, just mentally and physically mentally
Speaker 2: more so.
Speaker 1: But were you able to return to work or how
Speaker 1: long till you were able to?
Speaker 2: So I went back to work part time in March,
Speaker 2: full time in April. But when I went back full time,
Speaker 2: it was tough on the kids because they would sit
Speaker 2: by the window wondering every night if I was coming home,
Speaker 2: and with the anthrax scares that were going on, you know,
Speaker 2: I said to my wife, you take your passport and
Speaker 2: the kids' passports. I'll take my passport into the city
Speaker 2: and if anything should happen, you just go back to
Speaker 2: Canada with the kids. And we realized that this was
Speaker 2: no way for us to live.
Speaker 1: So you move back to Canada and the end.
Speaker 2: Of the school years of two thousand and two, Like,
Speaker 2: we loved living in Jersey and loved it being in
Speaker 2: the States, and we were looking to purchase a home.
Speaker 2: But that uprooted everything you mentioned. You were kind of
Speaker 2: blank for a couple of years. What helped to bring you.
Speaker 1: Out of that.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I just probably people talking to me
Speaker 2: and just saying some getting angry that I was blank,
Speaker 2: and rightfully so I just didn't really care much about anything.
Speaker 2: And then you know, others telling me that I needed
Speaker 2: to tell my story, that it was, you know, a
Speaker 2: hopeful story. I don't know. I lost sixty one colleagues,
Speaker 2: so I have survivors guilt. I should have. Could I
Speaker 2: have gone back and got those people? If I did,
Speaker 2: I know I wouldn't be here today. But I'll carry
Speaker 2: that with me. When the voice called me, I went
Speaker 2: to it, but I left everybody and I don't know why,
Speaker 2: but you know, the building was coming down thirty seconds
Speaker 2: behind or thirty seconds more, I wouldn't be here today.
Speaker 1: So you were blessed in two different ways, first of
Speaker 1: all leaving the conference room and then being able to
Speaker 1: escape the building itself.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so twice that day I was, you know, lucky, unfortunate.
Speaker 2: I'm blessed. I don't know what people want to say,
Speaker 2: but I am lucky. I just wish there was a
Speaker 2: different outcome.
Speaker 1: Obviously, the building came down very quickly after you were
Speaker 1: able to get out, as evidenced by the fact that
Speaker 1: you were still underground trying to get through the path exit.
Speaker 1: At what point did someone conclude that you were probably
Speaker 1: the last person to get out.
Speaker 2: I don't know who gave me that title. I just
Speaker 2: there were four people above the impactsone that got out,
Speaker 2: Two were my colleagues and they got out physically unscathed,
Speaker 2: and the other was the guy we were helping, Stanley,
Speaker 2: and I almost didn't get out, So I guess they
Speaker 2: presumed that I was the last man to get out
Speaker 2: before the tower collapsed.
Speaker 1: That's Ron D. Francesco, who is one of the last
Speaker 1: people to get out of the World Trade Center alive
Speaker 1: after the al Qaeda terrorist attacks on September eleventh, two
Speaker 1: thousand and one. When we come back, DeFrancesco decides to
Speaker 1: start publicly telling his very difficult story. We'll hear all
Speaker 1: about that, how he and his family are doing now,
Speaker 1: and how the events of nine to eleven still impact
Speaker 1: him today. I'm Greg Corumbus, and this is Veterans Chronicles.
Speaker 1: This is Veterans' Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in
Speaker 1: this edition is Ron D. Francesco, an investment expert who
Speaker 1: had moved with his family from Canada to work with
Speaker 1: a firm based in the World Trade Center in two thousand.
Speaker 1: The next year, his office was struck by the terrorist
Speaker 1: attack against the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
Speaker 1: He shared the dramatic story of getting out of his
Speaker 1: office and through the flames and into the tunnel system
Speaker 1: underneath the complex. We've also heard about the long and
Speaker 1: difficult recovery physically and emotionally, and now DeFrancesco explains how
Speaker 1: he got started speaking publicly about the very difficult events
Speaker 1: of that day.
Speaker 2: It's tough, right. It brings back a lot of memories.
Speaker 2: I lost some good friends that day. After I tell
Speaker 2: my story, I get people are saying thank you for
Speaker 2: sharing that. I appreciate that, and you know, people say
Speaker 2: it's a story of resilience and gratitude, and I am
Speaker 2: thankful and I did get through that challenging time. But
Speaker 2: we always think our lives going to be this big
Speaker 2: positive trajectory and there's hiccups along the way. My hiccup
Speaker 2: it was a lot worse. And so I just try
Speaker 2: to tell people, especially in this time when people are struggling,
Speaker 2: if I can make a difference for some, then it's
Speaker 2: a bonus.
Speaker 1: What do you hear from other survivors or even family
Speaker 1: members of those who didn't make it that day when
Speaker 1: they hear your story.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for the longest time, I didn't want people to
Speaker 2: see me, and you know, some of my colleagues were asking,
Speaker 2: you know, did to see my husband, to see my spouse?
Speaker 2: Where they frightened, where they scared. That was a big burden.
Speaker 2: I still talk to some of my colleagues sposes on
Speaker 2: that on September eleventh. Every September eleventh. I reach out
Speaker 2: to them. But it's kind of tough when you get
Speaker 2: out and they didn't right And I didn't do anything
Speaker 2: differently than they did. I was just luckier fortunate blast.
Speaker 1: I don't know you mentioned that you talked to some
Speaker 1: of them the anniversary of nine to eleven? Are their
Speaker 1: other things that you purposely do each year on that date?
Speaker 2: I never work that day again. I take that day
Speaker 2: for myself, reflect and give gratitude.
Speaker 1: What do you want people to know about what you
Speaker 1: saw that day from the inside that we couldn't possibly see.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was just the panic in people's eyes that
Speaker 2: day when that happened, and you know, people across the
Speaker 2: courtyard there in one World Trade frantically gesturing for help.
Speaker 2: It was hard to see.
Speaker 1: Have you been back to New York?
Speaker 2: I do. I go, probably yearly, but on the anniversary
Speaker 2: I go every fifth year and spend the weekend there
Speaker 2: with my life.
Speaker 1: Have you been able to go to the memorial in
Speaker 1: the museum or the memorial obviously, but the museum as well.
Speaker 1: I have.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the memorial, it's a beautiful place to reflect. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we went before it was open we had a pass,
Speaker 2: and then the museum. That's hard. The museum's hard, but
Speaker 2: it's a good reminder to keep it going right, for
Speaker 2: people to understand what had.
Speaker 1: Happened, What was the impact on the company losing so
Speaker 1: many valued personnel.
Speaker 2: It was tough. It was we lost sixty one out
Speaker 2: of our three hundred and fifty employees, and we didn't
Speaker 2: have an office to go back to, and so how
Speaker 2: does it regroup? And I was out of it for
Speaker 2: a while for months. But they set up shop and
Speaker 2: they got some help from You saw the good in
Speaker 2: people and organizations and helped people set up prudential help,
Speaker 2: gave them a trading room to start them just getting
Speaker 2: people back into the office. I couldn't imagine what the
Speaker 2: fear was like for people to go back into those
Speaker 2: towers and start working again.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the ages of your children at the time.
Speaker 1: How do they look back at it now?
Speaker 2: I think they all struggle with it's still It took
Speaker 2: a toll on every one of them, right. My oldest
Speaker 2: thought he had to be the man of the house.
Speaker 2: My daughter was quite upset, my third was angry, and
Speaker 2: my youngest was frightened. And it's no way for kids
Speaker 2: to grow up. And it's been challenging.
Speaker 1: We're now more than twenty years after that, and so
Speaker 1: we have an entire generation and emerging young adults mid
Speaker 1: twenties at least, I would say by now, who don't
Speaker 1: have personal memories that day. What do you want people
Speaker 1: to remember about that day? It's a defining moment in
Speaker 1: our world's history. It saddens me that they were misguided
Speaker 1: people who thought that they would destroy something for whatever
Speaker 1: their beliefs were. We saw the good in people the
Speaker 1: day after that day was horrific, and we saw the
Speaker 1: world unite on September twelfth, But now more such a
Speaker 1: divided world, and that saddens me. I just I think
Speaker 1: all the wars and stuff that have gone on now
Speaker 1: are a result of nine to eleven, and that makes
Speaker 1: me sad. I want to circle back real briefly to
Speaker 1: something he said about speaking publicly about this now. He
Speaker 1: said that if it's helpful to people, can inspire people,
Speaker 1: it's worth doing. What has it done for you though,
Speaker 1: just seeing that the impact it has on other people's lives,
Speaker 1: or is there something about it that's it's helped you too.
Speaker 2: I think it's helped me process the journey and what
Speaker 2: happened to me. And you know, we all face challenges
Speaker 2: in our lives. And I realize now too. I look
Speaker 2: at everybody and it's just like everybody has a story.
Speaker 2: Everybody has a journey and if I can help people
Speaker 2: in telling them my story that wasn't all wine and roses,
Speaker 2: and I'm okay and I'm still moving forward. I'm lucky.
Speaker 2: I just you know, we've had people who've lost their
Speaker 2: children to cancer, right, We've got people who committed suicide
Speaker 2: friends of ours and family and drug addictions and all
Speaker 2: that stuff. But if I can help and tell my
Speaker 2: story and say that you know, I got through it,
Speaker 2: you can get through your days too, then I think
Speaker 2: that it's a bonus.
Speaker 1: Ron. Is there anything else you want to share about
Speaker 1: that day?
Speaker 2: Or yeah? Well, the biggest thing is I think you know,
Speaker 2: people say, wow, look at Ron, you know what he's
Speaker 2: gone through. I think my wife had it harder than
Speaker 2: I did. Like I was out of it for days
Speaker 2: and weeks and months, I was blank.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: My wife was there watching and going to funerals of
Speaker 2: my colleagues, and she was, you know, having to grieve.
Speaker 2: And she was the lucky one. But she had a
Speaker 2: big journey ahead of her, and so I don't know.
Speaker 2: I just I get all the accolades, but I think
Speaker 2: it was harder on her than it was on me.
Speaker 1: How is she doing? We've talked about you and your children?
Speaker 1: How is she today?
Speaker 2: She's good, She struggles a bit, she does. She writes
Speaker 2: a lot of stories about it, which is good, and
Speaker 2: it's you know, I and she'll publish that just on
Speaker 2: where were you that day? And different people different stories
Speaker 2: that different people have, and it's you know, short stories
Speaker 2: of people's journey on that day through nine to eleven.
Speaker 1: So the last question, and I'm sure given that there
Speaker 1: were sixty one people, there are many people you think
Speaker 1: of every day and especially on the anniversaries. But what
Speaker 1: comes to mind first?
Speaker 2: I lost some good friends that day and that hurts, right.
Speaker 2: I just and to see their families and to know
Speaker 2: their families have struggled twenty plus years later, still struggling, that.
Speaker 1: Hurts well, Ron, I know it's still not easy to
Speaker 1: talk about it, but I'm thankful that you do. And
Speaker 1: I thank you very much for taking the time to
Speaker 1: share it with us today and again hopefully helping many
Speaker 1: other people understand exactly what happened and to give them
Speaker 1: encouragement to move on through whatever challenges be dealing with.
Speaker 1: So thank you for your time and for telling us
Speaker 1: a very difficult story. Thanks for having me, Randi Francesco
Speaker 1: Is believe to be the last person to emerge from
Speaker 1: the South Tower of the World Trade Center before it
Speaker 1: collapsed on nine to eleven, two thousand and one. I'm
Speaker 1: Greg Corumbus and this is Veterans Chronicles. Hi, this is
Speaker 1: Greg Corumbus and thanks for listening to Veterans Chronicles, a
Speaker 1: presentation of the American Veterans Center. For more information, please
Speaker 1: visit American Veteranscenter dot org. You can also follow the
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Speaker 1: next time for Veterans Chronicles.