Author: Staci Haight
Today marks 19 years since the terrorist attacks that claimed 2,977 lives and injured more than 6,000 people. Terrorists were able to direct four planes into the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Pennsylvania. The World Trade Center's Twin Towers, which lit up the New York skyline for nearly 30 years, came down and with their collapse killed 2,606. More died at the Pentagon when Flight 77 crashed into its western side. The final plane, Flight 93, never made it to its intended target. Its passengers were able to overtake the plane but not before terrorists crashed it into a field just outside of Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Mrs. Jefferson, then known as Staci Haight, worked as a reporter for the Ventura County Star. Below is her interview with Dan White, who escaped the second tower to return to Simi Valley. He is now a trustee for the Simi Valley Unified School District.
After a plane rammed into the World Trade Center's north tower Daniel White heard a message on the public-address system in his tower assuring people that everything was safe and asking them to stay inside.
The 31-year-old Simi Valley man decided to leave the south tower anyway. And this weekend he reunited with wife Corinna and sons Brian 5 and Stephen 2 to celebrate that decision.
While 16 of his co-workers are still missing White returned to "Welcome home" banners. Sunday relatives converged on the family's Wood Ranch home before heading off to Brian's ballgame at a nearby baseball field.
White a stockbroker said he's not eager to return to New York. He now has a fear of flying he didn't have a week ago. In fact the flight home Saturday night was a horrifying ride for someone used to commuting to New York 10 days a month.
"It's inconceivable that I will ever fly again" White said Sunday. "The No. 1 priority is to take account of the loss and say I'm still here."
White was waiting for a client to arrive at his office on the south tower's 84th floor when tragedy struck at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday. He had left his Simi Valley home only 12 hours earlier. The business trip for his employer Tradesoft had two legs -- first New York then London.
When a commercial jet hijacked by terrorists crashed into the north tower the floor beneath White rumbled with a violent jolt. He looked through his window blinds and saw two floors of the north tower engulfed in flames.
He thought maybe a bomb had gone off. Someone standing next to him suggested they leave immediately.
White and many others hurried to the stairway to make their way down. They had reached the 60th floor when the building's public-address system came on to assure people that they were safe and to remain inside the building.
Meanwhile in Simi Valley Corinna White awoke to the ringing of a telephone. It was her husband's brother. He wanted to know where Dan was. He told Corinna to turn on the television and to call him when she heard from her husband.
She called another office her husband has in New Jersey and spoke with a cousin who confirmed he was inside the World Trade Center.
"I became hysterical" Corinna said.
She called his two cell phones and business number to no avail. She tried sending him an e-mail but got no response. She called her sister who lives next door inSimi Linda Bodnar to tell her that Dan was trapped inside the World Trade Center. Bodnar immediately went to the Whites' home and stayed with Corinna as worried friends called to ask about her husband.
Back in New York White ignored the public address announcement and continued down. Somewhere around the 35th floor he heard the same rumbling he felt before but this time his building rocked. He braced himself until the rocking subsided then hurried his steps.
In Simi Valley Brian White watched the television and asked his mommy "Why is Daddy's building on fire?"
Once White reached the ground he ran into a courtyard but was told by a port authority officer to leave the area because falling glass made it unsafe.
He went back inside to a mall underneath the building. He walked to Broadway and Church streets two blocks from the World Trade Center.
A flock of people who had escaped waited in long lines to call relatives on pay phones to let them know they were safe. Many like White tried to use their cell phones but they wouldn't work.
He finally made it to a store with a phone to call home. But his home phone was tied up with calls from people worried about him. So he called his brother-in-law Michael Bodnar.
"Michael came running down the sidewalk yelling that Dan was on the phone" Corinna said. "We were screaming. I don't know what we even said just that he was alive."
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