On the morning of September 11, 2001, Michael Nestor, Liz Thompson, and Richard Tierney were eating breakfast at Windows on the World, the restaurant at the top of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Together, they rode in the last elevator down in the moments before American Airlines Flight 11 struck the building at 8:46 that morning. Everyone at the restaurant at the time of impact, approximately 170 men and women, perished.

Recorded in New York City. Premiered September 11, 2003, on Morning Edition.

This documentary comes from Sound Portraits Productions, a mission-driven independent production company that was created by Dave Isay in 1994. Sound Portraits was the predecessor to StoryCorps and was dedicated to telling stories that brought neglected American voices to a national audience.