Sekou Siby
A few years after immigrating from the Ivory Coast, Sekou Siby began working in the kitchen at Windows on the World—a restaurant on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center’s North Tower.
Sekou, 49, lost more than 70 colleagues on September 11, 2001, many of them immigrants as well.
He was originally scheduled to work on the morning of the attacks but switched shifts at the request of another employee—fellow kitchen worker Moises Rivas.
Sekou came to StoryCorps’ booth in Lower Manhattan to remember Moises as well as the many other coworkers he lost on that day.
Originally aired September 5, 2014, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Constance Labetti
Connie Labetti was working for Aon Corporation in 2001. Her office was on the 99th floor of the World Trade Center’s South Tower—the second to be hit on September 11, 2001.
As the attacks began, she fled the South Tower and made it out alive—with help from her boss, Ron Fazio. The only trace of Ron recovered at Ground Zero was a mangled credit card.
Originally aired September 6, 2013, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Graham Haggett and Shelli Wright
The last picture 11-year-old Graham Haggett’s grandmother Sandra Lee Wright ever saw was of him.
When Sandra, 57, arrived at her job on the morning of September 11, 2001, waiting for her in her email was a photo (at left) of 10-week-old Graham sent by her daughter, Shelli Wright (pictured above). Her response, “So cute! I’m going to steal that baby.”
Sandra, the facilities manager for Aon Corporation, 
had an office located in the World Trade Center’s South Tower. She, along with 175 of her colleagues, were killed on the morning of the attacks.
Graham, (pictured above and at left with Lammy, a gift from Sandra), came to StoryCorps with his mother Shelli, 41, to remember the grandmother he never got to know.
Originally aired September 7, 2012, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Photos courtesy of Shelli Wright.
Nancy Cardona and Umberto Joseph DeJesus
For nearly twenty years, Umberto Joseph DeJesus has worked as an EMT and physician assistant in emergency rooms around New York City. September 11, 2001 was his day off.
At StoryCorps, Umberto talks to his wife, Nancy Cardona, about going to Ground Zero as a volunteer.
Recorded September 10, 2011.
Charles Maikish
John DiGiovanni, a dental salesman, was parking his car at the World Trade Center on February 26, 1993, when terrorists detonated a truck bomb in the garage. He was one of six people killed in the blast.
At StoryCorps, Former World Trade Center Director and CEO Charles Maikish (pictured above with Jan Ramirz, the curator of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum), remembers visiting John’s mother shortly after her son’s death.
Recorded April 10, 2008.
John Yates
John Yates was working at the Pentagon as a civilian security manager on September 11, 2001.
That morning, he and five colleagues gathered around a television to watch the news of the attack on the World Trade Center. Afterwards, he returned to his desk to call his wife and assure her he was fine. Soon after rejoining his colleagues, American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon.
The impact blew John through the air. He crawled through the wreckage and eventually found his way to the Pentagon’s center courtyard, where his clothing was cut off and a doctor began treatment.
Two days later John awoke in the hospital suffering burns on almost 40 percent of his body. The five colleagues he’d been with that morning were all killed in the explosion.
John came to StoryCorps to talk about his memories of that morning.
Originally aired September 11, 2011, on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday.
Bill Cosgrove
Like most first responders on 9/11, Bill Cosgrove never meant to become part of history. And he certainly never expected his life to become entwined with a priest he never met—Father Mychal Judge, Franciscan friar, chaplain to the New York City Fire Department, and a true New York character.
Born in Brooklyn, Mychal Judge seemed to know everyone in the city, from the homeless to the mayor. On any given day you could find him at a baptism, visiting AIDS patients, or cracking jokes with his beloved firefighters.
That September morning Father Mychal was where he always seemed to end up—right in the thick of things. He arrived at the World Trade Center shortly after the first plane hit.
When the first tower collapsed, a group of firefighters and Cosgrove, who was a police lieutenant at the time, emerged from the dust carrying Mychal Judge’s body.
At that moment a photographer, Shannon Stapleton, snapped a picture which became an iconic image of that day—five men carrying a fallen priest, slouched in a chair, the tragedy’s first official victim.
At StoryCorps, Bill Cosgrove remembered the events leading up to that famous photograph.
Originally aired September 9, 2011 on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Father Michael Duffy
Father Michael Duffy received two unsettling phone calls following the 9/11 attacks. The first informed him that his close friend and mentor, Father Mychal Judge, had been killed at the World Trade Center. During the second call, he learned Father Mychal had requested that Duffy give the homily at his funeral.
The two Franciscan priests met in the 1970s, when they were assigned to the same parish in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Father Michael eventually settled in Philadelphia to work with poor communities there, while Father Mychal found his way back to his native New York where he ministered to everyone from the homeless to the mayor.
On September 11, Father Mychal was serving as chaplain to the New York City Fire Department. That morning he found himself where he always seemed to end up—right in the thick of things. He arrived at the World Trade Center shortly after the first plane hit.
Originally aired September 9, 2011, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Joseph Lutrario
Retired NYPD officer Joseph Lutrario was on duty the morning of September 11th, 2001. When the first plane hit the north tower, his unit was mobilized immediately.
At StoryCorps, Lutrario remembered what happened once he arrived in Lower Manhattan.
Recorded November 8, 2007.
Ester DiNardo
Marisa DiNardo (pictured at left) worked in the World Trade Center, where she was killed on September 11, 2001.
Her mother, Ester DiNardo (pictured above), came to StoryCorps to remember the final night she and Marisa together. They celebrated Ester’s birthday at Windows on the World, the restaurant at the top of the World Trade Center’s North Tower.
Marisa died in that same building the following morning.
Originally aired May 5, 2011 on NPR’s Talk of the Nation.