Ron DiFrancesco, 9/11 Terrorist Attack Survivor, World Trade Center

Welcome to Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in this addition is Ron di Francesco. Ron was working in the South Tower of the World Trade Center on September eleventh, two thousand and one. He is believed to be the final person to emerge from the building alive before it collapsed shortly after it was struck. And Ron, thanks so much for being with us.

Thank you.

Where were you born and raised?

I was born in Hamilton, Ontario, in between Toronto and Niagara Falls.

So born a Canadian. And eventually you moved to New York City for work? Correct?

I did? I moved down in two thousand the year two thousand and brought my wife and kids as well.

And which company were you working for?

I worked for a company called Year Brokers Max, and I was a money market broker. I used to trade a US dollar in European currency.

What kind of day were you anticipating before everything happened.

I love the energy of the city. I would get on the train at five forty two in the morning and take the train from my town down into Hoboken and then take the Path train into the city, and just the energy from getting off the train, getting onto the path train and running into the World Trade Center. It was energizing.

And so you got the five forty two. What time were you at work?

Probably around six forty six fifty, so you were at work a couple of hours already. Yeah, you had to get in early just because it's twenty four hour markets. So we're Tokyo was closing their markets, the Asian markets were closing London, and the Europe was halfway through their day and we were just starting our day.

Did you ever have any misgivings about working at the World Trade Center given that there had been bombing several years before that.

No, I was working in Toronto when the ninety three bombing happened. I guess I was, I don't want to say clueless about it, but it just terrorism wasn't on my radar. It was, you know, I grew up in a steel city and then making it in Toronto on Bay Street, which is like Canada's Wall Street, and then making it down into New York. It was didn't think.

Of that at all. So explain what happened and what you remember. As the first plane hit the other tower.

So we were in the trading room and everybody was analyzing numbers, talking to their clients, running through what had happened the evening before and what was happening in Europe with the markets. And then we were settled into the day and back to the right, there was a loud explosion and then we looked to the right and just saw huge fireball sucking in on itself and thousands of pieces of paper just billowing outside the Trade Center.

What are you thinking?

I had no clue. And then we ran over there. We ran over to see what had gone on, and there was a huge gaping hole in the side of the building and people in the windows, and some people were doing the unthinkable. The heat was so intense that they decided to jump they saw that. Yeah, I didn't know. You know, when we're trying to listen to the news, they said a light aircraft had gone off course and

Did you think about leaving at that point?

I didn't. A lot of my colleagues that were there in ninety three had left, but you know, there were no words of terrorism or anything. It was just I went back to my desk and I was taking phone calls basically from some of my clients, friends and family as well. And I was there and people were leaving the trading room, and then eventually a friend of mine up in Canada who was a trader called me and yelled at me and told me to get out of the building.

And the second plane was about what about seventeen minutes after the first one.

Yeah, So I grabbed a colleague of mine and we were leaving the trading room when the second plane hit. So American Airlines flight hit from seventy eight to eighty five, and the right wing sliced right through our trading room.

So if you had stayed there a few more minutes.

Yeah, I probably wouldn't.

Have would have been the end. What floor were you on?

I was on the eighty fourth floor.

What do you do next?

Well, we got knocked flying, and then all the ceiling tiles came down and we got I picked myself up in my colleague Mike, and we cleaned ourselves off. Then there were other people in the hallway and we went towards the stairwell. The elevator bank, so obviously were shut down. So we went towards the stairwell and went in the stairwell.

We started to.

Go down, and I guess about two flights down, we met this heavy set lady being carried by two men, and they said, you can't go down there, there's too much smoke and fire. At that point we heard I was with a few of my colleagues. We heard this cry for help, and I went with one of my colleagues to try to help this man who was trapped the floor below and try to help him. But I was overcome with the smoke, and so I headed up started climbing the stairs with my other colleagues.

Climbing up.

Yeah, I just there was well. When they said there was no way we could go down below, we started to climb and we tried every floor, and I guess we got to about the ninety first floor and realizing that there was no exiting. All the floors are locked from the inside for security reasons, right.

So.

At that point, I guess true panics started set in and I realized I just wanted to get out and see my wife and kids again. So we started to head back down and I guess We got down to our floor, maybe a floor below, but the smoke was really thick and heavy, so people were lying down trying to get beneath the hot, choking smoke, and we were drifting off. We were starting to sleep, go to sleep, and that point I heard a voice and someone calm,

With the adrenaline running as high as it was. Was it agonizing immediately or was it only after you?

I didn't even feel it. I didn't even realize that I was burnt. I just I just, you know, ran through it and then kept running and running and running, like I have burns on my arms and my body.

But once you got below the impact site, what was it like.

I was by myself, so it was cool and calm in the water. The sprinklers are running, and I guess I got about halfway down and I ran into three firefighters that were coming up. I explained to them I was having trouble breathing, and they just told me to go down below and once I got there, I would get some help down below.

What happened when you got to the ground level.

So I just wanted to get out of that place. And I came out the exit facing the courtyard in between the two towers, and there was a security guard there and she wouldn't let me out. You look back on it and there were bodies and debris and there was stuff falling out of the sky. So they wouldn't let us go run outside there. They made us go down underneath through the path system to get out towards

And.

Got knocked on the head and woke up three days later in the hospital.

That's Ron di Francesco, a survivor of the terrorist attacks in New York City on September eleventh, two thousand and one, and, according to some the last person to make it out of the World Trade Center alive. Still to come. More of Ron's detailed reflections on what happened that day, the long term impact of the attacks on him and his family, and why he decided to start speaking publicly about his

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This is Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in this addition is Ron di Francesco, an investment expert working in the South Tower of the World Trade Center when al Qaeda terrorists attacked on September eleventh, two thousand and one. Ron just told his harrowing story of fighting through flames and smoke to get under the South Tower and into the train tunnel. When the South Tower came down and

So I wasn't out of the I think I was under five four old trade. It was a big complex underneath, so there was more. I think it was three, I guess, I'm sorry three. And so we were running through the path system to get out, and they were strategic about it to try to get us as far away from those two towers as possible, and the building had started to implode at that point, and we ran.

Do you remember what that sounded like?

Yeah?

You mentioned you woke up three days later.

Yeah, did you.

Remember at that point much of what had happened or no?

I A couple of things is that I didn't know the buildings had come down. I just, you know, when our building got hit by the plane, I thought it was just a generator down below. I had blown up, And everybody was telling you, right, it was like the first plane that hit, it was just, you know, a light aircraft had gone off course. So when the second one hit, it's different because the world's watching now exactly what's going on, but you're watching from the outside. I

What were the extent of your burns and other injuries?

So I got hit on the back of the head. I have a major laceration on my head. Here I had burns on sixty percent of my body and my contact lenses were melted to my eyes.

So what type of treatment did you need to go through to treat the burns I was.

They went bandaged me up. My arms were quite bad and I while I was in the hospital, I don't really remember much. They were just I was on morphine just to keep the pain at bay, and they were changing him every few hours.

I think, how long did you stay in the hospital?

I just stayed twelve days when I realized what had happened when my wife told me, I was just I was quite antsy being in the city. I was at Saint Vincent's Hospital right down by the trade center, so I was quite agitated and I didn't want to be in the city anymore. So they brought me home and I got home care.

Did you notice that the hospital was chaotic? I assume it had to be given all the injuries that had happened.

So I didn't see any of that. I just I was out of it for a few days, and I was heavily medicated to deal with my burns, and they thought I had had a broken bone in my neck, but it wasn't. So I didn't know what was going on, and I was quite sedated. So when I started to come around and realize what it had gone on, I didn't know the buildings had come down.

So you mentioned that your wife. How did she finally find out you were knocked unconscious for a number of days. How did she finally hear what had happened to you?

I think they found me relatively quickly because I was close to the Church Street exit, so they brought me in, and I guess they called her around two in the afternoon and told her that I was there. She was quite elated, so she hung up. But it's funny now, but she didn't know what hospital I was at. She was just, you know, she was just to hear that I was alive, and she didn't know the extent of my injuries. They just said, to your husband's here, and.

How many children did you have at this point?

We have four children, and what ages were they back then? They were ten, eight, six, and three.

When you came home. Obviously it's much better than being in the hospital that How had life changed for you and them as you all deal with this?

Yeah, I was kind of blank for a couple of years. Didn't really you know, didn't want to hear noises, didn't really pay attention to the kids.

I just.

I just kind of existed. And my wife took the brunt of it all. She right, we were not new immigrants, but we were new to the country relatively, and she had to keep the house together and keep everybody organized and keep the kids going. And I was It was a slow recovery for me, just mentally and physically mentally more so.

But were you able to return to work or how long till you were able to?

So I went back to work part time in March, full time in April. But when I went back full time, it was tough on the kids because they would sit by the window wondering every night if I was coming home, and with the anthrax scares that were going on, you know, I said to my wife, you take your passport and the kids' passports. I'll take my passport into the city and if anything should happen, you just go back to Canada with the kids. And we realized that this was no way for us to live.

So you move back to Canada and the end.

Of the school years of two thousand and two, Like, we loved living in Jersey and loved it being in the States, and we were looking to purchase a home. But that uprooted everything you mentioned. You were kind of blank for a couple of years. What helped to bring you.

Out of that.

I don't know. I just probably people talking to me and just saying some getting angry that I was blank, and rightfully so I just didn't really care much about anything. And then you know, others telling me that I needed to tell my story, that it was, you know, a hopeful story. I don't know. I lost sixty one colleagues, so I have survivors guilt. I should have. Could I have gone back and got those people? If I did, I know I wouldn't be here today. But I'll carry

So you were blessed in two different ways, first of all leaving the conference room and then being able to escape the building itself.

Yeah, so twice that day I was, you know, lucky, unfortunate. I'm blessed. I don't know what people want to say, but I am lucky. I just wish there was a different outcome.

Obviously, the building came down very quickly after you were able to get out, as evidenced by the fact that you were still underground trying to get through the path exit. At what point did someone conclude that you were probably the last person to get out.

I don't know who gave me that title. I just there were four people above the impactsone that got out, Two were my colleagues and they got out physically unscathed, and the other was the guy we were helping, Stanley, and I almost didn't get out, So I guess they presumed that I was the last man to get out before the tower collapsed.

That's Ron D. Francesco, who is one of the last people to get out of the World Trade Center alive after the al Qaeda terrorist attacks on September eleventh, two thousand and one. When we come back, DeFrancesco decides to start publicly telling his very difficult story. We'll hear all about that, how he and his family are doing now, and how the events of nine to eleven still impact him today. I'm Greg Corumbus, and this is Veterans Chronicles.

It's tough, right. It brings back a lot of memories. I lost some good friends that day. After I tell my story, I get people are saying thank you for sharing that. I appreciate that, and you know, people say it's a story of resilience and gratitude, and I am thankful and I did get through that challenging time. But we always think our lives going to be this big positive trajectory and there's hiccups along the way. My hiccup

What do you hear from other survivors or even family members of those who didn't make it that day when they hear your story.

Yeah, for the longest time, I didn't want people to see me, and you know, some of my colleagues were asking, you know, did to see my husband, to see my spouse? Where they frightened, where they scared. That was a big burden. I still talk to some of my colleagues sposes on that on September eleventh. Every September eleventh. I reach out to them. But it's kind of tough when you get out and they didn't right And I didn't do anything differently than they did. I was just luckier fortunate blast.

I don't know you mentioned that you talked to some of them the anniversary of nine to eleven? Are their other things that you purposely do each year on that date?

I never work that day again. I take that day for myself, reflect and give gratitude.

What do you want people to know about what you saw that day from the inside that we couldn't possibly see.

Yeah, it was just the panic in people's eyes that day when that happened, and you know, people across the courtyard there in one World Trade frantically gesturing for help. It was hard to see.

Have you been back to New York?

I do. I go, probably yearly, but on the anniversary I go every fifth year and spend the weekend there with my life.

Have you been able to go to the memorial in the museum or the memorial obviously, but the museum as well. I have.

Yeah, the memorial, it's a beautiful place to reflect. Yeah, we went before it was open we had a pass, and then the museum. That's hard. The museum's hard, but it's a good reminder to keep it going right, for people to understand what had.

Happened, What was the impact on the company losing so many valued personnel.

It was tough. It was we lost sixty one out of our three hundred and fifty employees, and we didn't have an office to go back to, and so how does it regroup? And I was out of it for a while for months. But they set up shop and they got some help from You saw the good in people and organizations and helped people set up prudential help, gave them a trading room to start them just getting

You mentioned the ages of your children at the time. How do they look back at it now?

I think they all struggle with it's still It took a toll on every one of them, right. My oldest thought he had to be the man of the house. My daughter was quite upset, my third was angry, and my youngest was frightened. And it's no way for kids to grow up. And it's been challenging.

We're now more than twenty years after that, and so we have an entire generation and emerging young adults mid twenties at least, I would say by now, who don't have personal memories that day. What do you want people to remember about that day? It's a defining moment in our world's history. It saddens me that they were misguided people who thought that they would destroy something for whatever

I think it's helped me process the journey and what happened to me. And you know, we all face challenges in our lives. And I realize now too. I look at everybody and it's just like everybody has a story. Everybody has a journey and if I can help people in telling them my story that wasn't all wine and roses, and I'm okay and I'm still moving forward. I'm lucky.

Ron. Is there anything else you want to share about that day?

Or yeah? Well, the biggest thing is I think you know, people say, wow, look at Ron, you know what he's gone through. I think my wife had it harder than I did. Like I was out of it for days and weeks and months, I was blank.

You know.

My wife was there watching and going to funerals of my colleagues, and she was, you know, having to grieve. And she was the lucky one. But she had a big journey ahead of her, and so I don't know. I just I get all the accolades, but I think it was harder on her than it was on me.

How is she doing? We've talked about you and your children? How is she today?

She's good, She struggles a bit, she does. She writes a lot of stories about it, which is good, and it's you know, I and she'll publish that just on where were you that day? And different people different stories that different people have, and it's you know, short stories of people's journey on that day through nine to eleven.

So the last question, and I'm sure given that there were sixty one people, there are many people you think of every day and especially on the anniversaries. But what comes to mind first?

I lost some good friends that day and that hurts, right. I just and to see their families and to know their families have struggled twenty plus years later, still struggling, that.

Hurts well, Ron, I know it's still not easy to talk about it, but I'm thankful that you do. And I thank you very much for taking the time to share it with us today and again hopefully helping many other people understand exactly what happened and to give them encouragement to move on through whatever challenges be dealing with. So thank you for your time and for telling us