Remembering 9/11: Survivor takes us through a timeline of the attacks that morning

Remembering 9/11: Survivor takes us through a timeline of the attacks that morning

BY DICK BRENNAN

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023 / 8:52 AM / CBS NEW YORK

NEW YORK -- New York City and the nation are marking 22 years since the September 11th terror attacks. 

CBS New York's Dick Brennan walks us through a timeline of the events as they unfolded that day. 

"I dropped my oldest boy off at the bus stop, and I said, 'It's 6:30, let me just cruise right in,'" remembered 9/11 survivor Gregory Carafello. "So I came in, and I got in about 7-7:15."

It began just like any other day for Carafello. He was at the office early on Sept. 11, 2001 in the South Tower. It wasn't long before all hell broke loose at 8:46 a.m.

"What happened was you hear a concussion, like a sonic boom almost. And you heard just a collision almost. I don't know what I would call it, sonic boom is the best, if you've ever been buzzed by jet planes," he said. 

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The North Tower had been hit, but in the South Tower, Carafello and coworkers decided to get out immediately. They were on the ground and outside by 9:03 a.m. by the time the second plane hit. 

"The sound itself was probably the loudest thing I've ever heard in my life," said Carafello. "It came in rumbling, and then when that collision -- I think it was going over 500 miles an hour -- when that collision, when they hit the buildings, went right through the buildings actually. But it just was, it just changed your whole life in a second."

At 9:37 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. At 9:59 a.m., the South Tower, where Carafello had been sitting at his desk over an hour before, came crashing down. 

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At 10:03 a.m., United Airlines Flight 93 out of Newark crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania after brave passengers took matters into their own hands. 

At 10:28 a.m., the North Tower came down. 

"You start to say... Well, why did I get out? And that's survivor's remorse, it's whatever it is. But if you're thinking through that, it could have been you, should have been you, and that's when you start to feel the weight of what happened," said Carafello. 

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That day, the FDNY lost 343 members, the NYPD lost 23 police officers and Port Authority Police lost 37 members. 

Carafello also lost a dear friend, James Martello, who was working at Cantor Fitzgerald in Tower 1. 

"We had spoken the night before and we were close, were were like closer than brothers, in all fairness," he said. "He was at the top, top floor... There was just no way, it was all cut off."

"You saw the pain that was just among everyone, and especially in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut," he continued. "The pain, it's hard, everybody knew somebody that died or multiple people that died."

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Carfello is now the president of Cartridge World America, located at One World Trade Center. It was the first original tenant with office space to come back, and his son, Paul, works with him.

"You can hear how quiet it is. Nobody's telling, there's no signs to 'Be quiet.' It's such a respectful environment," he said. 

He even gives tours at the memorial and hopes the environment sends a message to the next generations. 



"Freedom's not free. People pay a price, even if you're not a warrior. And that's basically what happened that day," he said. "In our country, we got hit, and we still survived and came back."

Dick Brennan joined CBS2 in 2012 as an anchor and reporter. In addition, he anchors on our digital channel CBS News New York, which is also seen on the News at Nine on our sister station WLNY-TV.