On Sept. 11, 2001, Joe DeFelice was in the South Tower of the World Trade Center when the first plane hit.
“I escaped on the South Tower around one or two blocks away and I landed on a floor in an office building and I didn't get up off of that floor til’ we could see the peak of the blueness come through the revolving doors,” he recalled to LA’s Morning News’ Vicky Moore and Mike Simpson. “I always remember that day looking up and seeing the blue sky.”
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He said he got on a police boat to take him and others to Liberty Island.
“What I remember about that they were asking where all the people were, where [are] all the victims,” he said. “And there was (sic) only like five or six people like me in this triage. Surely after that, that's when it hit me that, you know, we got big problems here and I'm sure a lot of people lost their lives and I was concerned about my 300 employees.”
DeFelice, who lost several co-workers that day, including five he supervised, now volunteers with the Red Cross, helping those impacted by disaster.
“They look at me and then I feel like there's a connection because I've been in their shoes,” he said.
“I lost everything. I lost great friends. I've lost all my possessions and I think I can connect with them and we take it from there.”
He added that still carries his World Trade Center ID card in his wallet, saying it feels like a connection to the friends he lost and how lucky he is to be alive.
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