Rochelle Park, N.J. -- It was November of 1999.  Like most young students out of college, Tom Schwab was searching for the perfect job.  Having just graduated Marist College with a degree in broadcast journalism, he found what he thought would be the right job to launch his career.

There he was on the 93rd floor of Tower Two in the World Trade Center being offered a position with Voter News Service, the same institution that would soon come under fire for creating one of the nation’s most embarrassing voter tabulation hiccups during the 2000 presidential election.  VNS, a voter tabulation service funded by various television networks such as NBC and CNN, was found to have conducted inaccurate polling data during election night, which led to a series of premature announcements by the media projecting the wrong candidate as the winner.  Nevertheless, VNS offered Schwab a salary at an attractive price, but had he accepted the position, it may have come with an even higher price, his life.

In a twist of fate, Schwab was also offered an editorial position with PR Newswire, a leading distributor of news and information for thousands of companies throughout the world.  Fortunately, he accepted the position at PRN, which had him based out of Harborside Financial Center located in Jersey City, New Jersey, just a stone’s throw away from Manhattan.  Ironically, his office faced Tower Two directly across the Hudson River.  In fact, the towers could literally shadow the waterfront on a sunny day appearing as if they were just a few blocks away.  They were so close that Harborside employees often admit feeling like they could reach out and grab them.

This geographical illusion was mainly the result of the Hudson River’s narrowing between lower Manhattan and Jersey City, whereby creating a shorter distance of just under a mile.  The proximity between the Trade Center and Harborside would be equivalent to around twenty-five NY City blocks. This short distance allows for ideal transportation to and from lower Manhattan.  The PATH rail station, for example, connected the towers to Harborside’s south entrance, while NY Waterway’s ferry terminal sits at the north side of the complex.
Schwab remembers September 11 starting off as another normal, but vividly warm and sunny day.  The newsroom where he worked on the 8th floor had a magnificent northern view of the Hudson River.  Schwab’s desk faced east, but there were no windows on the east side of the room shielding him and his colleagues from what was to come.

8:30 AM - The newsroom was busy processing copy from its foreign news desks and assisting with its domestic bureaus, including Harborside’s sister bureau located in midtown, Manhattan.  At 8:40 AM, Schwab remembers seeing a strange but not uncommon email that ran across PRN’s communication network five minutes before the first plane was to hit Tower One.  It was a short email inadvertently sent by an account executive to all of PRN’s editorial offices (intended only to be sent to the Boston bureau) advising Boston editors to be on the look out for any American Airlines’ press releases.  The email added that it was imperative for those releases to be cleared with AA’s CEO before crossing the wire.  This suggests that the airline was perhaps already aware that one of its planes was hijacked.

8:50 AM – Schwab recalls hearing an employee shout from down the hall that one of the Twin Towers was on fire, but Schwab says most people were too busy in the newsroom to pay much attention to the comment.  Still some decided to take a coffee break and head down to the main lobby for closer inspection.  After noticing more and more people trickle out of the newsroom, Schwab decided to see just how serious the fire was. 

Thinking it was a kitchen fire that got out of control, Schwab says he remembers standing in the main corridor of the complex along the banks of the Hudson River and staring at the western side of Tower One.  Although, he could not see the gaping hole along the north side of the tower from his vantage point, he says he could see some flames, but it was the billowing white smoke that stood out most in his mind.  Watching for several minutes as helicopters circled the building, he says he wondered how firefighters could get up that high with their hoses.  He thought perhaps the helicopters would dump buckets of water on the fire or maybe the tower’s sprinkler system would resolve the problem; just a kitchen fire, right?

Schwab says he knew the event was sure to be that day’s top story, but truly believed the fire would eventually be put out, so he headed back up to his desk; little did he know how huge the story would become.  After calling some of his news contacts, he was able to ascertain that a plane had hit the building.  He immediately thought pilot error, but on a sunny day?  It was at this point when several key events began to take place.  First, Schwab says he found it odd that it took three attempts to call his family, as phone access became an increasingly difficult.  Second, all of the television monitors in the office went dead.                                                                   

It was 9:03 AM and the second plane had now hit Tower Two, which disrupted communication/power services to much of the area.  The next thing he remembers is his supervisor running back into the newsroom instructing employees to pack up and vacate the building.  Confused, Schwab asked the reasoning behind such a dramatic directive.  His supervisor calmly stated that he had been downstairs and witnessed a second plane hitting the other tower.  At that moment Schwab says silence enveloped the newsroom as everyone looked at each other with the same conclusion, the country was under attack.  And just as quickly as silence set in, chaos took over.  Schwab immediately called his parents and colleagues to confirm what was happening.  PRN’s phone system was jammed as colleagues/clients in all the bureaus were trying to communicate with the NJ/NY offices. 

Rumors and facts were being yelled out in all directions of the newsroom - another plane had hit the Pentagon, one was heading for Camp David, and one may have just crashed near Pittsburgh.  Suddenly Schwab says it became evident that this attack was an unprecedented full-scale effort and no one felt safe wherever they were.  Shortly thereafter, similar to New York City, Jersey City sealed its borders and all waterfront buildings including Harborside were ordered to evacuate. 

Schwab remembers everyone ducking down as a plane swooped right near the office windows.  Thinking it might be another attack, Schwab says it turned out to be a military F16 flying overhead to protect the area.  He admits that working in a facility so close to such a horrific event, made it difficult to evacuate in a timely manner.  At PRN, massive planning and rerouting of communication lines had to be put in place.  No emergency of this magnitude had ever effected the bureau, especially since Harborside was the designated back-up bureau for the entire company.  Schwab’s supervisor frantically tried to reroute lines to the Los Angeles bureau so Harborside could evacuate.  Because of the city lock-down, transportation services suddenly stopped.  PRN’s upper management who were headed in for work at 9AM were now being told to head back home; Schwab says this made it all the more difficult to effectively shut down a bureau and, yet, still keep normal operations flowing smoothly.

10:05 AM – Before leaving, Schwab headed to the rear offices on his floor so he could view the one television that was still operational.  As he got closer, he remembers passing several colleagues who were in tears. Wondering what now could have happened, Schwab watched as news reporters described the collapse of Tower Two.  Stunned, he says he was then escorted with the rest of his staff quickly into the lobby elevators and out of the building.  However, upon leaving, he says he remembers taking one last look back at Tower One still standing and thinking there was no way that both towers could fall.  It was too impossible to conceive.

Schwab was now in his car in front of the PATH rail station trying to make his way from the building, but was stuck behind a line of cars attempting to perform the same task.  He then remembers looking in his rear-view mirror at the black smoke easing out of the PATH station.  Moments later, he recounts people running eastbound past his car towards the river.  Thinking they were running from another attack of some sort, Schwab along with other drivers, jumped out of their cars – keys still in ignition – and ran with the others.  He quickly realized that they weren’t running from anything, rather, they were running to watch as Tower One crumbled to the ground.  As he caught the last few seconds of it falling, he remembers hearing people screaming in agony and feeling the ferocious rumble, which scientists say was the equivalent to a 2.3 earthquake.
Wanting to get home as fast as he could, Schwab got back into his car and began, what normally would have been a thirty-minute commute, a two-hour arduous ride home. 

In one surreal experience, Schwab describes as strangers on the streets of Jersey City approached his car and tapped on the glass asking for rides home or if his cell phone worked.  He also remembers seeing the ferry service next to his building converted into a makeshift triage, whereby assisting in the transport of those across the river who sought medical attention.  Passing the Holland Tunnel, Schwab recalls seeing hundreds of emergency vehicles waiting in line to get into the city.  The same could be said as he made his way past eastbound traffic on Route 3 and southbound traffic on Route 17, where the highways were littered with either stranded motorists or emergency vehicles responding from every town.

Although many people have a personal story about how 9-11 affected them, it was all too real for Schwab, who admits he witnessed a great deal more, but still feels uncomfortable discussing it even one year later.  However, he does add that he didn’t realize just how fortunate he was to be back safe with his family until a week after the event,  when he remembers accidentally pulling out the old VNS business card from his wallet.

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