this time next week will Mark 23 years since one of America's darkest days do you ever wonder why we only make a big deal about anniversaries that end in zeros and fives this year is the 23rd anniversary of September 11th and it will not be as big as the 20th back in 2021 and the 25th Mark coming up in 2026 but there are people who live among us who still live with the memories and scars and in many in many ways our nation was forever changed we are bringing you those stories of those Witnesses and survivors as we vow to never forget 911 we start with Marty singer he worked at a business next to the World Trade Center and he truly saw it all when did everything change did you hear the first plane so September 11th um started out as a normal day it was a beautiful day in New York City um at that time I lived in Brooklyn New York and I drive well I drove into work as I normally did and there is a road called the Brooklyn Queens Expressway which leads to the Brooklyn Bridge and I normal drive into uh into work except in this case as I made the turn off of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway to get onto the Brooklyn Bridge I noticed something unusual um I looked up I saw some black smoke coming out of the North Tower and I wasn't really sure what was going on I happened to be on a cell phone talking to a friend of mine and I said I think there might be a fire in the World Trade Center but I looked in my rearview mirror and there was emergency vehicles coming be behind me I mean it was just a stream of vehicles and again you know with New York City and that's not unusual especially you know when I looked up and I said oh there's just a fire there so I continued on the Brooklyn Bridge and the exit where I get off to get to my office is the Brooklyn Bridge exit um off of the BQ off of the Brooklyn Bridge onto Park row now Park Row is parallel to Broadway right by City Hall but as I came off of that exit by that time the first plane had already engulfed the building and I looked up and there was fire coming out of the building and again unbeknown to me not knowing what that was but there were thousands of people standing in the street my only objective was to get to work you know I was a senior manager for the company I had been with the company at that time for 25 years and also knowing the downtown area I knew how to navigate the streets and and that at that point my story really begin so I went through the back roads and um as I'm approaching Folton Street I will never forget this there was a woman running towards me screaming I had my windows open screaming terrorist attack terrorist attack and that didn't you know resonate with me that this is a terrorist attack and then I heard a loud noise and it was very unusual you know to hear a noise like that and then I looked up and I saw the second plane hit the South Tower and I was one block away and to me that was just surreal because did I you know I said to myself that what did I just see did I see a plane hit a building you know the towers and again my only objective was to get to work not knowing what was going on so again knowing the downtown streets I went and navigated the streets went up a block the wrong way just to get my car into the garage because again I needed to get to work so as I walk towards Park Row again there's even more people in the street and now both buildings are on fire and I'm a block away and I'm standing in this there's a center median and I'm looking up with everybody else and something seemed a little odd at first it looked like birds that were flying but in reality I saw people jumping out of the building I was a block away and it was just it was a horrific scene you know to see that happening there's one particular scene that uh that's forever etched I saw three people jumping out of the North Tower and I guess they had to be about 80 stories up and the only thing I could think you know what could what would compel somebody to do that is the fact that they the the the room must have been engulfed in flames so they took that route and it was just it was terrific to see that happening and just to fast forward a little um now the events where the towers start to come down um I see again standing in the center of median I could see the South Tower starting to crumble and when that happened I ran into one of uh one of the retail stores uh that my company operated and again there were hundreds of people inside there and the building collapsed you could feel you could feel the ground shaking and then there was a black cloud that engulfed the street and it was like midnight outside you could see out the window the smell is something I'll never forget and the amount of dust that was in the air was just permeating the entire store and everybody was covered and then at that point you know we waited I I lost track of time I don't know whether it was 15 minutes or it was an hour but once the dust settled I went outside to see what was what had happened but the North Tower was still on fire at that point and you know on the street the dust was I would say conservatively at least 6 in high and there was paper screwn all over and the air had just a you know I guess right now I would say it might have been the smell of jet fuel but again I had always been in the towers and I knew what the lobbies were like and I could only imagine what the upper floors were like the lobbies were all marble so marble dust steel just everything I couldn't imagine what was in the air if you don't mind me I I would I i' just like to ask you know does it feel like 23 years and and or does it feel like yesterday I can remember every second of that day from the time I got there until the time I left on Wednesday afternoon I was actually on site for 30 hours does so it just seem it seems like yesterday have have you gone back to the site at all or or can you just are are you not ready to even see that I've been actually I've been back to the site many times I I find that being there is cathartic and it really helped me to heal um I I do suffer from P PTSD but uh you know there's a lot more to the story that as we go on but I've actually been down I was down to Ground Zero when they just had the reflecting pools I went down the ramp and I was crying as I went down the ramp you know and went to the reflecting pools where the family was and uh it was just it was just an unbelievable scene that that's another scene that's etched in my mind Marty I I I do want to ask you one final question we have just a little bit of time but I do you what do you want America to know on the 23rd anniversary of this what is the message you would like for folks to hear the main message is never forget and also remember all of our First Responders strangers this anybody we we all came together and it's it's something that we need to do again today we need to come Together As Americans to support one another in whatever we do one of the things that I do also is that I do volunteer work on a on a daily basis and helping other people being able to utilize my knowledge my skills said and helping somebody else in need and that that I feel is really important and it's it's so heartwarming to be able to give back because after what I've been through four doctors said I shouldn't be doing this interview Mary thank you so much for joining us today God bless you thank you