9/11 Tribute Story

[Randle Pat McMurphy]

As a preface, if you 9/11 is still an open wound for you, then I want you to know that reading this story will likely cause you some emotional distress. While I wont get graphic in this account, it is a story of life and death.

Please do not read if you dont think you are ready to face 9/11 on more personal level. While doing so may be therapuetic for some of us, it may cause others to relive feelings and emotions they would rather leave undisturbed.


Entry #1

On September 11th, 2001, life dealt over 2,000 American families a blow few of us can even begin to comprehend. At the same time, countless others where given a wake up call many of us never seem to receive. Fate can be so cruel, fate can be so kind.

On Monday the 10th, Joseph Maggitti boarded a plane in Baltimore. As an executive for Marsh and McLennan, Joe was on his way to a Tuesday morning, one day meeting at his company’s home office in lower Manhattan. A native of nearby Abingdon, Maryland, Joe was well known and respected family man in his community. After all, Joe was the midfielder on the 1975 Division II National Champion University of Baltimore soccer team.

Joseph Maggitti and David Kravette awoke early to a bright, clear blue New York sky. Both made the early morning commute into the World Trade Center Plaza in order to be on time for their Tuesday morning meetings. Joe made his way to the Marsh meeting room located on the 96th floor of World Trade Center #1 (the north tower). David was just above on the 101st floor . As the managing director for the internationally famous Cantor Fitzgerald bond trading company, his days started very early. On this day, he was scheduled to meet some clients at 8:00 am. His employer’s offices occupied floors 101-105 in the north tower and 659 of their employees had already arrived for work, some had been there for hours already..

Around 8:40am, Kravette was annoyed–he was listening to his wife complaining on the phone about the newspaper delivery guy throwing the paper in the driveway instead of taking it to the house in one ear while his secretary was telling him his 8:00am appointment group was calling from downstairs. Seems that one member of the party had forgotten to bring a picture ID even though David had gone out of his way to tell them to do so, and, to make things worse they were over 40 minutes late... So now Kravette would have to make the 1/4 mile trek to the lobby below to escort them in. He didnt want to make his heavily pregnant assistant make the trip in her uncomfortable state.

Kravette had not even taken 5 steps out of the elevator when he heard thunderous crash and the sound of elevator cars free falling. As he turned to look over his shoulder, a huge fireball blew out of an elevator shaft. He remembers freezing while those around him dove to the ground. Just as it was about to consume him, the fireball collapsed back into itself.

At 8:46 am, the nose of American Airlines Flight 11 ripped into the 95th and 96th floors of the Tower 1. Joseph Maggitti and most of the 294 fellow Marsh and McLennan employees who died that day were gone in the blink of an eye. For the 658 Cantor employees on floors 101-105, for the 73 employees of Windows on the World on 106 & 107, and for anyone one else above the impact zone the die had been cast. 1355 people had no intact escape routes to the ground and the doors to the roof were locked.

Pam Maggitti, Joe’s wife, turned on the tv when she heard the news. All she could think of was something Joe told her after his previous meeting at WTC #1 a couple of years back: “Honey, I can see the planes flying beneath me.” Before he left the day before, Joe had reminded Pam about their upcoming 25th wedding anniversary on December 4th, 2001. He surprised her with 2 tickets he had purchased for a trip to Paradise Island, their honeymoon location. A very religious family, Pam said she knew in her heart Joe was gone the minute she turned on the news-- Flight 11 hit the north tower at 400+ mph on the floor her husband was on. Joe left behind a 14 year old daughter and a 22 year old son. They all say Joe is waiting for them in Paradise.

Not a day goes by without David Kravette asking why. Why was he given another chance when his 658 friends and colleagues were not? Why didnt he send his assistant to the lobby like he had always done before? Why...why...why? In the days and months immediately following Tuesday the 11th, David spent countless hours doing the only thing he knew how to do. He immersed himself in caring for the loved ones left behind in the Cantor family. Funeral after funeral, memorial service after memorial service, David remembers the calendar for Cantor’s services alone was over 50 pages long.

Those Cantor employees who were not at work that day and their sole survivor, David Kravette, also made a commitment to departed friends and their surviving families. With borrowed equipment and office space, they would be ready to resume business when the NYSE reopened. And open they did. Since that day, Cantor has contributed 10% of their profits to directly to the over 800 families and over 950 children directly affected by 9/11. Cantor has given over $175 million to their deceased employee’s families.

Joseph Maggitti kissed his wife goodbye on September 10th with the expectation he would be home the next day. Afterall, Joe would only be in New York one day...he never returned. David Kravette grudgingly went to meet his late clients and stepped out of the last elevator to make it to the lobby from the 101st floor just seconds before Flight 11 impacted the North Tower. By doing so, he was the 1 of 659 from his firm given another chance in life.

Please take the time to remember these men and their families in your thoughts and prayers.


As a closing note, I chose the Joe’s story because he is my closest personal connection to 9/11. Some of Joe’s closest friends live in my town. As we were doing fund raising in our area for the surviving members of the victims families, those friends introduced me to Pam Maggitti. I am pleased to say the family has gotten through their ordeal very well. The line of cars attempting to get to the funeral home where Joe’s memorial service was held was hundreds of cars long. Fortunately, Joe planned well and left his family in a position where they would be taken care of. Then again, his friends expected nothing less of him.

[secondbase]

one of the many, many , sad, but touching stories and twists of fates . I am watching the procedings this morning and, once again, tears are flowing.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by secondbase

one of the many, many , sad, but touching stories and twists of fates . I am watching the procedings this morning and, once again, tears are flowing.

agreed. I lost a client that day as well as a guy who I went to school with as a kid. So many people lost so much more. The country changed that day---forever.

G_d Bless America.