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Remembering 9/11 with Wes Wong
On Thursday at Northview High School, Wes Wong gave an insight into his first-hand experiences at ground zero on 9/11.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear from decorated FBI agent Wes Wong, a man with a lifetime of stories and impeccable credentials, at Thursday night's 9/11 remembrance presentation at Northview High School.
Now retired, Wong was the highest-ranking member of the FBI at ground zero and gave an insight into his experiences that morning. Wong worked tirelessly at ground zero that day and the weeks after, directing and participating in the rescue and recovery.
The presentation began with Wong showing photos from the infamous day, saying it started as a beautiful autumn morning that was drastically altered in moments.
When he first heard of a plane hitting the World Trade Center, he believed it to be an accident.
"There's no clouds, there's no fog. There's no way a pilot couldn't see the World Trade Center," said Wong. "What a poor soul; he must have had a mechanical failure."
Being north of the towers, Wong responded to the scene.
"A fireman asked who I was with, and I told them; he said you should go into the lobby in the North Tower; they're setting up a command center. As I walked away, he said something that I couldn't comprehend. He said watch out for the falling bodies."
On his way to the lobby, the same fireman yells, "Run, here comes one!"
Wong freezes, watching a jumping man falling hundreds of stories down and coming straight for him.
"I looked up into that beautiful blue sky; I saw a fellow. Dark pants, a white shirt, dark hair, and he's just spread eagle, and he's coming out of the sky."
Wong jumps into the lobby through a broken window; narrowly, he avoids a fate that many first responders perished that day. Wong says the memories are just as vivid as 23 years ago.
"A lot of us there that day were asked what was the most trauma. Most people asking that question expect us to say it was the towers collapsing. I try not to talk for anyone else; I try to talk about how I feel, but I feel pretty confident that I speak for most if not all, of us that were there. The most trauma for us were the jumpers."
Wong says he initially wanted to stay out of the way and leave it to the professionals, but that quickly changed when the second plane was flown into the South Tower.
"Well, obviously, my role changes at this point from, hey, I don't want to get in anybody's way. I'm not an expert at fire and rescue. Now everybody turns to me to say what's going on."
Wong admits he was terrified and, although usually optimistic, says there was a time when he and the group he was with all believed they wouldn't get out.
"When we woke up on this beautiful early fall day, we didn't think this was the way our lives were going to end," detailed Wong.
Wong and the group of first responders find the beloved Chaplain of the FDNY, Father Mychal Judge, listed as the first victim of 9/11, as they try to find an exit from the building.
"I told the (fire) chief, I think we gotta go. I think the building is swaying, and we can't stay any longer."
Miraculously, the group finds an exit and carries Father Judge out of the tower. However, when the group was safely out of the building, they were ready to go back in, despite specific orders not to.
"When you do this job, it's a calling and there just wasn't any doubt that we were just going to go back in and help people."
Reluctantly, the group obeyed orders, and less than five minutes later, the North Tower collapsed.
Wong retired from the FBI in 2006 and is currently a Senior Advisor to the Special Operations Command. He remains involved with his former organization as a guest speaker at the FBI Academy and an adjunct counter-terrorism professor at the Air Force Special Operations School.
Prior to the presentation, the American Legion Post 2 presented colors, followed by Northview students Emma Reinohel singing God Bless America and Mia Tribbling singing The Star-Spangled Banner.
The presentation was free and brought to the public by the Eliza Rizley Stacey Chapter NSDAR, VFW Post 1127, and American Legion Post 2 ahead of the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall and the Same Gave All Moving Tribute arrival in October.
Their mission in hosting the event and the upcoming arrival of the walls is for "the purpose of healing, education and renewed patriotism for the country."
The walls will be open to the public for free from October 17-20.