9/11 survivor brings connection to Clover students (+video)

Sept. 11, 2001, grew personal for 800 Clover High School students as they heard about that day from a Tower 2 survivor.

“We must expect the unexpected,” said Joe Dittmar, who was on the 105th floor of the World Trade Center South Tower attending a insurance business meeting the morning of that day.

Dittmar, who shared his story with the students who were age 4 or younger at the time of the terrorist attacks that cost 2,977 victim’s lives, shared a lesson on remembering and consequences of decision-making.

“Three thousand people made a single decision to go to work that day,” said Dittmar, now living in Chapel Hill, N.C. “They need to be continued to be heard. The only way we learn is through lessons from mistakes and to remember them.”

Air Force JROTC leader Maj. Brian Batson set up the talk Sept. 16 for his cadets, studying a unit on 9/11.

“The lens on their view of 9/11 is different. They learn about it in history class,” he said, adding he’s now having students who were born that year. “They don’t remember what it was like before 9/11. These kids need to remember.”

Batson decided to invite other teachers to bring their students. About 49 classes came.

“They need to be conscious of culture and what happened on 9/11 is part of our culture,” said early childhood education teacher Patricia Egan. She said the effects will continue into the future, and educators need to be prepared.

Like other teachers heard talking before the assembly, Egan knows where she was that morning. She was at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, a graduate student in the preschool. Those preschoolers are now high school students.

“It was difficult that we couldn’t appear upset,” she said about watching the event unfold on television out of the children’s view.

In the tower

Dittmar, then 44, remembers exactly where he was that day.

“I had a connection I would never wish on anyone,” he said.

He was on the highest occupied floor of Tower 2 for an 8:30 a.m. meeting. He said there could be as many as 25,000 people in each of those buildings at any moment.

“Each of those buildings had their own zip code,” he said.

At 8:48 a.m., the lights flickered. That’s when American Airlines Boeing 767 crashed into Tower 1. But he didn’t know it. Nor did the 53 other people in the business meeting with him.

“Each and everyone of you had a greater sense of what was going on outside and inside those buildings than us who were right there. We had no clue,” he said.

A volunteer firefighter came in the room and told them there was an explosion in the North Tower, and they needed to evacuate the building.

“We didn’t want to leave,” he said. “We said, ‘We’ll be fine.’”

They grumbled learning they’d have to walk down the 105 flights of stairs. They all reached for the cellphones. No service.

At the 90th floor, Dittmar exited a propped door and saw the North Tower building with huge, gaping black holes on the sides and smokes and flames licking up the sides to the roof level.

“I remember seeing being able to through that smoke and fire and seeing the fuselage lodged in the building and thinking, how did the pilot not see the building. The fact is he did,” he said. “Seeing furniture, paper, people, being pulled from the building against their will was a gruesome, awesome sight.”

Dittmar just wanted to go home. He said people on the floor were frozen. He turned quickly to leave.

When an announcement said the incident had been contained and that it was safe to return, he didn’t follow friends back to the elevator on the 78th floor but instead continued to the stairs. He said between the 72nd and 75th floor, United Airlines Flight 175 struck Tower 2 at the 78th floor, causing “the steps undulate like the ocean.” The people in the stairwell went into stunned silence.

“Regular folks like you and me started helping coaching other people down the steps,” Dittmar said.

He said just as the band played when the Titanic sank, an 18th floor security guard sang “God Bless America.”

Eight minutes after Dittmar made it out, the tower fell. He is one of seven survivors from that insurance executives meeting.

Connecting Clover

For Clover students, living 655 miles away from the fear, horror and prevailing human spirit Dittmar shared, the tremors of 9/11 were felt at home.

Lainey Galicia, 16, a senior JROTC cadet, teared up several times through Dittmar’s talk. Two of her uncles were in the towers and survived. A family friend did not, and his body was never recovered. She said she’s heard the stories, including her uncle saving people on the elevator, and other people’s bravery.

“They saw horrific things,” she said.

But surviving and striving since is another matter. One uncle, Galicia said, wouldn’t talk about it. He died of leukemia, likely, she said, from effects of that day. Her great-uncle now has knee and back problems, she said, again the result of strains from that day.

“We must never forget,” she said.

For Clover High students, hearing about Dittmar’s journey down the 105 flights and the story of the people he met along the way and their decisions, it’s a history lesson brought to life.

“I was interested to see how he would relate to students and he did by talking about decisions,” said senior Boston Henderson, 17, referring to a man on the 90th floor who stopped to use the restroom before descending, costing him his life. “It’s not just an event that happened, but a life experience we can relate to now.”

Junior Austin Case, 16, who is planning to go into the military after graduation, connected to the selfless action of firefighters, police, emergency responders and everyday people as well as the swell of patriotic pride.

“The bravery of them going into the building and to see everyone help others,” he said,” it takes a lot of courage.”

Dittmar said it comes down to three things he believes kept him alive that day: Luck, good decisions and faith. Since then, he said, his life priorities have changed. He’s also part of a survivors group, he says, continues to grow.

“I tell you this story today so you can carry it forward,” Dittmar said. “We need you, all of you, to do a better job, to live better, to love better.”

“Always remember and never, never forget,” he ended, to cheers and a standing ovation.

This story was originally published September 18, 2015 at 12:29 PM with the headline "9/11 survivor brings connection to Clover students (+video)."