9 / 11 , from Page 1 crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington , Va .
The South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a . m . after burning for approximately 56 minutes .
A fourth flight — United Airlines Flight 93 — crashed in a field near Shanksville , Pa . at 10:03 a . m . The North Tower collapsed at 10:28 a . m ., after burning for approximately 102 minutes . At 5:20
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p . m ., 7 World Trade Center began to collapse , and by 5:21 p . m . it was completely destroyed .
The attacks resulted in 2,977 fatalities .
Hammonton resident Elsie Bakley was in New York City that morning
“ In some ways , it seems like yesterday . It ’ s hard to believe it ’ s been 20 years ,” Bakley told The Gazette .
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Bakley had traveled from Hammonton to New York City the night prior and stayed the night at the Millenium Hilton , located across from the World Trade Center and which suffered extensive damage as a result of the attack .
“ I never go to New York . Our company had been sold , and the company that I worked for had a lot of centers in different cities all around the United States . We were all going there for a two-day training session ,” Bakley said .
As part of the training session , Bakley and her cohorts were scheduled to have cocktails at 5 p . m . on September 11 at Windows on the World , the restaurant on the North Tower ’ s 106th and 107th floors .
“ My son Dan was driving me to the train station . When we were driving there , he pointed out the Twin Towers , because you could
Wednesday , September 15 , 2021 • The Hammonton Gazette • Page 3
Memories of the attacks of September 11 , 2001
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On the morning of September 11 , Bakley and the others had a continental breakfast at 8 a . m . and began the training at 8:30 a . m .
“ At 8:46 a . m ., the first tower was hit , and there was an announcement that came over the loudspeaker that just said that something had occurred , but there were no details . It didn ’ t say a plane hit or anything ; it just said ‘ something .’ At the time , the trainer said , ‘ If you want to go call your families , because if it turns out it ’ s on the news they ’ ll be concerned , and you can tell them that you ’ re fine .’ Some people called their families ; some didn ’ t . I called ,” Bakley said , noting that was the last time she was able to communicate with her family until close to 9:30 p . m . that evening .
Bakley said that the team eventually made its way outside , where “ the trainer was so concerned about the training .”
“ She said , ‘ If we can ’ t go back in there , we have to find someplace else to get this done .’ We ’ re all standing around , and she wanted to keep us together ; I guess she felt responsible for us ... Some of us were inching our way to the corner . I remember looking around the corner , and then the horror to see this whole building aflame . That ’ s when it struck how serious it really was , but we still didn ’ t know what was going on . Then , when the second plane hit , that ’ s when the trainer said we had to go ,” Bakley said .
Bakley said that the group walked through the city to Central Park .
“ There was a hotel there and she tried to get us in , and of course they weren ’ t letting anybody in . We sat there on the steps , and it was a beautiful , beautiful day with a clear blue sky — and there was all this horror going on around us ,” Bakley said .
The company that had arranged the training , Bakley said , had arranged for a bus to transport the group out of New York City .
“ We had to start walking to where the bus was , and it was around 5 p . m . We were going across the 59th Street Bridge , which is a Simon and Garfunkel song . I always liked Simon and Garfunkel , so I knew that song , and I thought , ‘ Oh my God , this is the 59th Street Bridge .’ We looked over where the towers were — by then , they were both gone — and it was just the plumes of smoke and debris , and I thought , ‘ That ’ s where we were supposed to be .’ We would have been at the top of
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