CA, US & World
9/11 Survivor Recalls Escaping World Trade Center Marriott
For Patrick Anderson, September 11, 2001, began as a beautiful morning in New York City and quickly became a fight to survive.
Anderson, an economist from East Lansing, Michigan, was in New York with a coworker for a business economics conference. At the time, his company, Anderson Economic Group, was still getting started.
He was staying at the Marriott World Trade Center, the hotel located between the Twin Towers.
Anderson says he had been on the top floor of World Trade Center 3 until about 8:20 that morning. He returned to his fifth-floor hotel room shortly before the first plane struck.
“At 8:47, I was in my room on the fifth floor when the first plane hit,” Anderson recalled. “I felt it, I heard it.”
Looking outside, Anderson immediately realized something catastrophic had happened.
The hotel was later destroyed when the World Trade Center towers collapsed.
Anderson says he heard instructions to stay in his room but began experiencing a growing sense that he needed to leave.
“I got the feeling that terrible things, not bad things, terrible things were happening,” he said.
Anderson described a moment when he felt what he interpreted as a touch on his shoulder, which he viewed as a sign that he needed to get out.
When he finally had an opportunity to escape, Anderson ran south with other people.
Then the second plane flew overhead and struck the other tower.
“That was a point for me like it was for, you know, millions of other Americans where you realized what was happening,” Anderson said.
Twenty-five years later, Anderson has turned his experience into a commitment to remembrance. He serves as a trustee with the Michigan Remembers Fund, an organization focused on preserving the memory of September 11 for future generations.
Anderson says survivors have a responsibility to share firsthand accounts with people who were not alive or old enough to remember the attacks.
“Those of us that survived, I think, have a certain duty to remember those that didn't,” Anderson said.
He also believes firsthand accounts can help ensure the historical record of September 11 remains grounded in the experiences of those who were there.
For Anderson, remembering the nearly 3,000 people killed that day is not simply about looking back. It is about ensuring future generations understand what happened and why it remains significant a quarter-century later.
Explore: NBCPalmSprings.com, where we are connecting the Valley.
By: CNN Newsource
September 11, 2026
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