Augusta man once employed at the World Trade Center recalls his personal 9/11 experience
The face on the creased identification card is faded, its features washed out by time and treatment. It is still sealed in the plastic security envelope it was returned in. On the back it indicates where it was found, the Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island, and the date it was bagged, February 3, 2002, five months after it was lost when the World Trade Center fell. For John Cashin, a now somewhat older reflection of the face on the card, it serves as a poignant reminder of what might have been.
On September 10, 2001, John Cashin stayed late at work, remaining at his desk until well after 8 p.m. It was a busy time of year for him but, also, he was polishing up his resume. He was looking to leave New York City and return home to Georgia. He had considered procrastination, leaving his tasks unfinished until the following day. Instead, he remained at the office, now quiet, on the 17th floor of the World Trade Center’s Tower 2.
The next morning, Cashin slept in – or tried to. His plan was to arrive at the office around 10 a.m. He was woken up by a phone call. And then another. And then another. When he turned on the television, he was confronted by the image of smoke streaming from the iconic twin towers. Soon, as he watched, a second plane crashed into Tower 2. It was a little after 9 a.m. Ordinarily, he would have been at work.
For John, who lived in the Bronx, an hour from the World Trade Center by train, it was an experience of being far away and close. Mere miles from the attack, he still ended up watching it on television. Hundreds of miles from his hometown of Augusta, he still found himself sleeping in those familiar surroundings within two days.
“I was definitely in shock,” he said, remembering that day 23 years later. “I remember my mother calling and telling me to come home. I don’t remember really even thinking about it. It’s just what I did.”
He returned home for two weeks, working his way through what seemed an unbelievable situation and, at one point, being celebrated by friends at Metro who were happy he had slept in. Although there were no casualties amongst his co-workers at the New York Institute of Finance – the most serious injury was a sprained ankle sustained heading down the stairs – his perception of permanence and the city he lived in were changed.
“Everywhere else I have ever worked is still there,” he said quietly. “And I always thought that one day I might take my kids there. Show them where I once worked. Maybe introduce them to someone who might still be there. But it’s gone. Everything about it is gone.”
When he returned to New York, his offices had moved to a space in midtown Manhattan on the Avenue of the Americas. It all felt odd and a little off he said.
“I remember the first morning I saw the woman who had always done the catering for us,” he said. “She was just standing out in front of this strange building with a tray full of the same terrible bagels and pastries. I didn’t even know her name, but I remember seeing her and thinking ‘Look at you. You are still alive.’”
In the years since September 11, Cashin has returned to Augusta, married, and had three children. His situation is very different. His perspective is very different. Still, he said, there remains, particularly on the anniversary, a sort of melancholic nostalgia associated with that time in his life.
“There is certainly less anxiety than there was 20 years ago,” he said. “But when it comes up, when people ask about it, you feel it. People ask where I worked when I lived in New York and there is always this moment of silence.”
Thinking back on his time in the World Trade Center, Cashin remembers marveling at the size and scope of the buildings, the relationships he formed there, and, oddly enough, a plant.
“I still feel guilty for missing it, but I had bought this plant, and it just flourished in those tall windows,” he said. “I really loved it. I planned on bringing it back to Georgia with me – strapped in the front seat of my Honda Accord. Of course, that never happened.”