Sept. 11, 2001<\/a>, terrorist attacks.<\/p>\nGreene looks at the photograph every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes for a few seconds, sometimes for longer,\u201d Greene said. \u201cAnd it centers. It centers me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Twenty-five years after narrowly escaping the World Trade Center, Greene says remembering those who did not make it out \u2014 and making sure others understand what happened that day \u2014 remains part of his life.<\/p>\n
Greene, a Bronx native, was working as an assistant director of aviation for the Port Authority on Sept. 11, 2001. His office was on the 65th floor of the World Trade Center\u2019s North Tower.<\/p>\n
He remembers looking out his office window that morning and noticing how clear the sky was.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was thinking about what a beautiful day it was just getting started,\u201d Greene said.<\/p>\n
Then, at 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower.<\/p>\n
The impact shook the building, and Greene and his colleagues headed for the stairs. As they descended, he remembers smelling smoke and jet fuel and seeing people helping others make their way down.<\/p>\n
Greene eventually reached the mezzanine level, just above street level. By then, he said, people had begun jumping from the floors above.<\/p>\n
Rather than immediately leaving the building, Greene stayed behind to help police and firefighters manage the flow of people evacuating as emergency crews headed upstairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was instinct,\u201d Greene said. \u201cI worked there all those years.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the time, Greene said he did not know a second plane had struck the South Tower.<\/p>\n
As Greene continued helping, he heard what he described as a \u201cthunderous roar.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked over his shoulder and saw the South Tower collapsing.<\/p>\n
The force blew him off his feet. Greene said debris from the South Tower and portions of the North Tower\u2019s mezzanine ceiling came down around him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was crawling, trying to breathe, hoping that it wasn\u2019t my last breath,\u201d Greene recalled.<\/p>\n
Through the debris, Greene heard a firefighter calling out and telling anyone who could hear his voice to crawl toward him.<\/p>\n
Greene followed the voice and eventually made it outside. His years working in the World Trade Center helped him remember a stairwell that led from the plaza to street level.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got down to the street, the North Tower collapsed,\u201d Greene said. \u201cSo I beat it by maybe five minutes, if at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Greene was eventually taken to a hospital in Jersey City. He said it was not until later that evening that someone explained the full magnitude of what had happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe towers are gone,\u201d Greene remembers being told.<\/p>\n
Greene said the Port Authority lost 75 employees and nine contractors that day.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were family,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were with us every day. They were part of our team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Greene later left New York and eventually moved to Tampa in 2019. But reminders of Sept. 11 remain throughout his home.<\/p>\n
Along with the photograph of his colleagues, Greene keeps photographs of the World Trade Center, an FDNY hat and a replica of the towers in a corner of his den.<\/p>\n
\u201cA day doesn\u2019t go by when I\u2019m at home and I just take a look,\u201d Greene said. \u201cIt\u2019s somber, but it tells a story.\u201d<\/p>\n
Greene believes he has a responsibility to continue telling that story.<\/p>\n
\u201cI share it because I believe it\u2019s important for people to understand what happened,\u201d Greene said. \u201cI think it\u2019s important for people not to forget what happened, and I\u2019m here to tell it.\u201d<\/p>\n
His story, however, is not only about what he survived. Greene also hopes people take away a message about what can happen after experiencing tragedy.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can come through something that is absolutely horrific, survive it, work your way through it, and then maybe life can be good again,\u201d Greene said.<\/p>\n
Each Sept. 11 in Tampa, Greene has his own quiet tradition. He walks the Tampa Riverwalk alone and stops at times corresponding with significant moments from the attacks.<\/p>\n
During those stops, Greene said he gives thanks for still being alive and having another opportunity to get out of bed and walk \u2014 something thousands of people who died that day never had the chance to do again.<\/p>\n
Twenty-five years later, the faces on the wall of Greene\u2019s Tampa apartment ensure the people he lost remain part of his everyday life.<\/p>\n
For Greene, remembering them also means making sure their story continues to be told.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ken Greene, a 9\/11 survivor, honors lost colleagues by sharing their story 25 years later. TAMPA, Fla. \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-396619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}