Remembering 9/11: Arizona survivor continues to tell his story so others won't forget
PHOENIX - It's been 20 years since thousands lost their lives on September 11, 2001 and the nation was forever changed.
A Phoenix man was there and he was one of the few that made it out of the World Trade Center to safety. He vividly remembers what happened on that day. At the time, he was attending a work training program at the World Trade Center.
He says since coming so close to death, his outlook on life has completely changed.
It's a nightmare that's been haunting Valley native Danny Jacobson for the last 20 years. He remembers that day as if it were yesterday. It was only his second day of training in New York City, working in the south building of the World Trade Center on the 61st floor.
"One of our proctors just said, let's go, we've been hit, so I just dove into the emergency exit. Here I am, 61 flights of stairs up in the air and we're walking down. You're all just working together and you're counting down.. you could hear people counting below you.. you're counting to floor 47, 46, 45."
MORE: Stories related to the terror attacks of September 11, 2001
But at one point, the line stopped. Grappling onto the hand rail, feeling the ground rumbling below him, the building swaying to the left, Danny says all he could think to do was pray.
"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done.. and right then and there, I just felt like arms cradling me, pulling me in. It was at that moment I thought, hey, I'm not gonna die right now. I'm gonna keep going."
After running out of the building, he stopped miles away to look back and see what remained.
"I see two columns. One of them is a building still on fire, the other is just smoke," he said.
Danny says from that day forward, his life was forever changed. While the memories are still painful, his goal moving forward is to continue telling his story so people can better understand and that they'll never forget.
"You know, I'm talking to my kids who weren't even there, not even alive.. and for us to keep that memory, to keep that history.. that way they are not just hearing about it on TV, they can live it through my words, through my story."
Danny says he continues to speak to students, many of them are too young to remember 9/11.
National Unity Flag, created in the aftermath of 9/11, will be displayed in Scottsdale
The National Unity Flag contains the flags of all 50 states, in addition to the names of those who died during the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001.
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