The beauty of the internet is that you can so easily find so much. The challenge of the internet is to not spend all day (and all night) in front of the computer, clicking the links from one story to another to another.
The challenge is greater for me in the days that surround 9/11, because there are still so many survivor stories I've not read, so many non-survivors I've not learned about.
One of those is Bill Biggart, a professional photographer for a New York alternative picture agency. On 9/11, he was taking pictures of the devastation. At 10:15, he spoke with his wife via cellphone, and told her "I"m ok, honey. I'm with the firemen." Those were the last words she ever heard him speak.
Photodude learned about Bill Biggart in October of 2001, but didn't blog about him until Sept 10, 2002. It took him almost a year to get his thoughts on "paper," becuase he kept thinking "That could have been me. I would have done exactly what he did." Stick with the firemen, because they have the access that a photographer needs, and as trained first responders, they will get you out if it goes bad where you are.
When Biggart's body was pulled from the rubble, 4 days later, they identified him from his fingerprints. His cameras were destroyed, but the compact flash card was still intact in the one digital that he was carrying that day. Those pictures are available online, if you can bring yourself to look at them. They give a perspective I"ve not normally seen, in all the photos I've seen of that terrible day. The last photo in his camera was taken at 10:28:24. The second tower fell at 10:30, crushing Bill in the debris.
Bill Biggart, photographer, died doing his job, just as so many others did on that terrible day. Because he was doing his job, and because other photographers were touched by his death, we have yet another unique viewpoint on the last few minutes of the Trade Center's existence.
Go to Photodude, and read his piece in its entirety. Have tissues handy - you'll most likely need them.
I did.
hat tip to Winds of Change
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