ATHENS, Ga. — As the nation marks 25 years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a Georgia man who survived the collapse of the World Trade Center is sharing his story to ensure a new generation never forgets.
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For many college students today, Sept. 11, 2001, is a chapter in a history book. For Greg Trevor, it remains a vivid memory.
Trevor, now a spokesperson for the University of Georgia, was working for the Port Authority on the 68th floor of the World Trade Center’s North Tower when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the building.
“That morning was a very clear morning,” Trevor said. “I pray for rain every year on 9-11.”
Trevor said he had just stood up from his desk when he heard a loud noise and felt the tower shake.
“I stood up to stretch my back. And all of a sudden I heard this noise and then I felt this shudder and it rocked the tower,” he recalled.
He remembers seeing flames and glass falling from above.
“And then nothing but silence, except for car alarms,” Trevor said.
Alongside coworkers, Trevor began the long descent down more than 60 flights of stairs. Nearly an hour into their escape, while they were near the fifth floor, the South Tower collapsed.
“I remember feeling a rumbling and I got thrown from one side of the stairwell to the other,” he said. “I looked up, dust and smoke fell into my face.”
The lights went out, water poured down the walls, and the stairwell filled with uncertainty.
“It felt like we were wading through a dark, dirty river at night in the middle of a forest fire,” Trevor said.
The collapse of the South Tower jammed their exit shut, forcing survivors to search for another way out. During those moments, Trevor said his thoughts turned to his family.
“I said, ‘Lord, please let me see my family again,’” he said. “I made mental pictures of my wife and our two sons. And if I die, they will be the last thing on my mind.”
About an hour after leaving his desk, Trevor finally reached daylight. At the exit, he noticed a first responder looking toward the sky.
“He’d say, ‘OK, you can go,’ and we had no idea what that meant at the time,” Trevor said. “There were people jumping.”
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Trevor escaped the tower, but the danger was not over.
Just 11 minutes later, the North Tower began to collapse.
“I catch the eye of a New York City police officer and he just yells at us, ‘Run for your lives,’” Trevor said.
He and others sprinted through the streets as a massive cloud of smoke and debris raced behind them.
When they finally stopped and turned around, Trevor said the sight was unforgettable.
“That was one of the most disorienting experiences of my life, to turn around and look and see this big hole in the sky,” he said.
Trevor lost 83 coworkers in the attacks. More than half of them, he said, were people he knew personally.
Among them was Port Authority Police Capt. Kathy Mazza, who was helping a disabled woman reach safety when the North Tower collapsed.
“To remember that the heroes who passed that day helped other people like me survive — their deaths were not in vain,” Trevor said.
Twenty-five years later, Trevor continues to honor those who never made it out. As one of the survivors, he believes it is his responsibility to keep their stories alive, especially for students who were not yet born when the attacks happened.
“Every day is a gift,” Trevor said. “Every breath is a blessing.”
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