Sep 11, 2006 8:42 am US/Eastern
Local 9/11 Survivor Recounts Tragic Day
PENNSAUKEN (CBS 3) ―
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Ed Nancarro was reunited with his wife after escaping the World Trade Center on September 11.
CBS
Five years ago, CBS 3 cameras were there as one local man was reunited with his wife after surviving the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Ed Nancarro, 69, said that tragic day will forever be etched in his mind.
Nancarro said he was on the 96th floor of the south tower when the north tower was struck by the first plane.
"In the corner of my eyes, behind me, I had my back to the window, and I saw this flame and fire coming out of the north tower," he said.
Nancarro was evacuating the tower when the second plane hit. Even though he still had 33 floors, he was able to escape before the tower collapsed.
"I never looked up, I just kept on going," he said.
After an all day journey on a ferry, a limo and a train, Nancarro ended up at the Philadelphia bus terminal, trying to find a way home to his wife in Pennsauken. That was when he spotted an Eyewitness News van.
Safely back in the arms of his wife Adele, Nancarro said he did not immediately grasp the magnitude of the day.
"The thing that bothered me the most for the first couple of days, including the day I got home, was, 'Why did I get out and other people didn't,'" he said.
Nancarro was placed on permanent disability after 9/11, which allowed him to be with his wife after she got seriously ill. She passed away in 2003.
"In a sense, it was a blessing to me, 9/11, because I was home here with my wife for two and a half years, to have some time with her," he said. "I miss my wife more than anything else, but 9/11 is still fresh in my mind. I don't think it will ever leave my mind."
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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