I made my first visit to New York City after 9/11 in May 2003, after I had attended an academic conference on the Second World War at Princeton University, After I got into Manhatten, I took the subway to Ground Zero to see for myself and take some photographs. (An old film camera with Ektachrome)

On September 11, 2001 I was working at the CBC News. After seeing at breakfast what was happening in New York, I rushed to the Toronto Subway and arrived a little early for my regular shift which was 10 am to 6 pm. I checked in with the assignment desk and was told to go to my cubicle and monitor the CNN broadcast and to call the control room for our live feed or the assignment desk when I saw signficant news. The second tower fell at 10:28 am just I was getting ready. With CNN cameras live at the scene or close enough for tape to get their newsroom, I saw the giant dust clouds, the rumours of more planes in the air, Geroge Bush’s news conference, the Transportation Secretary saying all planes were being diverted to Canada. I saw Tower 7 collapse in both dust and black smoke. Later in the afternoon, there was the report from the firefighter’s union that hundreds of members were missing. That evening, CNN reported on missile attacks in Kabul (from the Northern Alliance not the US). (Another producer was monitoring the CNN affiliate raw video feed.) I went home exhausted about 10:30 pm that night and couldn’t sleep. I kept seeing the second plane hit the second tower as I was finishing my breakfast.