On this page we have included some of the "Survivor Stories", which we hope that you will find of interest, but also bear tribute in a very real way to the events of September 11th 2001.

click here to play "Stars and Stripes Forever"

THE STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER!

Let martial note in triumph float
And liberty extend its mighty hand.
A flag appears 'mid thunderous cheers,
The banner of the Western land.
The emblem of the brave and true
Its folds protect no tyrant crew;
The red and white and starry blue
Is freedom's shield and hope.
Other nations may deem their flags the best
And cheer them with fervid elation
But the flag of the North and South and West
Is the flag of flags, the flag of Freedom's nation.

Hurrah for the flag of the free!
May it wave as our standard forever,
The gem of the land and the sea,
The banner of the right.
Let despots remember the day
When our fathers with mighty endeavor
Proclaimed as they marched to the fray
That by their might and by their right
It waves forever!

Let eagle shriek from lofty peak
The never-ending watchword of our land.
Let summer breeze waft through the trees
The echo of the chorus grand.
Sing out for liberty and light,
Sing out for freedom and the right.
Sing out for Union and its might,
O patriotic sons.

Hurrah for the flag of the free.
May it wave as our standard forever,
The gem of the land and the sea,
The banner of the right.
Let despots remember the day
When our fathers with might endeavor
Proclaimed as they marched to the fray,
That by their might and by their right
It waves forever!

Dear Family and Friends,

While I hope to be able to speak to each of you personally over the next few days, I wanted to immediately send my thanks for your good wishes, thoughts and prayers for me during yesterday's unbelievable event.

As I told my husband, I truly never expected to add "survival of a terrorist attack" to my resume.

As you are all aware my company was close to ground zero. When the plane struck the building it felt exactly like an earthquake. The only advanced sound was a large windful swoosh. At first we had no idea if it was a bomb or the building had been struck.

The mayor was correct when he talks about the toughness of New Yorkers. It was amazing how calm, supportive and
helpful everyone was throughout the day.

Here's my personal account of the day.

Our personnel immediately headed for the stairs as smoke began filtering quickly down. One wall outside our
company had been pushed in so far it was impassable. The only stairway open got us only as far as the 77th floor when we came up against a door that was jammed shut. In the WTC stairways down are not a straight shot. At various
levels you have to cross hallways and through additional doorways to continue.

We were invited into another company's offices on that floor while their people sought out an alternative route.

We went into a conference room and turned on the TV. We learned our building had been struck by a plane but it
was not announced at this point that it was a terrorist attack. As we watched TV the building shook again and what we thought was debris from our own building began striking the windows of the conference room so we immediately left.

We know now that this was building number two being hit
by the second airplane.

Within 5-10 minutes, someone had found another way out and we began our trek down the stairs. We had to walk through a hallway at this point where the ceiling was being hosed down by an employee from the company we had taken
refuge in.

This is what I mean by the spirit of New Yorkers. It is because of their initiative that we got out. No one from the building security or city rescue had been able to get to us at this point as the only way up or down was stairwells. All the elevators had been immediately knocked out by the flames and smoke shooting down the shafts from the explosion of the plane's fuel on impact.

The calm of the people around us as we walked down was amazing. People who had been hurt or were having a problem getting down were being assisted at every point. When congestion slowed us to a stop no one shoved or made a
scene we respectfully waited until we could move again.

People passed information up and down the line to try and keep people informed about what was happening and those with blackberries sent as many emails as they could
for folks around them as none of our cell phones worked.

We finally got out of the smoke when we hit the 35th floor. It felt great to breathe fresh air and lifted everyone's spirits. We also started running into building personnel.

Around the 27th floor we ran into firefighters
climbing up. I can't imagine what it must have been like to walk up that many flights with all the gear they had. They looked so winded at that point. I doubt that they made it out before the building collapsed and my
prayers and thoughts are with them and their families now.

By the 7th floor, the stairwells were flooding with water from what we assumed were the firefighting efforts. We were feeling buoyant when we hit 3 and thought we're almost out of here. It had taken us a little over an hour to get this far.

But the adventure it seems was far from over. At that
point, as we learned later, building 2 collapsed and hit our building. Once again it felt like a bomb had gone off as the building shook again and there was this tremendous whoosh of air that almost knocked us off our feet. At
that point the lights went out. There was so much debris that our way out was blocked.

I remember thinking there is no way I walked down 77 flights to die 3 floors from safety. We climbed back up to 4 where a firefighter punched a hole in the wall to get us out. We made a human chain hanging on to the person in front and the person in back of us as we made our way out
into the 4th floor rotunda in the dark.

We got our first glimpse of what looked like a war zone.
We walked through ankle deep dust and out through a doorway to the outside plaza in front of the US Customs building. As we were led to a stairwell to street level we climbed over girders and moved around office furniture and
layers of office papers, twisted metal, broken glass and other debris. By now we were wet and covered in this ash. People all looked like their hair had turned pre-maturely gray. We were told to walk quickly up the street.

Within minutes (we now know it was no more than 4)we heard a rumble, turned to see our tower begin to collapse and a large cloud of black moving up the street. We ran.

We spent the better part of the rest of the day in someone's apartment on 10th street calling to track down the rest of our co-workers. We have now accounted for all but 3 It is by God's miracle alone that I am convinced I got out. It is your prayers that helped make that happen. I am grateful to be alive and grateful for my family and friends. Amazingly, I never felt afraid and I believe that was because I truly felt God's hand upon me. It was not my
time and I'm sure he heard all your prayers.

I'm not sure what is next. But for now smelling the flowers is just fine with me.
Love

SURVIVING THE 81ST FLOOR OF WORLD TRADE TOWER TWO

Tuesday, September 11,2001, began like any other day for Bethel Assembly of God deacon and Sunday school superintendent Stanley Praimnath of Elmont, Long Island.

He got up early, took a shower, prayed, got ready and headed for work. The drive was uneventful.
The train ride was the same. Yet, this day he would see the hand of God spare his life.

"For some particular reason, I gave the Lord a little extra of myself that morning [during prayer]," Stanley said. "I said, 'Lord, cover me and all my loved ones under your precious blood.' And even though I said that and
believed it, I said it over and over and over."

When Stanley arrived at World Trade Center Tower Two, he took the elevator up to his office on the 81st floor. "I work for the Fuji Bank Limited," he said. "I'm an assistant vice president in the Loans Operations Department.

The company is located on the 79th through 82nd floors."
Stanley greeted Delise, a young lady who had arrived before him. After talking briefly, he headed over to his desk and picked up his phone to retrieve his messages.

"As I'm standing there retrieving my messages, I'm looking out at the next building, One World Trade, and I saw fire falling through from the roof," Stanley said. "Now, this entire building is surrounded by glass, and you can stand up and from there you can see all the buildings, planes and
everything flying at the same altitude."

As Stanley saw "fire balls" coming down, his first reaction was to think of his boss who works in that building. He decided to try to call him to see if he was okay. "I'm dialing his number, and getting no response.

So, I say to Delise, the temp, 'Go, go, go--let's get out."
Delise and Stanley got on the elevator and went down to the 78th floor.

Some other people were there. The company's president, the CEO, the human resources director and two other gentlemen joined the group and headed down to the concourse level of Two World Trade Center. If they had continued on
and exited the building, all of their lives would have been spared.

As it was, that's not the way it happened.

"As soon as we reached the concourse level, the security guard stopped us and said, 'Where are you going?'"
Stanley explained about seeing the fire in Tower One. According to Stanley, the guard said, "Oh, that was just an accident. Two World Trade is secured.
Go back to your office."

That turned out to be fatal advice--aside from Stanley, Delise was the only one of that group to survive.

"We were joking, and I told [Human Resources Director] Brian Thompson, 'This is a good time to think of relocating this building--it's not safe anymore."

Stanley headed back to his office, but before he got there, he told Delise,that with the events of the day, she should go home and relax.

Thompson went to the 82nd floor, the president and CEO went to the 79th floor and Stanley got out on the 81st floor.

When Stanley got to his office, his phone was ringing. "It was someone from Chicago calling to find out if I'm watching the news," he said. He told the caller everything "was fine."

But everything wasn't fine--far from it. As Stanley was talking, he looked up an saw American Airlines Flight 11 heading straight for him.

"All I can see is this big gray plane, with red letters on the wing and on the tail, bearing down on me," said Stanley. "But this thing is happening in slow motion. The plane appeared to be like 100 yards away, I said 'Lord,
you take control, I can't help myself here.' "

Stanley then dove under his desk.

"My Testament [Bible] was on top of my desk," explained Stanley. "I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the Lord was going to take care of me once I got there." As he curled into a fetal position under his desk, the plane
tore into the side of the building and exploded.

Miraculously, Stanley was unhurt. However, he could see a flaming wing of the plane in the doorway of his department. He knew he needed to get out of his office and the building fast. But, he was trapped under debris up to
his shoulders.

"Lord, you take control, this is your problem now," he recalled praying.

"I don't know where I got this power from, but the good Lord, He gave me so much power and strength in my body that I was able to shake everything off.
I felt like I was the strongest man alive."

All the while, Stanley was asking to the Lord to spare his life. "I'm crying and I'm praying, 'Lord, I have things to do..., I want to see my family, Lord, help me through.' "

Stanley's office resembled a battle zone--walls flattened into dusty heaps,office equipment strewn violently, flames flickering about and rubble everywhere.

"Everything I'm trying to climb on [to get out] is collapsing and I'm going down," he said. "I'm getting cuts and bruises, but I'm saying, 'Lord, I have to go home to my loved ones, I have to make it, You have to help me.' "

Suddenly Stanley saw the light of a flashlight. For a moment, it stunned him.

"What were the chances of someone bringing a flashlight to this floor?," he thought. "My first gut reaction was, 'This is my guardian angel--my Lord sent somebody to save me!' "

Stanley began screaming, "I see the light, I see the light." But after clawing his way through the debris, he realized that he couldn't get out--all the exits were blocked and his "guardian angel" couldn't get to
him--a wall was between him and the staircase.

"He can't get to me and I can't get to him, and by this time I can't breathe," Stanley said. "I don't know if it was sulfur or what [burning jet fuel, perhaps], but I can smell this thing.

I got down on my knees and said, "Lord, you've got to help me. You've brought me this far, help me to get to the staircase."

But then Stanley did something surprising. While praying on his knees, Stanley called out to the man behind the wall, "There's one thing I got to know, do you know Jesus?"

The man replied he went to church every Sunday.

Then they prayed together to enable them to break through the wall. "I got up, and I felt as if a power came over me," said Stanley."I felt goose bumps all over my body and I'm trembling, and I said to the wall, 'You're going to be no match for me and my Lord.' "

Moments later, he punched his way through the wall and, with the help of the man on the other side, was able to squirm his way through the hole in the wall. "The guy held me and embraced me and he gave me a kiss and he said,
'From today, you're my brother for life.' "

But the danger wasn't over. The man on the other side of the wall, who introduced himself as Brian, was an older gentleman and they still had 81 floors to walk down, with the building on fire and, unknown to them, in danger of collapse.

"We hobbled our way down, and at every floor we stopped to see if anybody was there, but nobody was..., but a man was on the floor, and his back was gone, and he was covered in blood."

Stanley asked to be allowed to carry the man out, but a security guard told him it would be better to send somebody up. When they finally made it down to the concourse, only firefighters were there.

They were saying, 'Run!Run! Run!', they were telling us to run out, but they were not concerned about themselves," he said.

Stanley and Brian would have ran from the building, but now the concourse was surrounded with fire. Wetting themselves under the building's sprinkler system, they held hands and ran through the flames to safety to Trinity Church about two blocks away.

"I wanted to go to the church to thank God," Stanley explained, "As soon as I held onto the gate of that church, the building [World Trade Center Tower Two] collapsed."

Stanley and Brian made their way safely out of the danger area. Before they parted, Stanley gave his business card to Brian in hopes of contact at a later time, and said, "If I don't see you, I'll see you in heaven."

Cut and bloodied, with clothes tattered and wearing a borrowed shirt, Stanley finally made it home hours later to his wife Jennifer and his two girls, Stephanie (age 8) and Caitlin (age 4).

"I held my wife and my two children and we cried," said Stanley.

After thanking God for sparing his life, Stanley told God whatever he did,it will always be for His glory.

"I'm so sore, but every waking moment, I say 'Lord, had you not been in control, I would not have made it. "For some divine reason, I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the good Lord's mighty hand turned the plane a fraction from where I was standing," said Stanley. "Because when it
crash-landed, it was just 20 feet from me. I don't care who would rationalize--what people would say now or years from now, but I know it was the handiwork of the Lord that turned that plane. My Lord Jesus is bigger than the Trade Center and His finger can push a plane aside!"