Editor’s note: This report aired on April 19, 1995, during WPIX’s coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing. Workers at the World Trade Center reacted to the attack, which was similar to the one in 1993 in which terrorists tried to topple the Twin Towers using an underground truck bomb. A little more than six years after this report aired, the attacks of 9/11 destroyed the Twin Towers and claimed 2,753 [sic – 2,749] lives at the site. Workers in 1995 had a certain resignation that New York and terrorism were not done yet, as captured in this report by Glenn Thomson that aired on the Channel 11 News at 10.
To watch the TV report, please click here. NOTE THAT THE REPORT IS FILMED IN FRONT OF THE ORIGINAL WORLD TRADE CENTER AND SHOWS FOOTAGE OF BOTH THE 1993 ATTACK ON THE WORLD TRADE CENTER AND THE BOMBING OF THE ALFRED P. MURRAGH BUILDING.
Workers at the Twin Towers on April 19, 1995, shared memories of the same kind of bombing that a little more than two years earlier had sent thousands of people scrambling for their lives. Before it was all over, the Feb. 26, 1993, attack on the Twin Towers left six dead and more than 1,000 wounded; life for millions of New Yorkers would somehow never be the same.
The graphic images of the destruction in the heartland evoked memories of what happened at the Twin Towers.
“It’s terrible, though. It was a lousy experience for me, let me tell you,” an office worker told WPIX reporter Glenn Thomson outside Two World Trade Center on April 19, 1995.
Does it bring back bad memories, WPIX asked. “Oh yeah, sure it does. There’s got to be something that they should do about this. It’s getting ridiculous.”
Another person interviewed told PIX: “You don’t know what to expect no more. That’s scary. You don’t know if that’s your last time,” said the worker, looking up at the 110-story Twin Towers.
For another worker at the WTC, the Oklahoma City Bombing reminded him of the attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983.
He had an almost fatalistic philosophy about the trade tower bombing and this latest attack, believing the worst probably was not over yet.
“I feel very badly for all those who lost their lives and are hurt. It’s a fact of life, though, that terrorism will continue to disrupt our lives as we go on. That’s the price we pay for an open society.”
