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Surviving 9/11 was ‘just the first piece of the journey’

Désirée Bouchat reaches towards the inscribed name of James Patrick Berger at the National September 11 Memorial, Friday, Aug. 6, 2021, in New York. She last saw her co-worker on the 101st floor of the trade center's south tower. Nearly 180 Aon Corp. workers perished on Sept. 11, 2001, including Berger. “Some days, it feels like it happened yesterday,” Bouchat says. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) Désirée Bouchat poses for a photo at the World Trade Center, Friday, Aug. 6, 2021, in New York. At first, people figured the plane crash at the north tower was accidental. There was no immediate evacuation order for the south tower. But James Patrick Berger ushered Bouchat and other Aon Corp. colleagues to the elevators, then turned back to check for more people. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) Désirée Bouchat, a survivor of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, looks at photos of those who perished, in a display at the 9/11 Tribute Museum, Friday, Aug. 6, 2021, in New York. While Sept. 11 was a day of carnage, it also was a story of survival: Nearly 3,000 people were killed, but an estimated 33,000 or more people evacuated the World Trade Center and Pentagon. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) Will Jimeno, the former Port Authority police officer who was rescued from the rubble of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks at World Trade Center, describes the experience during an interview in his home in Chester, N.J., Monday, Aug. 2, 2021. Buried in darkness and 20 feet (6 meters) or more of rubble from both towers, Jimeno was ready to die. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Will Jimeno, the former Port Authority police officer who was rescued from the rubble of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks at the World Trade Center, reads from "Immigrant, American, Survivor," a children's book he wrote that draws on his experience, during an interview in his home, in Chester, N.J., Monday, Aug. 2, 2021. Injured in the attack, Jimeno wears a compression sock and leg brace band on his left leg. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Will Jimeno, the former Port Authority police officer who was rescued from the rubble of the attacks at the World Trader Center, shows how he crossed his arms with the signs for "I Love You," during an interview in his home in Chester, N.J., Monday, Aug. 2, 2021. It was to be a sign to his family if he died in the rubble. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Will Jimeno, the former Port Authority police officer who was rescued from the rubble of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks at the World Trader Center after many hours, holds the children's book he wrote, "Immigrant, American, Survivor," that draws on his experience, during an interview at his home in Chester, N.J., Monday, Aug. 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Retired NYPD Officer Ken Winkler, sits in his office on Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021, in New York. Winkler helped coordinate the New York Police Department Emergency Service Unit response on-scene at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, ducking behind a truck to escape the debris when the south tower collapsed. "It went from a clear day to various shades of gray and black … from kind of organized chaos to just chaos," recalls Winkler. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) Retired NYPD Officer Ken Winkler, poses for a portrait in his office on Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021, in New York. Winkler helped coordinate the New York Police Department Emergency Service Unit response on-scene at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, ducking behind a truck to escape the debris when the south tower collapsed. "It went from a clear day to various shades of gray and black … from kind of organized chaos to just chaos," recalls Winkler, who now manages Manhattan's cruise ship terminal. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) Guy Sanders poses for a portrait, Friday, Aug. 20, 2021, in Branchville, S.C. Sanders, originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., was an EMT who responded to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 and was on the scene when 7 World Trade Center collapsed. Sanders went to funeral after funeral for EMTs, firefighters and police to show appreciation for their sacrifice. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford) Guy Sanders poses for a photo Friday, Aug. 20, 2021, in Branchville, S.C. Sanders, originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., was an EMT who responded to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The 47-story building at 7 World Trade Center had just collapsed, about seven hours after the burning towers fell and debris ignited fires in the smaller high-rise. A tsunami of dust washed over Sanders, so thick that it clogged his surgical mask. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford) Retired NYPD Officer Mark DeMarco wears a wristband with the names of the 14 ESU members killed on Sept. 11, 2001, during an interview in his home in the Staten Island borough of New York on Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021. He worries that the public memory of the attacks is fading, that the passage of time has created a false sense of security. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) Retired NYPD Officer Mark DeMarco, is seen in a reflection off a display cabinet where he keeps memorabilia from 9/11 including the small flashlight which he used to help him navigate his way out of the rubble of the fallen skyscrapers, in his home in the Staten Island borough of New York on Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021. He worries that the public memory of the attacks is fading, that the passage of time has created a false sense of security. "Have fun with life. Don't be afraid," he says. "But be mindful." (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) Retired NYPD Officer Mark DeMarco, poses for a portrait in his home in the Staten Island borough of New York on Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021. For a time after 9/11, He replayed the what-ifs in his mind. If he'd gone right instead of left. A bit earlier. Or later. "I couldn't figure out how I got out of there alive," he says. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) Retired NYPD Officer Ken Winkler, holds a broken piece of glass that he kept from the fallen World Trade Center skyscrapers, which he keeps in his office on Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021, in New York. "Somebody once asked me, 'How often do you think about it?' I told him it's easier to count the days when you don't think about it," says Winkler, who now manages Manhattan's cruise ship terminal. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)