Joe Dittmar
Thirteen years after the fateful day that changed America and altered the course of history, Joe Dittmar still doesn’t tire of telling his story to any and all who will listen.
On Sept. 11, Dittmar, one of the survivors of the attacks on New York’s World Trade Center, will again share his story, this time at Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove.
The special presentation will begin at 7 p.m. in the Auditorium on Waubonsee’s Sugar Grove Campus, Route 47 at Waubonsee Drive.
Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at www.waubonseetickets.com.
The session will offer those in attendance the chance to not only hear from one who witnessed and felt the terrorist attacks first hand, but to remember the events of that day and reflect upon what they still mean to us today.
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Dittmar was on the 105th floor of Two World Trade Center, also known as the south tower, attending a routine business meeting with representatives of other insurance companies when terrorists piloted an airliner into the north tower, One World Trade Center.
In the chaotic moments after the attack, Dittmar said he made what he has described “as the best moment of his life,” taking the stairs down to the ground. That choice allowed him to be narrowly, but safely below the floors destroyed in the initial impact of the second hijacked airliner with the second tower, and allowed him to safely exit the tower before it collapsed and eventually make his way home to his family in Aurora, where they then resided.
He later learned he was one of only seven survivors out of 54 in attendance at the meeting on the 105th floor that morning.
While Dittmar’s presentation is steeped with facts and observations of historic proportions, it also incorporates reflections on what was learned that day and the lessons we should continue to teach.
