Recalling 9/11, 20 years later

As he traveled on the last ferry out of New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, Les Pasternack noticed he had soot on his clothes.

It wasn’t much, but it was a reminder of the devastation he had been lucky to escape and of the lives he had just seen end in front of his eyes.

Pasternack, who now lives in Hoover, along with Todd Eagle, a Chelsea resident who works as a photojournalist for WVTM-13, shared their stories of living through and documenting 9/11 and the days that followed with the Hoover Sun.

‘A Helpless Feeling’

Pasternack worked for a German bank at Two World Financial Center in 2001, which was connected to the World Trade Center by a bridge.

On the morning of Sept. 11, Pasternack was walking down to the cafeteria at Two World Financial Center to get breakfast when the first plane hit. Because the cafeteria didn’t have any windows, he had no idea what was going on.

But when he got back to his office, he saw what had happened. The image of the North Tower being on fire is etched into his memory.

“The jet fuel had such a fluorescent orange [color] to it,” Pasternack said.

People in the North Tower began choosing to jump to their death rather than being burned alive, he said.

Watching the scene unfold, Pasternack walked into his boss’s office.

“I remember being in the door frame of his office, and I turned to leave,” Pasternack said.

Suddenly, his boss began screaming and shouting expletives as the second plane approached the Twin Towers.

After the second plane made impact, Two World Financial Center shook, and the force of the collision threw Pasternack into the wall.

Leaving his office, Pasternack took the last ferry off of the island before ferries were shut down and was able to make it home.

Watching the events unfold from afar, Pasternack felt horrible watching so many people lose their lives.

“It was just the most helpless feeling you could have,” Pasternack said. “I know we had people in our building that lost people.”

When he got home, Pasternack said, his neighbor came out crying, as they didn’t know whether he had survived the attacks.

Like many Americans, Pasternack spent his time watching the news in disbelief. He and a friend had eaten lunch at the World Trade Center and contemplated what it would mean if the towers ever fell. He never thought it would actually happen.

Recording History

Todd Eagle had always wanted to go to New York, but his first trip probably wasn’t what he expected.

Eagle was in his third year working as a photojournalist for WVTM-13 on Sept. 11, 2001. He normally woke up in the mornings to the sound of music on the radio, but that morning, he woke up to the news about the terrorist attacks. He turned the TV on and saw the second plane hit the South Tower.

Later that day, while watching the news with his then-girlfriend, Leah, who is now his wife and the community editor of 280 Living, Eagle got a phone call from his boss at the station.

“My phone rings,” Eagle said. “She [Leah] had a look in her eyes. She knew.”

He and reporter Bill Fitzgerald would be heading to New York to provide coverage for WNBC.

“Why she [our news director] picked me, I don’t know,” Eagle said.

The airports were still shut down, so the pair had to drive to New York City, a day-and-a-half trip. When they got there, they went to Javits Center, a convention center area where media were doing live reports to their stations, with the presumption that President George W. Bush was coming, though he did not come that day, Eagle said.

There were buses loaded with people coming to help at Ground Zero, Eagle said, and the days for reporters and photographers were long.

Each day, Eagle and Fitzgerald were sent to different areas to talk to people impacted by the attacks, from those looking for lost loved ones at a Red Cross station to the streets of Manhattan, interviewing residents.

“I was still very, very much ‘green,’” Eagle said. “It was overwhelming.”

Interviewing people was tough, as was seeing all of the memorials created for loved ones, he said.

One interview in particular sticks out. A young dad whose own father was missing told him that his son kept asking, “Where’s grandpa? Where’s grandpa?” Eagle can still remember the “thousand-mile stare” in his eyes.

He said capturing the human element and the raw emotion of New Yorkers was powerful.

“Those people were holding out hope,” Eagle said.

Days after the attack, Eagle said there was no getting around the many reminders of what had been lost.

“I can still see a pile of rubble that was … who knows how many piles high,” Eagle said. “The smell of jet fuel and burning metal permeated the New York City air.”

After working 12- and sometimes 14-hour days, Eagle would walk to Times Square at night just to clear his mind.

“Mentally, your brain’s just going and going,” Eagle said.

The Eagles have since been back to New York several times, but Eagle’s first trip back was in 2002 for the first anniversary of the attacks.

Eagle and the rest of the media were set up on a balcony overlooking Ground Zero, but to get there, they had to walk through offices where people were working.

“I just felt like I was intruding,” Eagle said. “I didn’t know if they lost people [on 9/11].”

When his family visited the city in January 2020, he said going to the 9/11 Memorial was “really tough,” as it brought back memories of his experience.

Twenty years later, Eagle said New York City is back to being “hustling and bustling,” except for the memorial, which is quiet, a “very sacred place.”

As he continued in his photojournalism career, Eagle said being on the ground after 9/11 helped him better interact with the public, knowing when to keep the cameras out of people’s faces after a tragedy, but also being available when people want to talk, to find some release through sharing their story.

“I’ve never been pushy,” Eagle said. “I try to put myself in other people’s shoes.”

The end of childhood

Each year, as the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks come around, Pasternack and his wife find themselves watching all of the remembrance shows and documentaries about the attacks on TV “like zombies,” he said.

Reflecting on what happened 20 years later, Pasternack said it stays with him. While he didn’t lose anyone he knew personally, he saw what happened to so many. Watching the events happen live is part of why he left New York shortly after the attacks.

While he was 26 at the time of the attacks, Pasternack said 9/11 forced him to grow up even more quickly.

“It was truly the end of my childhood,” Pasternack said.

After nine days in New York, Eagle knew it was time to go home, so he left New York and drove back to Birmingham.

Three years after 9/11, Eagle took over as the lead photojournalist for WVTM-13’s sports department. He said he enjoys telling people stories and got tired of the “depressing” news.

But, looking back on his time in New York, Eagle said he wishes they could have told more stories. He finds himself each year, like Pasternack, watching all of the documentaries and shows on TV.

When he came back home, he put together a package that showed photos and videos from his time in New York, which was then shown on NBC 13 for their viewers.

Watching it 20 years later, it still takes him back to those moments in New York, he said.

“Being a young guy and covering an event like that, I’m grateful, but I don’t know what I did to deserve that,” Eagle said.