Chicagoan Joseph Dittmar was working in the insurance industry when he traveled to New York City in September of 2001 for a meeting at the World Trade Center. The meeting had just started - in a conference room on the 105th floor of the south tower - when the first plane flown by terrorists hit the north tower. Joe and his colleagues were immediately told to evacuate, and headed for the stairs.

He was recorded in the StoryCorps MobileBooth when it visited Chicago in 2005. This story originally broadcast September 8, 2005.