Most current Siena students were not even born at the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The events of that fateful 2001 day are now a small entry in social studies textbooks, but Gordon Huie wants to make sure young people know exactly what it was like near Ground Zero.
Huie is the only known 9/11 “triple” – he is a survivor of the World Trade Center attacks, he worked as a first responder in lower Manhattan, and he lost a family member in the carnage. He speaks regularly to groups and serves as a docent at the National September 11 Memorial Museum in Manhattan, and on April 10 he shared his story with a First-Year Seminar class at Siena.
“My last wish is to make a difference in this world, so I travel around sharing my story of what happened on 9/11 from my personal pint of view,” he said. “Each time I talk about it I’m able to decompress a little, so by listening you are helping me more than you can imagine.”
Note the words “last wish”: Huie will ultimately be yet another casualty of the terrorist attacks. He is battling multiple cancers that were triggered by the toxic materials released into the air when the towers collapsed.
Huie grew up in New York’s Chinatown, and when the stock markets in the nearby Financial District closed for the day and on the weekend, the empty streets were a playground for him and his friends. It was their hometown Main Street. Fast forward to adulthood where Huie, an orthopedic surgeon, was on his way to New York-Presbyterian-Lower Manhattan Hospital (formerly known as Beekman Hospital) the morning of 9/11 to interview patients for research he was conducting on Eastern and Western perspectives on a disease entity. He saw the Twin Towers on fire.
“It didn’t take long for me to realize we were under attack,” he said. “I was angry. I was angry because someone had dared to attack my country.”
A former military combat medic, Huie knew where he was needed the most: the nearest hospital, which happened to be Beekman. In a suit and tie and without identification, he was ushered into a conference room where he triaged the wounded brought from Ground Zero and temporarily stitched them back together with minimal instruments and supplies.
“The carnage was greater than anything I had seen during my deployment in the first Gulf War,” Huie told the Siena students.
By noon there were no more patients. Huie initially thought the wounded were being diverted to other hospitals but then realized there were simply no more survivors. The attacks were devastating, but it wasn’t until 8:30 that evening that he received the most personally crushing news of the day: his sister had been at a power breakfast meeting at Windows on the World in the north tower when the plane struck. She didn’t survive.
Huie was forced to retire as a surgeon due to his cancer diagnoses and treatments. He noted that the death count in the 9/11 attacks did not end on 9/11: an average of four people have died each week since then due to a variety of cancers, suicides triggered by PTSD and depression, persistent infections, and other illnesses. The total has surpassed 7,500 in the last 24 years.
“Hearing Gordon speak about his experience on 9/11 was unlike anything I’ve heard before,” said Matthew Maron ‘28. “What stood out to me most was his calm recollection of chaos – walking through Chinatown toward Beekman Hospital, not yet knowing the full extent of what had happened.”
Maron recalled Huie speaking about putting on his “medical mask” to work diligently as a physician to push through the trauma, and only beginning to process it all months afterward.
“It made me think about how deeply individuals bear the weight of tragedy long after the moment has passed,” he said. “His story made me recall that 9/11 was not merely a historical event, but it was lived minute by minute by real individuals, and its impact still resonates today.”
Zach Brimmer ’20 MBA ’21 teaches the FYS class with the theme “Experiencing Life: Perspectives and Powerful Moments.” He thought Huie’s personal story would be impactful and moving for the students.
“To be able to hear about his experience was truly amazing,” said Brimmer. “His presentation fit very well with the theme of my class. It’s very important for the students to be able to hear from a survivor as they were not born during this historic event, so hearing a first-hand account was incredible.”