9/11 Survivor: 'Courage Was Everywhere' That Day

When Dennis Letts walked toward his World Trade Center office on September 11, 2001, he had no idea he was about to witness both unimaginable tragedy and extraordinary human goodness in the same morning.

Letts, a U.S. Secret Service special agent and Parsippany resident, heard a massive explosion directly above him at 8:46 a.m. He felt the heat of the fireball and watched debris rain down across the plaza.

He immediately began searching for survivors with a Port Authority police officer. As frightened and injured people emerged from the stairwells, Letts noticed something remarkable: almost every person was helping someone else.

"A stranger, a co-worker, someone who couldn't walk as quickly," Letts recalled at Morris County's 25th Anniversary 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony this week. "In the midst of unimaginable chaos, I was witnessing extraordinary humanity."

Even as the second tower was hit and people began falling from upper floors, Letts continued directing survivors to safety. He led New York Fire Department paramedics to set up a triage station, gathering medical supplies from the 47th floor of 7 World Trade Center.

From that height, he watched the South Tower collapse. Minutes later, as the North Tower fell, Letts dove under a parked car just 50 yards away.

"Everything went dark. The noise was deafening. The air disappeared," he said. "Through the grace of God, I survived."

He made his way to the Hudson River and boarded a New York Waterways ferry, helping pull injured survivors aboard. That day, boats of all sizes carried nearly 500,000 people away from Manhattan in what became the largest maritime evacuation in history.

Why This Inspires

Letts wants people to remember more than the darkness of that day. He remembers the firefighters climbing stairs while others descended, police officers staying at their posts, and paramedics treating the injured while danger surrounded them.

But most of all, he remembers ordinary civilians who saw another human being in need and simply stopped to help. No orders, no elaborate plans, just people acting on compassion.

"September 11 revealed the very worst of humanity, but it also revealed something even greater: the extraordinary capacity of ordinary people to do extraordinary things," Letts told the crowd.

At the ceremony, names of the 64 Morris County residents killed in the attacks were read aloud. Loretta Viglione of Parsippany read a poem her son Mark wrote about 9/11, honoring her brother Tommy Sabella, a New York City firefighter who died in the towers.

The spirit of service that emerged on September 11 didn't disappear when the dust settled—it's still alive today in every first responder and ordinary person who chooses to help someone in need.