9/11 New York terror attacks witnessed by Isle of Wight people

At the County Press, the reporters — myself included — watched the television in disbelief. Soon afterwards, news started to drift in from Islanders who were in New York.

Scroll through our gallery of pictures above to see more of our coverage from the time, plus pictures of the 9/11 Museum and Memorial in New York...

Among the witnesses was the late film director, Anthony Minghella, and two other members of the Minghella family.

The front page of the County Press, Friday September 14, 2001, which reported that members of the Minghella family had been caught up in 9/11.

The apocalyptic scenes left Anthony, his daughter Hannah, and her cousin, former Medina High pupil Peter Giddens, in a state of utter disbelief.

Anthony saw the twin towers collapse from a nearby building, having just started a meeting in the run-up to beginning filming of his movie, Cold Mountain. He said afterwards that it was total mayhem with everyone running around in a state of terror.

Hannah, who was working in the literary department of Miramax, heard a loud bang as the building crumbled, while her cousin Peter, who was working in public relations for Nike.com, witnessed its collapse.

Later that afternoon, Peter emailed his Isle of Wight-based family to say he was alive and he later described the events of the day as ‘one long nightmare’.

Via email, he said: “It was devastating, and has forever changed the face of the city. Very scary feeling. It all seems utterly surreal.”

Former Isle of Wight resident Wayne Bradney, who used to work for Cowes-based Yokogawa Marex, was living in New York.

Wayne walked to work between the twin towers every day, but on September 11, he took a potentially life-saving decision not to go to work early — and watched in horror, but in safety, as the terror unfolded.

At the time he told the County Press: “I was just stunned silent to think that a building that I walked through every day for three years and that was always full of people in a hurry, was now rubble and probably full of people going nowhere.”

Former Yokogawa Marex worker Wayne Bradney's account of 9/11 in the September 14, 2001 edition of the County Press.

Wayne now lives in Austin, Texas. Earlier this week he told the County Press: “It’s still hard to believe that it’s been 20 years since that day. I still remember the day itself quite vividly.

“The financial district and stock exchanges were obviously completely closed down for about a week afterwards, so we were glued to the TV and newspapers for updates on the aftermath. Thankfully no-one I knew personally was lost in the collapse, but I have several friends that were in some way affected.

“Once I was able to return to work in the Wall Street Systems offices on 30 Broad Street, the scenes downtown were very different from before the collapse.

“The whole area was still thick with smoke that would drift over from the site, and the offices needed to be cleaned continuously for many more weeks. The site itself was still burning underground for many days after we returned.

“Security around the New York Stock Exchange was also extremely heightened. This was the first time I’d ever seen fully armed National Guard units posted outside my office building, and vehicle barricades started to emerge on surrounding streets. These type of scenes were quite alarming for New Yorkers back then, but are mundane nowadays.

“I’d started to commute by car several days per week after the return to the office, and remember that many vehicles in the parking lots would be in the same spots day after day, gathering the soot and dust in the area.

“The local police department would mark the tyres of these vehicles with chalk to detect which ones were not being driven and were therefore likely to be owned by people that would not be returning to them.”

Dan Williams wrote this letter to the County Press describing how he had witnessed the 9/11 attacks.

Dan Williams, who had grown up on the Isle of Wight and whose parents were still living in Shanklin, was in the Chrysler Building, around half-a-mile from the World Trade Center.

At the time, he wrote: “From our conference room, we used to have a perfect view of the towers, so many people in our office were watching, transfixed. I had a first-hand view of the plane exploding in to World Trade Two (South Tower).” Shortly afterwards, his landmark building was evacuated.

But he had a lucky escape. He added: “When I got back to work on Thursday, I found a reply rejecting my application for tickets to a financial conference. It was held on Tuesday, September 11, at Windows of the World on the top floor of the World Trade Center, due to start at 9am.”

Had he attended, he would have been at the top of the tower at the time of the attack.

In the aftermath of the attacks, many Isle of Wight residents were involved in services to remember those who had been killed in the 9/11 terror attacks in New York and the County Press reported on these too.

County Press coverage of the many memorial services which were held here.

Many more Islanders were on planes which had to be diverted and landed asap due to the attack, while others had their travel plans in the following days thwarted.

READ AGAIN: Islanders remember where they were at the time of 9/11 

Want to read more from the County Press at the time? Click here to visit our archive.

Are you an Islander who was in New York, or America, at the time of the 9/11 terror attack? If so, we would love to hear your story! Just click here to send us more details!