On 11th September 2001, Isle of Wight residents witnessed the World Trade Center attacks, while one narrowly avoided his usual route through the Twin Towers.
Film director Anthony Minghella, his daughter Hannah and cousin Peter Giddins were all in Manhattan that morning. Former Cowes worker Wayne Bradney was also making his way to work in Lower Manhattan.
At 08:46, American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Seventeen minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower. Both 110-storey skyscrapers collapsed within 2 hours, killing thousands and covering Lower Manhattan in thick dust and debris.
Anthony Minghella was in New York on business and close to the World Trade Center when the attacks began. His daughter Hannah was working in Miramax’s New York literary department when the first aircraft struck.
Peter Giddins, 28, was working in public relations for Manhattan-based Nike.com. From his workplace, he saw an aircraft approaching the World Trade Center and witnessed the first impact.
Peter later told his father Richard Giddins, a former Medina High School philosophy and psychology teacher, what he had seen. Peter noticed the aircraft approaching Manhattan but had no idea what he was about to witness. Within moments, it had struck the tower.
Peter later made his way to the roof of his building, from where he witnessed one of the Twin Towers collapse.
Back in Ryde, Anthony’s mother Gloria spent hours trying to contact her son as calls struggled to get through. She eventually heard from him later that evening.
Speaking to the Portsmouth News, Gloria said:
“I was going out of my mind trying to get through to him.”
She said Anthony had been “walking very close to the World Trade Centre at the time and saw everything” and described him as “in deep shock like the rest of New York.”
Anthony remained in New York for several days after the attacks, spending time in Miramax’s uptown offices with colleagues. Australian film director Phillip Noyce, who was there with him, later recalled:
“…for the next five or six days, it was me, and Harvey, and Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella all locked up in the Miramax Books uptown offices trying to keep ourselves pre-occupied while everything was falling apart in the city.”
Wayne Bradney, 32, had moved to the United States 3 years earlier after working for Cowes-based Yokogawa-Marex. By 2001, he was living in Millburn with his wife Jo and working as a senior systems analyst in Manhattan.
His daily commute usually took him through the World Trade Center, but he was late for work on 11th September and altered his route. It was a small decision which kept him away from the complex as the attacks began.
Bradney was making his way across Lower Manhattan when the first impact occurred. The first impact sounded to Bradney like a clap of thunder. It was only after speaking to another person in the street that he realised an aircraft had struck the complex.
He subsequently witnessed the second aircraft hit the World Trade Center. With people trying to get away from the area and emergency services arriving in force, Bradney continued through Manhattan as communications became increasingly difficult.
By the time one of the towers came down, he had reached a point around 10 blocks away. He eventually made it to a railway station and caught a train at around 10:30 back to Millburn.
On the Isle of Wight, families and friends faced an anxious wait for news from New York as communications with the city remained badly disrupted.
A book of condolence was opened at County Hall in Newport, where Islanders queued to leave messages for those killed and their families. The Stars and Stripes flew at half-mast outside the building.
A 3-minute silence was announced for 11:00 on the following Friday, with public buildings and schools across the Island invited to take part. Councillors and staff at County Hall also fell silent in memory of the victims.
