大象传媒 - Coventry and Warwickshire Features

Report by Emma aged 14 from Woodway Park School, Coventry

There are thousands of stories about the loss of family and friends from September 11 but I chose to tell you this one.

I don't know why I chose this one; I think it's just one that I found moving and you will probably see why when I tell you.

For a few brief moments on Tuesday morning, Irish architect Ronnie Clifford, aged 47, was twice blessed: as both hero and survivor of the terrorist attacks.

Standing in the lobby of the Marriott Hotel after the first plane hit, Clifford saw a charred women rise from the pyre, her fingernails melting off and her clothes burned onto her skin.

He was shielding her with his coat when a second shudder sent them to the floor. To keep her from drifting off, they conversed and prayed. She told him her name, Jennie Ann Maffeo, and the name and number of her boss at Paine Webber; she also told him she was asthmatic and allergic to latex. Clifford took copious notes.

With the help of a Marriott employee and oxygen from the hotel's medical kit, Clifford led her to the nearest ambulance. Maffeo's charred skin was still clinging to his coat when Clifford ran west and hopped on his ferry back to his home in Glen Ridge, where he hugged his wife and daughter, who was celebrating her 11th birthday on September 11th.

Only then did he learn he was also thrice cursed. He had lost family members: his sister, Ruth McCourt, 45, and his niece Juliana, 4, had been aboard the United Airlines fight that ploughed through the 2nd World Trade Centre.

Ruth was taking her daughter on a surprise trip to Disneyland. He had also lost a family friend: Paige Farley Hackel, 46, travelling alone on the American Airlines flight that crashed into the other tower.

In the midst of his own grief, Clifford found the number of Maffeo's boss and called to say she was alive but in very bad shape.

Her boss then contacted the family, who eventually found her in critical condition at New York- Presbyterian Hospital. Her body was burned so badly that the doctors required the family to put on scrubs before seeing her. When they were finally reunited, Maffeo insisted that they track down the man who saved her live.

While consoling his brother-in-law and his family, Clifford received a phone call from Maffeo's sister. Clifford told her about his own losses in the crash. The sister gave Clifford the family's thanks for putting himself at risk to be her sister's saviour. Clifford replied that she had it wrong - he never would have made it out of the building before it collapsed if he had not picked up her sister.

"The truth is, she saved my life, she gave me strength," said Clifford. He also believes his sister Ruth's hovering spirit pointed his way out of the carnage.

Although Ronnie Clifford was in danger of losing his own life, he stopped and helped someone who was in need of assistance, and although Jennie Ann Maffeo died that day, because of Ronnie Clifford she had the chance to say goodbye to her family.

That was one of the many stories about the tragic events of the twin tower victims.

Follow the link on the left for more anecdotes from September 11, starting with the story of flight 93.

	大象传媒 Homepage

禄	Sites near Coventry Related 大象传媒 Sites 听
	Contact Us