It's estimated that 200 people jumped that day. Some went alone, others in pairs holding hands, still more in groups. One firefighter was killed by a falling body. But jumpers may have saved lives. When people in one tower saw bodies falling from the other, they began evacuating their building even before it was hit.
Then there was the decision to enter the burning towers to save others. Of the 2,819 people killed on Sept. 11, 343 were New York City paramedics and firefighters. Better communications might have made a difference, but perhaps not.
Lee Ielpi lost his son and fellow firefighter Jonathan that day. Ielpi has said that even if there were warnings, "do you think the firefighters would have stopped trying to save people? We have tapes from firefighters who were in the towers. They knew they were in danger. They went up anyway."
Over Pennsylvania, more life-and-death decisions would be made.
Amid prayers, calls to family, and reports of other hijacked planes being crashed into landmarks, the passengers of United Flight 93 initiated the first counterattack against what was then an unidentified enemy.
The 9/11 commission reported: "At 9:57, the passenger assault began. Several passengers had terminated phone calls with loved ones in order to join the revolt. One of the callers ended her message as follows: 'Everyone's running up to first class. I've got to go. Bye.' "
The terrorist pilot tried rolling the plane, then pitching it, all to knock the passengers off balance and end the assault. To no avail. Five minutes into the attack, apparently fearing the passengers were about to break into the cockpit, one hijacker tells another: "Pull it down! Pull it down!"
