9/11 Hero Coming To East Lancs
I spoke to Willie recently, and he told me a few interesting things that has happened that will help to verify his story. Should be known by everyone soon. - Jon
Source: burnleycitizen.co.uk
By Nick Evans
6/9/2007
A HERO who pulled 15 people from the World Trade Centre during the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York is to visit Burnley.
William Rodriguez is to give a talk at Wesleyan House, Clough Street, in an event organised by pressure group the West Yorkshire Truth Campaign.
Mr Rodriguez worked as a janitor at the trade centre for 19 years. On September 11, 2001, he first pulled 15 people to safety.
advertisement
Then, as he was the only person with a master key, he bravely led firefighters up the stairwells of the north tower, unlocking doors to help hundreds of people escape.
It was said that Mr Rodigruez was the last man out of the doomed building before its collapse.
Event organiser, Anthony Beckett, said: "This is an astounding chance to hear first hand the testimony of a witness to 9/11.
"William originally gave his testimony to the 9/11 Commission behind closed doors fully hoping that they were going to do the right thing. Now he tells his story to captivated audiences around the world. This is an opportunity not to be missed."
Mr Rodriguez is a native of Puerto Rico, but lives in New Jersey in the US. He has been honoured at the White House five times for his heroic efforts.
Mr Rodriguez is also the president of the Hispanic Victims' Group and an internationally recognised peace campaigner.
He last toured the UK in February and, due to popular demand, is returning to Europe this summer to do another 22 dates across four countries. The Burnley event takes places on Friday, July 6 at 8pm.
- Jon Gold's blog
- Login to post comments
help to verify his story?
help to verify his story? another witness perhaps? i always wondered why more people from the basement area didnt come forward. they didnt pay everybody off.
"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media." ~ William Colby, Former Director, CIA
Sub-basement explosion testimony
Sub-basement Explosions In World Trade Center. First Hand Accou - Funny bloopers R us
Basement explosion witness
Mike Pecararo
in Chief Engineer:
Deep below the tower, Mike Pecoraro was suddenly interrupted in his grinding task by a shake on his shoulder from his co-worker. "Did you see that?" he was asked. Mike told him that he had seen nothing. "You didn't see the lights flicker?", his co-worker asked again. "No," Mike responded, but he knew immediately that if the lights had flickered, it could spell trouble. A power surge or interruption could play havoc with the building's equipment. If all the pumps trip out or pulse meters trip, it could make for a very long day bringing the entire center's equipment back on-line.
September 11, 2001, two hijacked commercial aircraft are flown into the World Trade Center towers.
Mike told his co-worker to call upstairs to their Assistant Chief Engineer and find out if everything was all right. His co-worker made the call and reported back to Mike that he was told that the Assistant Chief did not know what happened but that the whole building seemed to shake and there was a loud explosion. They had been told to stay where they were and "sit tight" until the Assistant Chief got back to them. By this time, however, the room they were working in began to fill with a white smoke. "We smelled kerosene," Mike recalled, "I was thinking maybe a car fire was upstairs", referring to the parking garage located below grade in the tower but above the deep space where they were working.
John McGinley, an Engineer at the WTC was on the 56th floor of Building 2 when the attack occurred. Today he has trouble working in buildings taller than ten stories.
The two decided to ascend the stairs to the C level, to a small machine shop where Vito Deleo and David Williams were supposed to be working. When the two arrived at the C level, they found the machine shop gone.
"There was nothing there but rubble, "Mike said. "We're talking about a 50 ton hydraulic press ? gone!" The two began yelling for their co-workers, but there was no answer. They saw a perfect line of smoke streaming through the air. "You could stand here," he said, "and two inches over you couldn't breathe. We couldn't see through the smoke so we started screaming." But there was still no answer.
Sergei Siletzky was a helper at WTC. At the time of the attack, he was attending class at Local 94.
The two made their way to the parking garage, but found that it, too, was gone. "There were no walls, there was rubble on the floor, and you can't see anything" he said.
They decided to ascend two more levels to the building's lobby. As they ascended to the B Level, one floor above, they were astonished to see a steel and concrete fire door that weighed about 300 pounds, wrinkled up "like a piece of aluminum foil" and lying on the floor. "They got us again," Mike told his co-worker, referring to the terrorist attack at the center in 1993. Having been through that bombing, Mike recalled seeing similar things happen to the building's structure. He was convinced a bomb had gone off in the building. Mike walked through the open doorway and found two people lying on the floor. One was a female Carpenter and the other an Elevator Operator. They were both badly burned and injured. Realizing he had to get help, Mike ascended to the Lobby Level where he met Arti DelBianco, a member of his work crew. People were now coming down the same stairway from above the lobby and Arti and Mike had to stay where they were to direct people out of the stairway door and into the building's lobby. If they didn't, people descending could walk past the lobby door and unwittingly keep descending into the sublevels of the building.