The Last Train In: Recalling Sept. 11

For Stephen Laughead, it’s the emptiness he remembers, the helplessness.

Laughead was in midtown Manhattan and was actually on the last train to enter Penn Station on Sept. 11, 2001. Though originally from Pennsylvania, Laughead now calls North Carolina home, and his daughter Vicki lives in Upper Providence Township.

Vicki Laughead recalled driving to a college class when she heard on the radio that a plane struck one of the Twin Towers. She pulled into the parking lot for a 9 a.m. statistics class.

“The professor said we were under attack and that he couldn’t teach class that day,” Vicki Laughead recalled.

She was “a little bit scared” for her dad. She knew he had a work meeting that day, but was under the impression it was in Philadelphia.

Stephen Laughead, however, was covering for a colleague and was set to meet a client in midtown Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001.

Right before 9 a.m.—the second plane struck at 9:02 a.m.—Stephen Laughead was on a train barreling toward Penn Station from Philadelphia. The voice over the intercom pointed out the fire at the trade center.

“He asked everyone to look of to the right of the train and he said if you look over, you’ll see one of the two Twin Towers on fire,” Stephen Laughead recounted. “I was shaken a bit, seeing that with my live eye.”

He headed to the midtown Manhattan building where he was set to meet up with colleagues.

“No one was really sure what was going on,” Stephen Laughead said.

For a few minutes, he took in the television broadcast of the live events, happening on the same island.

“I felt as if, OK, there are two planes that hit the Twin Towers,” he explained. “Is it safe for me to be in this high-rise building at this point?”

As her father headed down to street level, in Pennsylvania Vicki Laughead was just finding out that her dad wasn’t in Philadelphia at all that day.

“We weren’t sure where in New York he was at that time,” Vicki Laughead said.

Glued to the news coverage, she spotted a Verizon building very close to the World Trade Center site. Stephen Laughead works for the company, and Vicki worried that her dad might be in that building.

“I wasn’t sure at the time if he was in there or not,” Vicki Laughead said.

For approximately an hour and a half, she worried along with her mother, until the call came through from Stephen Laughead that everything was OK.

“I tried not to panic,” Vicki Laughead explained. “But I knew as soon as two planes hit that there could be more attacks.”

In midtown, her dad hit the street and took in his surroundings.

“In New York, all you ever see is yellow cab cars—and traffic, trucks and cars,” he noted. “There was no traffic. The cars weren’t moving.”

His cell phone service was shoddy, and in the streets, people were either frozen or wandering in packs, some crying. Groups crowded around parked cars, listening to radio reports. Each time a plane flew over, people stopped to stare at the sky, frightened of more attacks. Stephen Laughead explained that many had the same idea as he did—leave the high-rise buildings, and head for the street.

He walked south, headed toward the towers, more than 10 blocks and found a hospital with a line outside. Those in the queue hoped to give blood to aid victims.

Someone came around with bagels and orange juice, helping prepare those waiting to give blood. Stephen Laughead waited about an hour, and then someone came out and said they could leave, unless they were universal donors.

“They said we just don’t have enough people to take care of,” Stephen Laughead explained. “It was horrifying. There weren’t enough people alive to need blood.”

He headed north, back to Penn Station, where a large crowd was waiting. No one was allowed in, and no trains were leaving the island.

Stephen Laughead made it out of the city that night, and headed back to his family in Pennsylvania. A week later, however, he had to come back to New York City on business.

“I walked south again,” he said. “The closer you were, the more posters you saw for people who were missing.”

Eventually, he came upon a makeshift memorial, full of candles and a kiosk full of posters looking for the missing.

“When you see stuff on TV, it’s not completely real,” Stephen Laughead said. “And as you stood in front of this memorial, you just sense the feelings and emotions of the people who put the candles up, lit the candles and prayed at that spot.”

The posters were everywhere in and near lower Manhattan.

“Everywhere you went, wherever you could possibly staple an eight-by-11 sheet of paper, there were posters,” Stephen Laughead recalled.

Now, 10 years after the events, he still clearly recollects many small details of the day—the bagels in the line at the hospital, the fireman he spoke to on the train a week later, the crowds around parked cars, tuned into the radio. While he admits he wasn’t fully aware of the magnitude as the events unfolded, everything has stuck with him to this day.

He’s the prankster, the one in his family whom the others share stories about. Remember the time Steve accidentally ate the cupcake at the wedding? Remember that story Steve told Vicki’s boyfriend? With his attitude, Vicki Laughead knew once she heard from him that he’d be OK.

“I know my dad’s the type of person, he’ll go along with things and help out,” Vicki Laughead said. “Once we heard from him, I knew he’d be fine.”

Ten years later, the details stick around, but Stephen Laughead knows he had a unique experience on Sept. 11.

“Most people witnessed it through the TV,” he said. “I had a brief moment with the TV when I first got there. As far as the events, I didn’t know when the towers fell. On the street, I had no idea they even fell.”

Full Disclosure: Vicki Laughead is a contributor to Phoenixville Patch.

This article was created as part of a larger project in coordination with Action America to document how the country has been affected by 9/11. See how you can become an Actionist and turn the events of 9/11 into positive action at www.ActionAmerica.com and look for more local coverage of the 10th anniversary of 9/11 on Patch.