JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Twenty years later, Sept. 11, 2001, is still extremely vivid in 94-year-old Fred Sampson's memory.
"It was an attack like no other, except it mirrors Pearl Harbor," he said.
The World War II veteran worked in a building near the Empire State Building on 9/11. He was the president of the New York City and State Restaurant Trade Association at the time.
"Us being near the Empire State Building, which was almost as tall as the towers, we also felt we better get out of here," he said.
Sampson said there was a mass exodus of people from buildings across the city.
"Nobody knew how many airplanes were going to be involved. They may be in a building that will be hit, and people started coming out. It really looked like a movie," he said.
“When you ran out of the building, you didn't know where you were going to go or know what to do. All you knew was that you didn't want to be a target of the buildings around there," Sampson said.
Sampson, and thousands of others, tried to find a way out of the city, but like everything that day, transportation grounded to a halt. When he finally did get a train home to New Jersey around 8 p.m., he wasn't prepared for what he saw.
"We all went to the work that morning, and there were two towers. Coming home at night, we looked over, they were gone. Now, that is an impression that has never left me," Sampson said.
Each year, he said, it's important to remember all those who didn't get to go home, like 14 members of his church. He said it's also important to thank everyone who helped that day.
"They all owe a great deal of gratitude to the first responders who did all they could to save those people," Sampson said.