9/11 witness: the son who ran to find his father in Manhattan
September 11 witness Alessandro Stravato recounts how the attack, in which his father was gravely affected, reshaped his life. His father later died of cancer.
France 24 host Jean-Emile Jammine spoke with Alessandro Stravato, who personally witnessed the second plane strike the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, from his vantage point at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
In the aftermath, Stravato's first thought was not the historical weight of what he had just seen, but simply finding his father, who worked at New York's City Hall, located near the World Trade Center.
Finding his father
Alessandro found his father alive, but covered in debris and soot after trekking dozens of blocks through Manhattan to escape the area. Though his father survived that day, his health steadily declined in the years that followed.
Illness and final words
By 2015, as his father was losing his battle with cancer, he told his son to stay strong. According to Alessandro, that day and his father's subsequent decline profoundly shaped the course of his own life and sense of duty — leading him to give up much of his own life to care for his father.
