A Nearly Impossible Story of Survival on 9/11

Summary

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Podcast Summary: What It Was Like – "A Nearly Impossible Story of Survival on 9/11"

Host: Julian Morgans
Guest: Stanley Premnath
Air Date: September 11, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode of What It Was Like commemorates the 24th anniversary of the September 11th attacks by sharing the firsthand account of Stanley Premnath, one of the few survivors from above the South Tower’s impact zone. The conversation provides an intimate, moment-by-moment narrative of Stanley’s experience on 9/11, reflections on fate and faith, and lessons in survival, resilience, and humanity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Stanley’s Background and 1993 WTC Bombing Experience

• Stanley’s role: Assistant Vice President in the Loans Department at Fuji Bank on the 81st floor of the South Tower.
• First experience of terror: Stanley survived the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and was a fire warden. He recalls the chaos and failed protocols of that day.
  • “All the protocols we had, nothing worked. Instead of drop, roll, go to lower floors, at the smoke rows, they sent up to higher, higher floors and we found ourselves on the 83rd floor.” (06:19)

Awareness of Danger and Feelings Before 9/11

• Lingering anxiety post-bombing: Stanley always saw the Towers as targets for further attacks.
• Family and faith: A devoted family man, married to a preacher’s daughter, and later became a pastor himself.
• Morning of September 11, 2001: Routine, uneventful; Stanley describes picking out his “lucky” shoes, a commute that took him nearly three hours, and the mundane start to his day.
  • “Regular, average day… I’m praying in my heart the same prayer that I carried for many, many years. ‘Lord, cover me and all my loved ones under your precious blood.’” (10:35)

The Moment of Impact

• Sequence of events leading up to the South Tower hit:

  • Stanley missed the hit to the North Tower while commuting.
  • Upon arrival, he saw fireballs falling outside and attempted to leave, but was told by security and building intercom that “Your building is safe, it’s secured. Go back to your office.” (18:30)
  • Despite instincts, peer pressure and a sense of duty prompted his return upstairs.

• Seconds before impact:

  • On a call with a colleague from Chicago, he was urged to get out.
  • He looks out the window to see United Airlines Flight 175 heading straight for him.
  • “I look straight ahead towards the direction of Statue of Liberty and I’m confronted by a giant airplane, gray in color... the plane is bearing down, eye level, eye contact towards me… And as the plane is coming towards me closer and closer, I can hear that revving sound that the engine is making. And I dove under the desk, and with the most thunderous sound, the plane crashed into the building on my floor.” (22:56)

Immediate Aftermath and Survival

• Devastation and Desperation:

  • Enveloped by fire, debris, and destruction; ceiling and floor collapse, intense heat, electrical hazards, pressurized air threatens to suck him out the window.
  • “I’m gonna die. One way or the other. I’m dead… Who’s going to take care of Jenny and Stephanie and Caitlyn?” (27:02)
  • Calls out to God for help.

• The Rescue:

  • Brian Clark hears his screams and risks his life to find Stanley.
  • An impassable wall blocks Stanley—a dry wall between him and Clark. Stanley suffers a hand injury trying to climb over but is encouraged by the verse, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
  • Using newfound strength, he punches through the wall and Brian pulls him to safety.
  • Brian Clark to Stanley: “All my life, I live as an only child...I always wanted a brother...I find that man today.” (29:37)

• Escape Route:

  • Together, they descend 80 floors via Stairwell A—the only remaining intact stairwell in the South Tower after impact, a split-second decision separating life and death.
  • “That shoe, that lucky shoe was giving me all the traction that I needed because the water was just cascading it down the stairwells.” (29:37)

Witnessing Loss, Experiencing Trauma

• Vivid memories:

  • Encountering a dying man pleading for someone to “tell my wife and our baby that I love them.”
  • The loss of coworkers and friends; being among the only survivors from his floor.
  • “When you talk about love, my friend, the unsung heroes, these are the people I’m talking about.” (37:54)

• Ground-level chaos:

  • Firefighters and police direct them, risking their own lives.
  • They reach Trinity Church as the tower implodes, the church shielding them from the worst of the debris—an act Stanley attributes to divine intervention.
  • “Liberty at the time meant street. Liberty today meant total freedom.” (39:00)

Reunion and Recovery

• Return Home:

  • In a surreal, cinematic sequence, Stanley hitches rides and crosses Brooklyn Bridge, encountering strangers who help him against all odds.
  • Finally reaches his wife and daughters, but the trauma has changed him physically and mentally; initially, his young daughter doesn’t recognize him.
  • “Please don’t touch me. You’re not my daddy, man.” (50:34)

• Psychological aftermath:

  • Suffers memory loss, PTSD nightmares, survivor’s guilt.
  • Finds his way back to memory and meaning via faith, particularly Psalm 91:1—echoing “911.”
  • “I snapped out, unable to see people and places and everything. And I—the memory’s back as if nothing happens.” (56:41)

• Path to purpose:

  • Ongoing spiritual wrestling with “Why was I spared?”
  • Nightmares ceased after deciding to become a pastor—a calling clarified after prayer in Springfield, Missouri.
  • Devotes his life to sharing his story and spreading faith and preparedness.

Reflections on Luck, Faith, and Survival

• Improbable survival:

  • Julian observes the almost “miraculous” sequence of Stanley’s salvation—one survivable desk, one remaining stairwell, one timely rescuer.
  • Stanley, while humble and faith-driven, also marvels at the improbability:
    • “How many times do you try to kill one man? That’s me. How many times the bad guy would come and kill me? But I live because of the saving grace of God.” (61:33)

• Health aftermath:

  • Outlines a series of health challenges since 9/11: leukemia, heart issues, cancer, respiratory conditions—possibly linked to toxic exposure during the attacks but survived through resilience and faith.

• On chance versus preparation:

  • Julian asks about survival lessons; Stanley stresses the importance of skill-building (self-defense, swimming), knowing safety protocols, carrying basic survival gear, and being mentally and physically prepared for emergencies, while acknowledging that some moments come down to grace and luck.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You heard that cliche before… all hell broke loose.” – Stanley Premnath (24:02)
• “And with the most thunderous sound, the plane crashed into the building on my floor. And that giant ball of fire was all around me...The only desk that stood firm was a desk that I’m hiding under. And my Bible was on top of that desk. Talk about God and his grace.” (24:03–24:45)
• Brian Clark: “All my life, I live as an only child… I always wanted a brother...I find that man today.” (29:37)
• Stanley: “If I was to memorialize that day...call that day Remembrance Day, make it a national holiday... to remember the atrocities that was committed in our soil...and these men and women who lost their life on that day did not deserve it.” (74:16)
• “Some people would never understand. They would never believe. And we don’t bash people over the head for not believing. My job is to tell the good news. The Holy Spirit’s job is to convict the spirit.” (75:41)
• Julian: “I can say without a shadow of doubt, this story has touched me. You’ve absolutely blown me away.” (80:26)

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Timeline & Important Segment Timestamps

• [06:19] – Stanley recalls 1993 WTC bombing and failed evacuation protocols.
• [10:35] – Describes his routine, faith-filled 9/11 morning.
• [13:52] – Arrives at work, describes office, views, and early signs of disaster.
• [18:30] – Building intercom urges workers to return to offices.
• [22:56] – Stanley sees the second plane coming directly toward him; survives the impact under his desk.
• [27:02] – Stanley describes the harrowing post-impact environment.
• [29:37] – Brian Clark rescues Stanley; emotional brotherhood scene.
• [39:00] – Recounts flight from the building, ground chaos, and sheltering church.
• [50:34] – Emotional reunion with family; impact of trauma on self and loved ones.
• [56:41] – Intense PTSD, spiritual recovery through faith, and decision to become a pastor.
• [61:33] – Multiple post-9/11 health issues and survivor’s perspective.
• [67:01] – The significance of finding Stairwell A for survival.
• [74:16] – Stanley’s thoughts on 9/11 remembrance and national healing.
• [76:50] – Advice on crisis preparation and essential life skills.
• [80:07] – Final reflections on fate, preparation, and the power of story.

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Takeaways & Lessons

• Survival can hinge on small details and decisions—sometimes pure chance or the influence of a single person.
• The trauma of disaster lingers long after survival, affecting memory, identity, and relationships.
• Preparedness matters—practical training and readiness can make a difference in life-or-death situations.
• Faith, community, and human connection play pivotal roles in recovery and meaning-making after catastrophe.
• The importance of remembrance—Stanley believes 9/11 should be marked as “Remembrance Day” in the U.S., honoring the resilience and loss of ordinary people thrust into extraordinary events.

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For listeners, this is a raw, faith-filled, and deeply human story of improbable survival—an episode that puts you in the moment with Stanley Premnath, a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the miraculous intersections of luck and grace.

Transcript

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[Julian Morgans]

Did I talk too much? Can't I just let it go?

[Stanley Premnath]

Thank you so much.

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[Stanley Premnath]

Super real and I look straight ahead towards the direction of Statue of Liberty and I'm confronted by a giant airplane, gray in color, you on the tail and the plane is bearing down, eye level, eye contact towards me. Oh my God, straight towards me. And it's happening like in slow motion. And as the plane is coming towards me closer and closer, I can hear that revving sound that the engine is making. And I dove under the desk and with the most thunderous sound, the plane crashed into the building on my floor. And that giant ball of fire was all around me. The floor above me collapsed and was hovering right over the desk. And I'm like, I'm gonna die. One way or the other, I'm dead.

[Julian Morgans]

Hey, I'm Julian Morgans, and you're listening to what It Was like, the show that asks people who have lived through big dramatic events what it was like. So we're publishing this on September 11, 2025, and today marks 24 years since American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 plowed into the World Trade Center. And then American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon, and a fourth plane, United 93, went down in a Pennsylvania field. You might remember all of this. And it was a surreal, tragic moment in world history. And I think it's something that now feels almost impossible. You know, the towers collapsed, thousands died. And in the years that have followed, wars have been fought and geopolitics have been moved around the board. And it's an event that really changed the lives of millions, possibly, possibly even billions. But for the people inside those planes and inside those buildings, this has never become an abstract piece of history. It's still very real. Which brings me to my guest today. His name is Stanley Premnath, and on the morning of September 11, 2001, he was on the very top floor of the World Trade Center South Tower. And he looked out the window and saw the second plane heading straight for him. And he dove under his desk. And somehow, against impossible odds, he survived. And what makes Stanley's story even wilder is that he's one of just a tiny number of people who made it down from or above the impact zone. So across both towers, nearly everyone who was trapped at or above the crash sites died, except for in the South Tower. Because in the South Tower, one stairwell, just one stairwell called stairwell A, it remained partially intact. All of the stairs on the North Tower, they were all severed when the plane ran through them. But in the South Tower, there was Stairwell A. Now, 18 people, just 18, managed to find this staircase, and Stanley was one of them. And it's a detail that I think is worth sitting with because one stairwell out of many survived and only a handful of people found it. So the difference between life and death that day often came down to something as small as just which emergency exit you happen to be sitting next to in your desk in your office on that day. Now, we'll go into that in a bit more depth in this week's bonus episode, just looking at what was happening across the towers in that hour between the impact and the collapse. Because naturally, with the benefit of years of investigation, we can now trace minute by minute what worked, what failed, and what decisions shaped survival. I'm actually going to sit down with an expert to unpack all of that From a bird's eye view. It's. It's really interesting. But for now, here's what it was like to be at the very top of the south tower on September 11, 2001, and somehow make it out alive. Here is Stanley Premnath. Stanley, welcome to the show.

[Stanley Premnath]

Thank you.

[Julian Morgans]

So we're here to talk about 9, 11, but you actually worked at the World Trade center for a long time.

[Stanley Premnath]

That's correct.

[Julian Morgans]

And I'm curious because I know that in 1993 there was an earlier attack. Some people parked a truck full of explosives in the car park and you were there for that. And I'd love to start the story just by getting a bit of a taste of that story.

[Stanley Premnath]

I remember that day very, very clearly because my supervisor at the time and I were having lunch and we were sitting across each other from the table and it was about, maybe about one o' clock or thereabout, a man went, parked 1200 pounds of explosive in a white pickup truck in the basement level on the building. Walks away, presses the remote control, boom. And it exploded. Within seconds. The building shook, the lights went out and the smoke rose from the vents and all hell broke loose. The crazy thing is I was a fire warden for my floor and all the protocols we had, nothing worked. Instead of drop, roll, go to lower floors at the smoke rows, they sent up to higher, higher floors and we found ourselves on the 83rd floor. And the next day I got home at 2 o' clock in the morning. My wife thought I died. So that's my first, dealt with that World Trade center fear and explosion and burning and all that good stuff. God, that. I'm not gonna go back. Yeah, I said I'm not gonna go back to work there.

[Julian Morgans]

Okay.

[Stanley Premnath]

What? Our, our first child Stephanie was born in 1993. She was born in January, so I mean, less than one month the accident happened and I'm like, no, got no choice, went back to work and here I am.

[Julian Morgans]

Did you feel like the World Trade center as this kind of epicenter of economic activity in New York, did you just feel like it was a bit of a vulnerable target? Was that your fear?

[Stanley Premnath]

I always felt that the World Trade center was a target. I always felt in my heart the bad guys would come, they would cause some trouble, they would come back again. I don't know when it was going to happen, I don't have a clue what was going to happen. But I just know they will try again. And they did.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah, they certainly did.

[Stanley Premnath]

Yeah.

[Julian Morgans]

Can you tell me a little bit about your work? So you're going back to this office. You know, you've got views across the entire world. Really. But what were you doing on a day to day basis?

[Stanley Premnath]

I work for Japanese bank, they call it Fuji Bank Limited. I worked on the South Tower on the 81st Floor. I helped to run their global operation. We had, we were the number three financial institution in the world and half of the world never heard about Fuji bank limited And I worked there as an assistant vice president in their loans department. I liked what I did. It was a high pressure job, lots of moving parts, and they love me. They treated me well, took care of me, and I gave my best.

[Julian Morgans]

Can you give me a snapshot of your private life? I understand that you had two kids by that point.

[Stanley Premnath]

Oh, boy. By vocation I'm a pastor. But that started. I became a pastor in 2006.

[Julian Morgans]

Okay.

[Stanley Premnath]

I got married at a Preacher man's Daughter and we got married in 89. So 37. 36. 37 years ago we got married, two children, two grandchildren. And today there's an empty nest. Our little one got married just about two weeks ago.

[Julian Morgans]

Congratulations.

[Stanley Premnath]

So freedom came.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You completed really, the. The game. The game of life. Yes, but I'm going to go for a segue here. But, you know, it was pretty dicey there for a while. It looked. It looked like you weren't going to just. Just clock it. I mean, it looked like you weren't. Weren't going to have such a glorious extended life. I want to. Want to take this back to 2001. Can you tell me about waking up that morning? Did you have any strange feeling or, you know, were you stressed about work? What was the mood?

[Stanley Premnath]

2001, the day when I thought I would never see the light of another day, regular, average day. I was off on that Monday. So on the Tuesday morning, I got up, nice bright day, September 11th. And I'm praying in my heart the same prayer that I carried for many, many years. Lord, cover me and all my loved ones under your precious blood. Take us to work and bring us back home in peace and safety. That's all I'm saying over and over and over. But that's the same prayer I carried every day. That wasn't like something different. So it was nothing abnormal. And I'm telling her, I'm gonna wear my lucky shoe and go to work today. And she says, no, Stan, that's an ugly Paris shoe. And I said, yes, I'm gonna wear that shoe. And thank God I wore that shoe. I got dressed, pick up my little old car, and I would drive from where we live to the borough of Queens, park up, take the A train and go to work. The letter A. I did that because I didn't want to take the Long island railroad, which was more expensive. So I went a cheaper route. However, it would take me close to three hours, one way to get to work. But that was September 11th. That's how that day Started brief east in my hand. Jump in my little car. I drove through traffic and hope I find a parking someplace. Jump in the train and I would go. That's how I started that day.

[Julian Morgans]

I find it kind of spooky just how quiet and normal and just average. These wild stories, they always seem to just start with such a mundane beginning. You don't have any idea what's going to happen. Your focus that morning is on which shoes you're going to wear. That's the kind of emotional apex of the morning. And then yet in a few hours from now, you're going to be, you're just going to be in a life and death crisis situation. It's, it's. I don't know. There's a, there's a disconnect there. So bizarre.

[Stanley Premnath]

Absolutely. Yeah.

[Julian Morgans]

Okay.

[Stanley Premnath]

Didn't know. Had I known that something like this would have happened, I probably would not have gone to work.

[Julian Morgans]

It would have been.

[Stanley Premnath]

Just stayed in bed all day.

[Julian Morgans]

It would have been insane to go to work. You'd have to be a real masochist to go to work. So tell me about getting to the office. You know, do you make a cup of coffee? Do you sit down? What's, what's happening?

[Stanley Premnath]

All right, so I took the A train. I got to work. I worked on the 81st floor. Right there in the lobby of the building. There was a Ben and Jerry store and they also sold raisin bagel. So I walked in there and I told the lady, I gave me raisin bagel, toasted raisin bagel, butter and a cup of coffee. She put it all in a brown bag. Briefcase in one hand, brown bag in another. One pushes the button. I'm in the express elevator. And that would take me less than 45 seconds to go to the 80th floor. So the ears would pop, I would get there. Yeah, it's like you're zoomed up.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah.

[Stanley Premnath]

And I walk across the hallway, took the local elevator and went to the 81st floor. Everything is normal. Apparently I was in the elevator going up when the first plane hit the first building. So I did not hear anything of the impact. Wow. Our building. The. Our building, the South Tower that is World Trade Center 2. I work on the south side of the south building. So the elevator that I took was on the north side. So I walk all the way down the hallway, the corridor that is. And I got to this huge glass enclosed office. Other people shared that office with me. I walked in the office and a young lady was making copies of the copier Delicious. So part of the staff was relocated in the north tower. And I had two desks, one where the phone was and the other one where I'll be sitting on. Because there are a lot of rearrangement going on where I sat in the office. If I was to look an angle to my right, I would have seen part of the north tower, the extreme right, I would see Jersey City overlooking the Hudson. South, I would see the Statue of Liberty. And if I look an angle here to my left, I could have seen part of the Brooklyn Bridge. Spectacular view.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah.

[Stanley Premnath]

The phone rang. Put down my briefcase and my coffee with the bagel on top of the desk. The phone rang, pick it up. My mother is on the phone. Stan, are you okay? I'm fine. My brother, Steve. Paul. Bill. Are you okay? Okay, okay. Yeah. I'm saying to myself, there's got to be a lot of love here. These people are calling me before 9 o' clock and sometimes months would pass, nobody will call me. So I assured him they were okay. But they were watching tv, probably at home, or they heard the news and the first plane hit the first building. So they knew something was wrong. But up to this point nobody said a word to me. And the girl who was making copies of the copier, she apparently didn't hear anything. My God, the building are all sunk proof. So what is happening outside? You can't hear inside.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah.

[Stanley Premnath]

So I hung up the phone. And as I'm walking towards my desk now to put my briefcase and my bag down where I'm going to be sitting, at the corner of my eyes I can see like chunks of fireballs falling from the sky. So I walk close and wind to the huge panes of window and I start looking up because the first plane had hit way up the building, right? So I'm looking up and I call out the delisa says, lis, come, come, come take a look. So we're watching and we're seeing chunks of fireballs falling down. So she says, oh my God, Stan, I'm scared. So I run back to the phone, pick up the phone. I'm dialing my boss, Peter Del Grasso. Pete, son, pick up, pick up, pick up. No response. I'm calling his boss, Bob Militaglio. Bobby, pick up. Not a response. God, Stan, let's get out of here. Okay, so we ran out of the office, ran down the hallway back to the elevator, took the local elevator, went Back to the 80th floor, the sky lobby, multiple elevator, lots of people, crowded lobby. We're waiting on the elevator. To go downstairs. Not a word is said. We had occupied four floors of the World Trade Center. 79, 80, 81, 82. Four floors. We stood up there. All the big shots are right there. Nobody's saying anything. The doors open up. I stepped in. All the people stepped in. The door closed. We went down. The doors open on both sides of the elevator. So when we went down, the door is going to open now in front of me. I stepped out. The security guard says, where you calling? So I'm going home. I saw fireballs coming down from the first building. Your building is safe, is secured. Go back to your office.

[Julian Morgans]

What? Why?

[Stanley Premnath]

The intercom. You can hear the loudspeakers, the intercom. Your building is safe, it's secure. Go back to your office. Over and over and over to the intercom system.

[Julian Morgans]

What was the motivation there? Who was running that?

[Stanley Premnath]

Why?

[Julian Morgans]

Why did they want people to go work?

[Stanley Premnath]

I asked the secret service that question. Is it possible that Al Qaeda penetrated that company, that building, that. That. That act that they just carried out there to a point where they infiltrated everything and they told the people to send everybody back up to cause maximum casualty. I said, stan, you might be onto something, but we would never get the answer. I asked that question. But we were told to go back to your office, and your building is safe. It's secured. The question is, what do you do when all your bosses sit in there in the elevator, nobody's coming out, and you're alone standing there? Do you go home? Do you go back in that elevator and there's a turnstile right in front to exit, to go home?

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah. This is a real.

[Stanley Premnath]

And delis stepped out, correct? It is. You're in the horns of dilemma there.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah.

[Stanley Premnath]

And delee stepped out and says, stan, I want to go home. Well, take the rest of the day off. Go. Stan, how can you do something like that in a time like now? We have an operation to run. No, no, no. I'm running the operation. She is going home. Good. I've never in all my life spoken to people like that. But I felt the need at that moment to say what I said. And she walks away. And as she's walking away, she's turning back, looking at me like, oh, my God, I got this man into trouble. Go, go, go, go, go. And she's gone. And that was probably the best decision. Decision I ever made in my entire life. She's gone. The door is trying to close. Jack Andrecchio is leaning against one side of the door. Manny Gomez is leaning on the other. Side of the door. Come on, stand the man. You're not scared to go back up? And I'm still not sure what I should be scared about. I don't know. Come on, Stan, we don't have all day here. Packed elevator. And half heartedly, as I'm stepping back in that elevator with that split second, I'm reliving 1993. And I got back in that elevator, the door closed, and I can still remember this young lady, Alicia Levin, God rest her soul. She's looking at me, smiling. Never realized that I would never see that smile again. And Kawchi, he had his. His sweater tucked in his khakis. And I says, come on, man, it's a warm day. Take that thing off. And I can hear the comment, only Stan can do this. I've worked a long time there with these folks. We were more like a family than employer employee.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah.

[Stanley Premnath]

And I never thought I would never see these people again. And the elevator went up. We went to the sky lobby. Some people got out and went to the 80th floor, took the local elevator and went to the 81st floor.

[Julian Morgans]

Oh, God.

[Stanley Premnath]

And I walked back into the office and the phone rang again. And a young lady from Chicago, she is calling. And this is what she says when I pick up the phone. Get out, Stan. Get out. Get out for what, Stan? You're not locked on. You're not watching the monitor, you're not listening to the tv. What do you do, Stan? Go, go, go. We don't have time. You got to tell me why. I'm a logical minded person. Tell me why and I'll go. What? Up and down? Nobody told me what is happening. Oh, God, Stan, we don't have time. Go, go, go. She's in Chicago. They're one hour behind. But she is watching news and they know what's happening. She's home. She worked for one of our rep offices. She's telling me to get out. And I still don't have a clue why I should. So I stood up in my phone and I'm watching in no particular direction. And something says, look up. And I look straight ahead towards the direction of Statue of Liberty. And I'm confronted by a giant airplane, gray in color, you on the tail. And the plane is bearing down, eye level, eye contact towards me.

[Julian Morgans]

Oh my God.

[Stanley Premnath]

Straight towards me. I'm kind of hypnotized and mesmerized and awe and kind of like, my God, what is happening? I didn't know how to react. You're seeing a plane coming towards you. On a normal blade, a plane would fly or let's say a half mile radius or away from you going. But this is a plane coming towards you. And it's happening, like, in slow motion. And as the plane is coming towards me closer and closer, I can hear that revving sound that the engine is making. And I realize, oh, my God, it's coming towards me. And all I remember doing was I dropped the phone, I screamed, and this is all I remember saying, lord, I can't do this. You take over. That's all I remember saying. And I dove under the desk, and with the most thunderous sound, the plane just, bam. Crashed into the building. And you heard that cliche before. You heard the proverbial phrase before all hell broke loose.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah.

[Stanley Premnath]

And with the most thunderous sound, the plane crashed into the building on my floor. And that giant ball of fire was all around me. A large chunk of the plane broke out and was stuck in the office doorway 20ft from where I am. Every wall was flattened. Every piece of furniture was mangled. It looked like matchsticks. But the only desk that stood firm was a desk that I'm hiding under. And my Bible was on top of that desk. Talk about God and his grace.

[Julian Morgans]

Hey, we're going to take a quick ad break here, but please stick around because we're going to hear what happened next.

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[Julian Morgans]

Did I talk too much? Can't I just let it go?

[Stanley Premnath]

Thank you so much.

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[Stanley Premnath]

So when the plane hit the building, the ceiling above me all collapse and start caving in. The floor above me collapsed and was hovering right over the desk. But I'm like, I'm gonna die. One way or the other. I'm dead. Yeah, I'm gonna get burned because there are flames all around me. I'm gonna get crushed because this floor above me, all steel beams gonna just cave in. I'm gonna die. The sprinkler system came on and all the cables that are hidden in the ceiling, they got exposed and they were short circuiting. I'm gonna die. And what you didn't see on TV was the air pressure was so great, it was sucking everything out. From the window panes you can hear the sound. So all that paper that looks like confetti and people, chances are you see jumping, they were probably sucked out. It's like the movie Airplane. The window is popped, you're mid air and everything is just sucked out of the plane. It was a scenario like that. So I'm screaming, lord, I don't want to die. Please Lord, please send anybody, send somebody to help me. And I'm looking around and I'm not seeing anybody. And I'm saying to myself, these people are heartless to leave me here to die. How can they leave me to die? I don't want to die. I want to go home to my wife and our two girls. Who's going to take care of Jenny and Stephanie and Caitlyn? And I'm crying out to this invisible God and for some divine reason, one person later told me he was coming down the stairs with a group of six other people when they heard me scream. The rest of them ran back up and they made a wrong choice. But this one man stopped to investigate and he had a flashlight shining it all over him like this in the air. And I saw that light. And I'm screaming, wait for me. And even though the man was responding, I'll wait for you. I couldn't hear him. So I start to crawl. I'm dodging all the cables that are short circuiting. I'm looking at the flames and crouching. And I'm holding onto the mangled furniture because I don't want to get sucked out by the air pressure. And I'm looking at this beam hovering over me. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. And I'm crawling. And I crawled the entire length of the loans department to the lounge, in the computer room, in the communication room. And that's the farthest I could have gone.

[Julian Morgans]

Wow.

[Stanley Premnath]

One lousy drywall stood intact. One wall, 10ft. Why that one wall? I always ask the Lord. Lord, if you wanted me to die, why not there? Why you had this one wall to prevent me escaping. Why? And that man behind the wall, he's screaming, bang on the wall. I'll know where you are. I'm banging on the wall. He says, climb over. I can't do it. Climb over. I'm gonna catch you on the other side. Hollow ceiling. It had part of loose ceiling and pieces of sheetrock hanging all over me. I can't do it. You gotta do it or you're gonna die. I jumped the first time, tried to grab on and I missed. And part of the hanging loose sheetrock caved in and tried to prevent from hitting my face. I raised up my hand and a black sheetrock screw went straight to my palm. God, I'm in worship than before. What happened? Neil pierced my hand. He says, you got to bite it out and try again. I can't do it. You got to think about your family or you're going to die. You got to climb over. And I start. I start playing with this invisible God that I've heard so much about all through the years. Lord, who's going to take care of Jenny? How is she going to make out with these two children? Who's going to pay all these bills that we have? Who's going to pay the mortgage? I don't want to die. And in that brief moment, I can hear one thing only in my head. Only one thing. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That's all I can hear. The pastor is preaching. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Strange at a time like that. The man said, is that wood? Is that nail attached to A piece of wood? I said, yes. He said, hit the wood and the nail is going to come out. I hit the wood, the nail came out and the hand just ballooned. And I don't know why I thought, caressing this wall. I can't hear you. What are you doing? You're going to die. I'm caressing this wall. And I can hear in my head I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And I made a fist as tightly as I could. I don't know why I made a fist and I'm caressing this wall. And all I remember did like this. And my fist passed right through that Sheetrock wall, dry wall. If you ask me to do that today, I would never be able to. I've never broken a piece of wood in my hand by my hand. The man grabbed my fist. He says, I see your hand. I see when you see my head. He yanked my body through. And I punched and I punched and I punched and the hole got bigger, bigger, bigger. And I dabbled around with a little bit of a Kenpo and White Tiger kung fu. Never karate chop a piece of wood. Don't know how to do it. Never did it. And I stuck my head through and the man gave me a headlock. One fluid motion, and he pulled with such force. And I flew over that wall, knocking off his feet because he was standing in some debris. And together we rolled down 10 flight of stairs and we landed on the 80th floor. And I don't know how to thank this man who just saved my life. I realize I'm lying on top of this fella. I hug him around the neck and give him a kiss on the cheek. And he says, what are you doing? And he got up, takes his jacket in his tie. He says, brian Clark, like a robot, Brian Clark as your Stanley Primness. But this fella did something that was very, very strange. In a time where the AIDS virus and all these things were very prevalent. The man held on to my hand, did not let go of that handshake. And he took his left finger and he started to rub this wound very gently, Very, very gently, very caring. And this man told me something that I'll go to the grave remembering. The man stared me in the eyes and he said, all my life, I live as an only child. I was born and raised in Canada. I always wanted a brother. Wow. And he said, I find that man today. And this man gave me a hug. He wouldn't let go. He said, from today, you're my blood brother. This good old Irish man took his left palm that was bleeding, took my right hand and he rubbed it together, says, come on buddy, let's go home. And we started that long journey home. You had to walk 10 flight of stairs, turning into the landing, not a 10 flight, then you cover one floor. We had 80 floors to go. And that, that shoe, that lucky shoe was giving me all the traction that I needed because the water was just cascading it down the stairwells. And the lucky shoe had a thick rubber sole. And we were making our way down and we started that long journey with his hand around my shoulder. A day when the color of the skin did not matter because we were covered by the sea mash. We stopped on the 40 something floor. I couldn't breathe and I was in the best shape of my life. He stopped, put his hand in the door, opened up. The door was nice and cool in there, brightly lit. And he got on the phone and he is telling his wife, Diane, I've got this fella here from Fuji Bank. He's in bad shape, but we are coming home. I can hear the conversation. I tried calling Jenny, my wife, and she was going to work that day. The first building was hit and when they got into the office, they saw the second plane hit the building. So in her heart, I was gone. So one of the girls took her home or took her to the closest train station. And she went home and she was waiting, hoping to hear from me. And I spoke to her supervisor, I called her boss, I spoke to a lady named Louise. I said, if you get in contact with Jenny, tell her I'm fine, I'm coming home to you girls. And she asked me what happened and I told her a little bit so she was able to convey that little message with Jenny. I don't know how, but something caught my attention, something that I live with every single night before I sleep. There's a man lying down on the floor, broken back, massive head injury, closely shaved head. And I don't, I don't like to describe people in color, but I would say it so you would understand exactly what I'm saying. There's an Italian guy lying down on the ground, broken back, massive at injury, and you can see blood and bubbles oozing out from his scalp. And an African American security guard stood by who could have escaped but chose to stay to help this man. And they both perished. No help came for them.

[Julian Morgans]

Stan.

[Stanley Premnath]

When you talk about love, my friend, the unsung heroes, these are the people I'm talking about. And I can hear that man crying out every single night before I sleep at the time fell. Please tell my wife and our baby that I love them. Please, please tell my wife and our baby that I love them. And I don't know who that man is or who he was, and I couldn't tell anybody, but I'm hoping that somebody hears and they would remember that story and they would recognize the person. Please tell my wife and our baby that I love them. And we walked and we reached the ground floor, and only one man passed us. And he had a walkie talkie in one hand, and he's going to help somebody up there. And Brian introduced him as Jose. And we never saw Jose again. When we reached the ground floor, the only people we saw there were the firefighters and the cops and the EMS workers. And they were belching orders. Go, go, go. Run, run, run. Go to Liberty. Grant to Liberty. Liberty Street. That is Liberty Street. Liberty at the time meant street. Liberty today meant total freedom. Run, run, run. Go to Liberty. And I don't have a clue where I have to go. And Brian is navigating and he's holding onto my hand as a big brother would do. And as we're running, you can hear that scream. And one of the firefighters just fell or a cop. And we had a choice of stopping and investigating. And these good men and women, they're sending us to safety and they're taking the hit. And we're running. It looked like a scene from Forrest Gump. And Brian and I are running, running hands and hands and falling. Piece of debris falling, and we're jumping over, and you can hear that scream. And somebody just fell. And we were running with everything we got. And the people who were rope around four blocks, they were cheering us, Go, go, go, go, go, go, go. And we were running, and I just bumped into this priest. The guy was standing up like this. He's just watching this whole episode. I bumped into him, and Brian later asked me, he said, stan, do you remember when you bumped in that priest? I said, all I remember is I bumped into this man. He was staring, looking at this episode. He said, stan, you were babbling in a language we don't understand. And the priest said, you lost your mind. And right there we prayed for you. And the priest said, you need the hospital badly, but you need the church. I don't remember what we did after that, but I remember telling Brian, I'm going to Trinity Church, and I don't have a clue why Trinity Church. I don't walk around with my business card, but I Had one in my pocket somehow and I flipped it to him and he took it and that's how he was able to connect back with me.

[Julian Morgans]

Ah, of course.

[Stanley Premnath]

We reached the church, the fence of the church. Now the World Trade center is in front of us, the church is in the middle. And we are standing on the backside of the church holding onto the fence so we can see on top of the church the building is burning. That is the World Trade Center. And I'm telling him it's going, Stan, what do you see burning there? Is all draperies and cosmetic and paper. By profession I'm an engineer in steel loom bend. And he stopped short what he was saying because the building starts to sway. Oh my God. And you're tilting with the building. Oh my God, oh my God. He's going to go over, it's going to go for. And it stops and it's trembling and it starts again. Oh God, oh God, oh God. It's going to tilt over. And we're watching this episode like a scene from a horror movie. And you start feeling the ground start shaking like when this is like an earth tremor. You're watching, you're looking and everybody is screaming now all the people who were roped around, they're screaming and the building starts to implode. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Because we were hiding at the backside of the building all the debris that went poof. The church sheltered us from it. So every step of the way the Lord is taking care of us. And all hell broke loose. The building imploded, the people start to scream and the not so able is getting trampled. And every form of expression you could have heard, some people are screaming and someone swearing and someone praising God and someone just cursing and, and just screaming the lungs off. And they're running and the ladies were taking off the high heel shoe and just throwing it and they're gone. And Brian and I got separated from each other. And this man, Brian Clark, was my guardian angel. He was sent to bring me out from Sodom and Gomorrah before the Lord rained fire and brimstone. My guardian angel is gone and I can't see this guy. And I'm screaming, brian. But I can hear Stanley. He can hear me, I can hear him. But we can't see each other. And in my heart they're bombing the financial area. In my heart this is what is happening. And they are going to go to the New York Stock Exchange. That's where my wife works. Okay? They were hidden inside of a building over the Brooklyn Bridge in Metro Tech Center. They were not working on the trading floor. They were doing the software update for the stock exchange. So in my heart, they're going for the stock exchange. That is the most logical thing that would happen. I gotta go save Jenny. So I'm looking around, looking around, looking around, I don't know what I'm looking for. And I saw a man is driving on top of the sidewalk on a white 4x4 pickup truck. Ran alongside the truck, yanked the door open and says, one word from you, you're dead. Drive. The man looks at me scared. Now you look at a man like me, I look like a bad guy. Especially when I'm covered in blood. Black and blue all over.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah.

[Stanley Premnath]

My undershirt looks like it came from a shredder. My shirt that I had white shirt I took and make a makeshift band bandaged my leg. My leg was bleeding so I looked like a bad guy. The shoot stood intact. The man reaches on top of the dashboard, pick up a white box, a cigarette. He says, here man, have a cigarette. Nah, I had enough smoke for one day. And he started to laugh. So he's kind of looking at me and I'm like, yeah, just drive. So where to? Brooklyn Bridge. He reached Brooklyn Bridge and I yank open the door, jumper. Thank you. And I'm gone.

[Julian Morgans]

Hey, this bit of music means it's time for an ad break. But please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.

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[Julian Morgans]

Did I talk too much? Can't I just let it go?

[Stanley Premnath]

Thank you so much.

[BetterHelp Ad Voice]

Take a breath. You're not alone. Let's talk about what's going on. Counseling helps you sort through the noise with qualified professionals and online therapy makes it convenient. See if it's for you, visit betterhelp.com randompodcast for 10% off your first month of online therapy and let life feel better.

[Stanley Premnath]

It looks like a scene from from one of these action packed movie. I'm running on top of the Brooklyn Bridge. Thousands of people and I'm pushing people. Get away, get Away from me. Get away from me. And I bump into this big guy, and I'm like, oh, my God, Stan, I think you crossed the line. This man is going to kill you now. The man turns around, look at me, and took compassion on me. He said, my name is Albert De Leon. I'm a senior counsel for a French bank. I was in Vietnam. Ask me anything, I'll help you with. I said, I just came out from that building. He says, oh, my God, you need the doctor. I said, no, no, no, no, no, no. I want to go to Metro Tech, but I don't know how to get there. He says, I live right behind that building. What is that chance? One person, 40,000 people on top of the bridge. The man knows exactly where you got to go. I attribute all that to God's grace. The man said, sit down. We sat on top of the bridge and people are screaming, running away, and you can hear. You can hear the jet fighters hovering over. He said, what are you doing, Stan? I said, I'm not going. He said, what are you not going for? What's the matter? I said, they hot wire this bridge and everybody's going to die. I'm logical minded. He says, stan, no, no, no. Listen good, listen good. Tell me what you're hearing. I said, that's the F16s. I said, that is Uncle Sam taking care of business. Come on, let's go. Got up, start to run. We're running now. We reached a ramp of the building where my wife works. Albert is here. Stanley is here. We walk into the building. Security guard looks at us and says, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. Get out. Get out. You guys are not coming in here. They look at me, profile me and says, oh, no. All I remember, I saw a guardstick coming down like this in slow motion. And I took a karate stance. And the next thing I know, the guy just flew away. And Albert said, you killed the guy. I said, no, no, he's gonna live. So Albert has his back against mine. And we're looking at these guys and crouching and crouching. And Albert is saying, all the man wants to see is Jennifer from the legal department. So the receptionist heard who was sitting at the front desk. And the next thing I know, I saw this man running, coming towards us. Greg Langan. Not Irish guy. I had luck with the Irish.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah.

[Stanley Premnath]

The guy came and he says, what are you guys doing? Stan is a good man, and he pushed him aside. And this man said something and he did an act of kindness that I will remember for a Long, long time. And every day in 9 11, my wife would buy a cheesecake and send it to Greg because he loved cheesecake. Greg says, give this man anything he wants, but make him well. Stan, we don't have the time here to take care of you. I have a general counsel emergency meeting. But he told the guys, anything he wants. Give him. I'll take care of you guys. If this Bible was to be written in modern days, this man would have been the Good Samaritan. He's gone. A nurse came to, got her jacket here, Stan. She insisted that I take the sandwich that she bought for lunch, an apple and a bottle of water. No, no, no. And she starts to cry. So I said, okay, I'll take the water. She says, we don't have the facility here to take care of you, Stan. You need the hospital badly. I said, no. If I can only hear my wife's voice and know that she is okay and the two children are fine, I'll be okay. But I can't remember the home number. I can't remember my wife's phone number or cell phone number. I'm crazy in my head. I just lost it. I says, give me a phone. So my left. My right hand is no good. My took a left hand and I'm playing with the numbers and the number pops into my head. And here's Jenny on the other line.

[Julian Morgans]

Yes.

[Stanley Premnath]

What are you doing this for? Please don't do this to me. Please don't do it. My husband is dead. When you're still alive and you hear those words, it doesn't register. Well, yeah. No, no, no, it's me. The Lord took care of me. I'm coming home to you girls. No, my husband is dead. I hung up on that phone. I hung up that phone. And the nurse said, we can't send you home. Send me home with a cab because they shut down the Parkway. But I'll walk you down the subway. Lady, why are you going to walk me down the subway if the subway system is shut down? But I went with her. We stood up there and there's nobody in the platform. But God does wondrous things and miracles do happen. I can't explain this for my life. All of a sudden, an A train, the train that I have to take to go back home, pulls up on a platform. Nobody came out of the train. Nobody got in except me alone. And the nurse could not believe she got her hand in her mouth, covering her mouth. Like, what is happening here? And as soon as I entered that train, the door Closed. And she's running alongside the train, waving me goodbye. As the train pulled out the platform and it's gone. I became like the conductor. Every time the train stops, I'm poking my head out. Nobody's coming in. Nobody's going out. The train stopped. Where I got to go? Where I got to go get my car. Got out of the train, Lefferts Boulevard. Went to the car, realized that I'm swollen. 75% of my body was black and blue. I'm swollen. Looked like a 300 pounder. I don't know how a man looks at me. He had a bag of food with him. He recognized me. Oh, my God, Stan, what happened to you? He gave me the food. I said, no, no, I'm okay. He says, let's go to the office. He was the owner slash manager for an Allstate insurance company. And he recognized me. I said, no, no, no, I'm okay. So I got in the car. I'm trying to put on the seat belt. I can buckle it on because I'm stolen and I'm scared. I'm like, oh, my God, today I'm gonna get a ticket. Never had a ticket in my life on a day like that. Who cares about a ticket? And I'm thinking, I'm gonna get a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt. I tried a buckle it on. I drove like a robot. And I reached home. I got home. Jenny is standing on the. On the front steps on the porch, sort of. Caitlin is on the right hand, Stephanie on the left hand. And she's standing up, holding onto these precious children. Stephanie was eight and a half. Katien was four. And all the neighbors, when I stopped there, all ran out. Gigi and Toots and Carolyn and every one of them, oh, my God. Thank God you're safe. Staying. Hug me. Kiss me. Hug me, hug me. I walk up the stairs and I reached for Caitlin, our little daughter. And when that child saw me, she could not recognize me. He's hiding behind my wife. Please don't touch me. You're not my daddy, man. When you hear those words, you'll never be the same. So I went to hug Stephanie, and I hugged a child. She still had the butter knife in one hand. She had a sandwich. And that child looked at me and says, dad, if you didn't come home, I was going to kill myself. When that child said what she said, after all that I went through, didn't mean anything. And all I remember and mumbling, and I'm saying to myself, please don't take me to the hospital. If you take me to the hospital, they would never send me home. Take me to Dr. Grant at Elmont Road. He would know what to do. And all I remember after that, I'm lying down at the doctor's bed and he is talking to somebody in the phone. And he's telling him, this man lost his mind. And I can hear everything, but I just couldn't speak. I lost my speaking vocabulary. I lost my memory, I lost everything. But I can hear he is saying, it may take a day, a week, a month, a year. Eventually he may snap out, but there's no guarantee. And the next thing I remember, I'm lying down and my wife would leave a little notepad, a bottle of water, a telephone and a pen. And she says, if you remember everything or something, write it down. And I'm wondering, what is this strange woman doing in this house with these children? Can't recognize them. Don't know who they are. Wow. Don't know anything. And all I remember, I'm watching cnn and I don't know how long it was. I never asked that question. We never discussed 9, 11. It never happened. Not the children and I, not Jenny and I, we never talked about it. And all I remember, I'm watching TV and I can remember the newscaster is saying, 911 is an emergency number. I can hear him saying. And I can hear Pastor Jim is preaching his heart out with my father in law. And he's saying, all the answers to life is in the Bible. That's all I can hear. And all I remember saying, jen, bring me my Bible. That's all I heard. So she gave me the Bible. And I don't know what I'm looking for, but I'm looking for 911. I'm looking for all the answers to life. And the Bible was so old that all the pages, half of the pages are falling apart. And I'm flipping the pages, and here it is. I'm looking at Psalm 91:1. I'm reading on. And he shall call upon me and I will hear and I will answer. And I snapped out, unable to see people and places and everything. And I. The memory's back as if nothing happens. And I start that recovery process. And I live because of the saving grace of God. Well, I recouped, went back to work, and everything is fine. I asked myself, lord, why me of all these good men and women? And I stopped one day and says, why not you? And I start having nightmares. Every night I would dream the same dream. And I would hear the same scream. And I would feel as if my skin and flesh is falling off the bones. And I'm screaming. And I would get up and I would hyperventilate. And she would say, what happened? I get that same dream again. Again. It's just like I. I don't know, Stan. I don't know what you're supposed to do. And I can hear this voice in that dream, and this is all I can hear. I'm not seeing anybody. You're not doing what you're supposed to do. And I don't know what I'm supposed to do. But every church group and every colleges and everybody wants me to go. So I'm traveling now, going to churches, schools, colleges all around the country, sharing this wonderful story. And I found myself in Springfield, Missouri. And Pastor Scott, God rest his soul, he passed away last year, says Stan. What happened? I don't know, Pastor. And I told him, what? I'm dreaming. He said, you look terrible. You mind if I pray for you? Not at all. And it was no fancy prayer. Right there in the parking lot, we were going to have supper. He just put his hand over me like this in one little prayer, less than one minute. And by the time he was done, it was like somebody flipped a switch in my head. I knew exactly what I had to do. I said, I'll become a pastor. Nice. And the first day I enrolled in that program, I never had back that nightmare. So I knew exactly what I was supposed to do. And I still do it. So churches, schools, colleges, whoever invites me, I travel and I go and I speak. But here, what the kicker is, 20 years pass. 9, 11. On that date, I'm not traveling because there's a pandemic. Sick like a dog, can't walk. Nobody wants me to go to the doctor or the hospital. They don't want me. They don't know what is wrong. And the pandemic is rampant. Lie up in bed one month, lost £28. I said, Stan, I think this is it. You're going to die. But I lived. I got sick, went to the doctor, got pneumonia in both lung. It took care of all that. Then it left scar tissue in both lung. 9 11. I'm sitting at a doctor's office and Dr. Donnelly walks in and he says, stan, I have something to tell you. My wife is a pastor. I know who you are and I know what I have to tell you. You're going to take it in good spirit. I said, later on me, doc. He said, you have leukemia. Wow. I Don't know how to react. So while I'm battling that, six months afterwards, I came down with skin cancer. They cut under my chin, took an ice cream scoop, scoop with all the meat. Stitching me from inside out. Sent me back some surviving. Last year I went for a physical. The doctor said, I don't like, I don't like, I don't like. The doctor says, you're not going home. I said, why? He said, your four main arteries are 78 and 19, 100 clogged. I said, no, I gotta go set the house in order. One week later, six and a half hours operation, quadruple bypass. And by God's grace, I'm sitting down here telling you about that goodness of God. But my only question remains is how many times do you try to kill one man? That's me. How many times the bad guy would come and kill me. But I live because of the saving grace of God.

[Julian Morgans]

Wow, Stan, thank you. Thank you for sharing that story. That I have never once interviewed someone and not said anything because I was just so flawed by your story. I. It's beautiful. I'm not even. I'm not even religious. I'm not a believer, to be honest with you. But there's a lot of wild, wild coincidences in that story that I just. I can't explain you. You should be dead. The fact that you're not dead. I should be dead in itself is a wild coincidence. Yes, it's a wild.

[Stanley Premnath]

That is what I'm battling with every person that I really care for, they have gone. They're all gone. The only people are my grandchildren or our grandchildren, my wife and our two children. We have a very little family and I make that my priority. I call our daughters every single night before I go to sleep and they have to blow me a kiss or they don't go to sleep. And the little ones, I got to make sure I visit them at least twice per week just to see how they're doing. So I live a halfway decent life hoping that is what the Lord wants out of me.

[Julian Morgans]

I would say that you're living a very decent life. And I mean, I have. You've got two daughters. I have one daughter. But throughout this story, these descriptions of these sort of father daughter moments, you know, in the sort of bit where you show up on your doorstep and your little girl, who's. I think you said she was 4, she had a butter knife and that killed me. My little girl's four. I can put myself in your shoes in that moment. And that would have absolutely destroyed me too. So I think, I think you're prioritizing the right people. You say you don't, you say a lot of people are dead, but you've got your inner sanctum and they're the, they're the important ones. I want to, I want to pull on a couple little threads here. So, I mean, you got leukemia, you've battled some, some heart problems. Is any, can you attribute any of this to inhaling all of this, like, smashed up World Trade Center? You know, a lot of people have been getting all sorts of illnesses in the years since that afternoon of just inhaling all this dust. What, what impact do you think that's had on your health?

[Stanley Premnath]

It, it could have been because I came down with asthma, I came down with bronchitis, I came down with just everything. My sugar level was spiking, my blood pressure was spiking, my cholesterol was spiking. I mean, everything that the devil threw or threw at my side, I was able to just brush it off and continue as if nothing happened. To answer the question, if I attributed some of those things with the World Trade Center. I don't know. I don't know. The greater good of it all is what the devil meant for harm. God turned it around for good, and I live.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah. I'm wondering how I process this story. You just have such array of improbabilities. And in my sort of secular brain, I'm kind of going, well, is it possible that this, statistically possible, this level of improbability is that you were under the one desk on your floor that didn't get swept up in a fireball? This guy showed up your savior and became your brother in the stairwell. The list goes on. Leukemia, heart surgery. I don't know what to. I'm not sure what I'm saying, but I can't make head of tales of it, so I can see.

[Stanley Premnath]

No, no, I, I, I asked myself those same questions. Why? Why? How? But I can't come up with the answers. I asked myself that question, why me? Why? Why? How come? What are the chances are? And I can't come up with answers. And the only thing I can attribute towards all that is that mighty God that I put my cares in. I believe with all my heart that he can take care of me. And if he chooses not to, he's okay. It is okay with me.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah. There's the big man upstairs.

[Stanley Premnath]

The big man upstairs. Correct.

[Julian Morgans]

One of the luckiest little moments I think that you had in this story was just, just finding the stairwell. I mean, I. I've done some reading, and it seems as though across both buildings, there was only one stairwell that wasn't severed, and that was stairwell A. The one that you happened to. The one that you guys found.

[Stanley Premnath]

That is correct. Any other sterile. That I would have taken, I would have plunged to my death.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah.

[Stanley Premnath]

Some way, some way somewhere, Brian was coming down that stairwell. And when he heard that scream, and I'm quoting him on cbs, he said he heard his scream and other people thought something worse was happening. They ran back up and they made the wrong choice. They all perished. But he stopped to help me, and that's how he lived. So every time I say, brian, thank you. Thank. No, no, Stan, thank you. Because had you not screamed when we saw this debris on top of that stairwell there, I would have made the wrong choice to go back up. So he said because of me, he lived.

[Julian Morgans]

So. So you're saying that the stairwell was. Was full of debris and there was a moment where he was like, this is impossible. We need to go to the roof.

[Stanley Premnath]

Exactly. Exactly. That's what I'm saying. Okay. So he was trying to make that choice. But when I screamed, he realized, oh, my God, somebody need my help. So he stopped to investigate, and that's how he lived. And I said to him, Diane said, you're asthmatic. You're allergic to smoke and to dust. Yes, I am. That's what he said. But I'm quoting him on CNN and ABC and BBC, he said he was in a bubble, and he was oblivious to smoke and dust and he was cool and he was glued to the floor, that even if he wanted to, he couldn't have moved.

[Julian Morgans]

Right? Yeah.

[Stanley Premnath]

And that's how he was able to help me. If all that is not about God, well, then I got the entire picture wrong.

[Julian Morgans]

Well, you could. You could say that. You know, adrenaline's a hell of a drug. In that moment. His asthma wasn't getting triggered by all that smoke and dust because he was pumped full of adrenaline.

[Stanley Premnath]

All that. All that. Yeah, all that I could say. But I still believe in my heart, deep down in the recesses of my soul that hit. This had to be a miracle. If there is something. If there is something like a miracle, this was one of them.

[Julian Morgans]

I wholeheartedly agree there is something of the miraculous about all of this. Was. Was the stairwell. I mean, it was full of smoke and fire. Right. As you're going through this sort of the impact zone. I understand that the many people went down and they sort of got the sense that this was just going to be an inferno. And they turned around. But you guys persisted through the smoke. Why? Why?

[Stanley Premnath]

We persisted. We persisted through that smoke. It was. It was Brian who was navigating and he knew we had to go down at all cost. And I was kind of hurrying him along. I was hobbling because my. I had a leg wound on my left leg. I was hobbling and we gotta go, we gotta go. It's going, it's going, it's going. Tim, what is going? I keep saying, it's going. And he said, what is he burning here? It's all draperies and cosmetic and paper. And he told me that exact same thing when I told him, the building is going. But he said, what do you think it's going? I am an engineer. Steel don't bend. It's cosmetic and paper and draperies. And through the cracks in the wall, you can see the flames is just licking off the office space. You can hear the crackle of the flames. And we were running down, down, down, down. We knew we had to go down somehow because there's flames on top and we're going downstairs. But Brian was the one who was navigating everything. I didn't have a clue where to go and how to do it. It was like I just lost it. I'm a zombie. I'm just running on that adrenaline. I'm going, but I don't know where it was. Only when we hit the ground floor, then I realized we got to get out of here. And I still didn't know where to go. All I remember saying, I'm going to Trinity Church. And Brian says, I'm coming with you. That's all I remember.

[Julian Morgans]

I mean, it kind of sounds like you're running on pure motion. Like, in some ways you'd argue that you made all the right choices at all the right important junctions. But I mean, the decision to go to Trinity Church, when you've just come out of the bottom of the World Trade center, it's kind of crazy. But as it turned out, it was the right decision. You were making very emotional choices.

[Stanley Premnath]

If somebody was to ask me why I chose the Trinity Church, I would never. I can never answer that question in my spirit. I have to go there. Why? I don't know. And it was a lucky thing that we held onto the fence of the Trinity Church. So the Church was blocking our view from the World Trade center, just that the Trade center was higher than it. So everything that went when the building imploded, that should have knocked us off our Feet. The church took the blunt force of everything.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah.

[Stanley Premnath]

So it looks in retrospect as if the Lord took good care of us. When the building imploded, it looks like a giant tsunami of smoke was coming just enveloping everybody. And to all that we were able to get away from that scene. When the building imploded, it created a vacuum and it was sucking all the smoke from the air in the cross streets towards the core, like dragging it towards. So everybody you're seeing was just envelope with this huge tsunami of smoke. It was. All hell broke loose. It was the wildest thing you can possibly imagine.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah.

[Stanley Premnath]

It was like a war zone.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah.

[Stanley Premnath]

If there's something like that, that, that was a war zone. Every bad thing possible was happening right there. Yeah.

[Julian Morgans]

You, you said before that neither of you really knew that the building was going to collapse, but you had some sort of sense that you needed to get the hell out of there.

[Stanley Premnath]

Yes, yes, we did. I did not know the building was going to collapse. But all I remember seeing, it's going, it's going.

[Julian Morgans]

Okay.

[Stanley Premnath]

And you would hear in Brian, you would hear in Brian's interview, other interviews, he would say that Stanley is mentioning it is going. And he says, what is going, Stan? What is going? And I don't know why I'm mumbling, it's going, it's going, it's going. But the urgency to get out there was the number one priority. Okay.

[Julian Morgans]

And Brian was. And Brian was convinced that the building was going to be able to withstand this fire.

[Stanley Premnath]

He was 100%. Because he says, no, that's tripperies. Cosmetic paper. Steel don't bend. I'm an engineer.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah, right.

[Stanley Premnath]

What he didn't factor in was 2500 degree Fahrenheit, the jet fuel would burn and it would soften the steel, it would melt or, well, not melt or bend and the building would collapse. He didn't factor that in.

[Julian Morgans]

He did not. He didn't know it at the time, but he was echoing 24 years in the future of conspiracies and just sort of absolutely nonsense thinking about how jet fuel doesn't melt steel beams and you know, all that stuff.

[Stanley Premnath]

Correct.

[Julian Morgans]

We wanted to run this interview with you in an effort to kind of commemorate the anniversary of 9 11, I guess to memorialize it. But I guess the question is like if we're memorializing something like this, we're trying to remember it, don't forget. But I'm wondering what is it that you want people to remember about this day, about this event?

[Stanley Premnath]

If I was to memorialize that day. I would tell them first thing, call that day Remembrance Day, make it a national holiday. First thing. The second thing is I want people to remember the atrocities that was committed in our soil. We in history is the most giving nation ever. We help more people in this world than anybody else. We did not deserve what happened to us, all these good men and women and children who perished on that day. If going to work to provide for your family means you did something wrong, well, then we are all guilty. And these men and women who lost their life on that day did not deserve it. So we should memorialize that day, making it a national holiday, a day of prayer, and call it Remembrance Day. That's my take on that. Vote for me. I become the president, and that's what I'll do.

[Julian Morgans]

I'd vote for you, Stan. And is that why you tell your story? I mean, what motivates you?

[Stanley Premnath]

What motivates me in telling this story is every time I tell this story, I get it off my chest and it's like a session of therapy. One and two. I promise the Lord that you get me out of this jam and I will tell people of your grace. And that's why I tell this story.

[Julian Morgans]

Well, I'm grateful.

[Stanley Premnath]

Some people would never understand. They would never believe. And we don't bash people over the head for not believing. My job is to tell the good news. The Holy Spirit's job is to convict the spirit. And if he doesn't do that, it's not my job. I was told by the Lord before he departed, go and feed my sheep. And that's what I'm doing. I'm being faithful. That's all.

[Julian Morgans]

Here you are. You're a good shepherd. Stan, I've got one last question for you. So I think there's this idea that by hearing survival stories, we can somehow prepare ourselves better. We can sort of inoculate ourselves from disaster. That we can take lessons from what you've experienced and apply it in our own lives. And if I ever, by some stroke of misfortune, find myself in a life and death situation, I will be better prepared because I've heard your story. That's the idea. But I'm listening to your story and it just feels like a lot of just chance happenstance, a lot of luck. Grace of God, as you say. So how can people prepare for crisis situations?

[Stanley Premnath]

There are a couple of things. I'm glad you actually asked that question. How can we prepare for such event? But the first thing is we never know when the Bad guy is going to hit? We do not know. But the first thing I did when our children were growing up, my wife says, ballet in piano lessons. And I says, no karate. So our daughter Stephanie was four. I introduced her to karate and I said, you must learn to swim. You got to be taught skills that would help you out in a real life situation. So by the time she was six years swimming, and by the time she was eight, she had a blue belt in Kenpo. And the little one says, no, Dad, I don't like that. I want piano lessons. She sings like a nightingale. She sings in church and plays a keyboard. But the more I am able to tell people of this, the more we can prepare. God forbids something is to happen. Well, when, if the bad guy comes, what do you do? You can't fight back because you're fighting with a force. You can't. But there are a couple of protocols you can put into place. Well, I have to know some survival skills. Do I have a backpack that I carry with me with a bottle of water and, let's say, a rag? In the event somebody spray some gas. You can wet it, put it against your mouth and your nose. Do you know the drop, roll, roll on the stairs? Do you know how to use and fire extinguisher? You see it in the building, but you never touched it.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah, you don't know what to do.

[Stanley Premnath]

Yeah, you don't know how to do it and you're an adult. Have you ever gone and hold a nozzle and try to pull the pin and see what would happen? Invest $100, show the children, God forbid, the house is on flames. Get out. Stand up by the road and you have an emergency plan. Get all your important paper, your. Your documents, whatever it is, your passport, your bank book, if you have one, put it, let the children see. In the event there's a fire, grab it and run. Wait for mom and dad. Those are the things you teach your children. You don't wait until it happens because you're late.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah, I mean, I was thinking this when, when your karate appeared in the story. I was like, oh, Stan knows karate. Of course he does. That's. That's sort of like the secret sauce to your survival in some ways. You could punch through a wall and kick a security guard when he wouldn't let you into his wife's office. The karate thing definitely helped. Did you learn this lesson in 93? Was that one of the upshots of you surviving the first time?

[Stanley Premnath]

It was about 1999 and it looks back in retrospect, as if I was just preparing myself just for that event in 2001. And I asked myself many, many times, why on that particular year, why did you do it? I don't know. I don't know.

[Julian Morgans]

Just felt right.

[Stanley Premnath]

Yeah. It just so happened that everything happened happened in the right season or the right time. And like I said, I don't know why it happened, how it happened.

[Julian Morgans]

I'm glad it did.

[Stanley Premnath]

But I did and thank God it did. And I did what I had to do and I can able to come back here, sit down and tell you all that good stuff and hope and hope somebody it touches blesses their heart and they turn away and they start doing the right thing, whatever that right thing is.

[Julian Morgans]

I can say without a shadow of doubt, this story has touched me. You've absolutely blown me away. So Stan, thanks. Thank you so much for coming on the show, for sharing this story. It's been completely wild.

[Stanley Premnath]

Thank you.

[Julian Morgans]

Today's episode was produced by Rachel Tuffy. Ellie Dickey is our intern. Jimmy Saunders did our theme music, our cover art is by Rich Akers and this whole thing has been a super real production.

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