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>> Hi, my name is Victor Yee,

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and I'm an OPLA attorney
in downtown Manhattan.

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Right now, I'm standing
at the 9/11 memorial

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where the World Trade Centers
towers used to be on 9/11.

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I was it at 26 Federal Plaza
in downtown Manhattan,

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the federal building.

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I was with the Immigration
Naturalization Service

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as an attorney.

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All of a sudden we heard a boom.
We went to the window.

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We looked out the window
and there was.

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We were about seven blocks away
from the World Trade Center,

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and we saw the tail section
of a plane

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cratered into the side
of one of the towers.

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And,

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like, grayish black smoke

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was billowing out
of the bell of the towers.

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When I got to
the emergency stairwell,

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there were dozens and dozens
of people going down the stairs.

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We were on the 14th floor.

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And so we started
walking uptown.

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And when we reached Soho,

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which was about 15 or 20 minutes
away from the office,

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we stopped at a little park,
turned around

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and saw one
of the towers collapse.

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And it was just
such a shocking scene.

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I mean, I couldn't imagine
something like that happening,

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and I didn't know
what to think,

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and it didn't really register
until someone in the crowd

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just yelled out that the
World Trade Center collapsed.

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And what what made it worse
for me

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personally was being unable
to contact my,

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my parents and my family.
The phone systems were down,

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so eventually we
made it to midtown,

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stopping off at one
of my colleagues, friends,

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and we were able to recharge
and get something to drink.

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And you know, after that,

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I decided to walk across the
59th Street bridge to Queens,

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and I ended up
taking the subway,

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which was still
running back to my home.

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And when I got home, I just saw
the relief on my parents face

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and it was really just
a draining day for me.

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And just knowing what transpired
and

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especially
watching all the footage

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on the news just made me realize
that personally,

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I was very lucky
and unfortunately

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close to 3000 people
lost their lives on that day.

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I think about that day,
most every day,

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you know, not just
what happened to me,

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but you know
how people must have.

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Being aware and being
in the tower

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and knowing what
was going on,

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I think about those people
and the people on the plane

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and everyone
who lost their lives.

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I'm still with the Immigration
and Customs Enforcement

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working as an attorney,

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and I am grateful to be with
the agency after all this time.

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The impact of 9/11
on my career

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was that it made me realize.

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The office that I was
working for

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is such an amazing office
full of great people.

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I decided to make a career
with the office

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and I'm so grateful
to still be with the agency.

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So

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that's
pretty much my story.