Collegiate Times

As part of the marketing department for a telecommunications company in New York City, Sujo John had etched out a part of the American Dream for himself in the beginning of the decade. Originally from Calcutta, India, John worked near his wife on the 81st floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. His wife, who was pregnant with their son at the time, worked on the 71st floor of the South Tower. 
As with many Americans, John’s and his wife’s lives changed on Sept. 11, 2001 with the most devastating terrorist attack on United States soil. Now both live in Dallas and John has begun an evangelical ministry that finds him touring around the country to give speeches and working with outreach organizations.
The speech that he will deliver this Wednesday, “Out of the Ashes of the World Trade Center,” John hopes to share with Virginia Tech what happened to him in, during and after the events at the World Trade Center, and how this has transformed his life.
John spoke with the Collegiate Times over the phone days before his speech.

CT:

Can you briefly describe the events of that day?

JOHN:

It was a beautiful day on the East Coast; it looked like the start of a normal day. At 8:48 a.m. I’m standing by the fax machine and sending some documents out to our office in Pennsylvania when I hear this incredible explosion, and this was American flight 11 that was flying from Boston to L.A. This huge plane had crashed into our tower. The plane struck a few floors above us, but all the debris of the plane tears into our floors, fire broke out, jet fuel spreading throughout floors, the building was shaking. We thought we were going
to die.
It took me more than an hour to come down 81 floors to get down to the lowest level and see all these people jumping out of buildings. The engine of the plane was flying right into the plaza. I decided to walk to the South Tower to look for my wife, and in a way, that is where my story begins. I’m 20 feet away from the building and the South Tower is collapsing. I was looking for my wife, and I was huddled with 15 to 20 people; we knew we were going to die. All kinds of soot, stuff, glass, debris was falling around, and I was there for 15 to 20 minutes. And afterward, I was surprised I was alive. Trying to get up and plastered with soot and glass, I could not breathe. The people that were with me, I got an opportunity to challenge them to pray with me, and we had kind of scattered from that group, they were all dead. There was one man alive who was an FBI agent, and we both helped each other and saw red lights flashing through the smoke and soot. That light was a flashing light coming out of an ambulance. That light what was actually what saved my life. He could have stayed with me, but he went back saying, “I got to go back and get more people.” So he runs toward the North Tower. The North Tower collapsed and he died that day. He was actually the only FBI agent that died.
I spent many hours in NYC saying, “God, why don’t you spare my life? I’m sure my wife is dead,” because the towers didn’t exist anymore. But little did I know that my wife was late to work by two minutes.

CT:

What actually went though your mind when all of this began?

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A version of this article appeared in the Mar 3 issue of the Collegiate Times.