The Twins of the Twin Towers

Special bond: Lisa DeRienzo and her twin Michael, left, shortly before he was killed

Twins, particularly identical ones, have always fascinated me. They are different from the rest of us, living their lives in the context of a ‘we’ rather than the more usual ‘I’.
In 1994, I made the Bafta-award-winning documentary Silent Twins: Without My Shadow, about identical twins and elective mutes June and Jennifer Gibbons, who committed arson and were sentenced, aged just 19, to an indefinite period inside Broadmoor.

Theirs was an extreme tale of an intense love-hate relationship and a struggle for an individual personality, resolved only by Jennifer’s premature death, aged 30. June struggled to carve a separate identity for herself after she lost her sister.

When Charlotte Moore, the BBC’s commissioning editor for documentaries, asked me earlier this year to make a film about the twins who lost their ‘other halves’ in the attacks on New York’s Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, I accepted without hesitation.

Almost 3,000 people were killed in the attacks that terrible day, and 46 of them were twins. The number sounds extraordinarily high, but it is, in fact, in line with statistical probability.

The story of the surviving siblings had never been told and, given the fascinating nature of twinship, the twins of the Twin Towers seemed both a powerful metaphor for loss and a useful prism through which to revisit the events of that fateful day, and to commemorate the tenth anniversary.

For the twins themselves, making the documentary was to prove a much wanted opportunity for their loss to be acknowledged.

As Lisa DeRienzo, 45, whose brother Michael died that day, says: ‘It was shocking to see how many other twins were affected. Everyone else is talked about, but you never hear that they were a twin.
‘I think people need to know that we’re special people, too.’

Torn apart: Lisa Derienzo and her twin Micheal had a special bond

Greg Hoffman, 46, is one of 13 children and grew up in the New York borough of Queens. He and his identical twin Stephen were gregarious and energetic, entirely as one in their twinship, and very much defined by it.
When Greg, then aged eight, broke his jaw, he cried all night because he thought the resultant scarring would mean that he’d broken his twinship.
‘I didn’t think Stephen and I were going to look alike any more,’ he says. ‘I thought I’d done something irreparable and permanent.’
The pair met their future wives while they attended the same college, set up home near each other, and had daughters, Madison and Madeline, within a year of each other.

Overwhelming loss: Greg Hoffman, right, considered suicide after losing his twin brother Stephen in the attack

Others felt indivisible from their twins – two halves of a whole. Linda McGee, 50, a schoolteacher who lives in the Bronx, lost her identical twin, Brenda, who worked as a systems analyst on the 97th floor of the north tower.
When they were growing up, Linda and Brenda were known collectively as ‘Brendalinda’. ‘If Brenda did something, it was Brendalinda,’ says Linda. ‘If I did something, it was Brendalinda. And it was just like one. So who did it? “Brendalinda.” ’
It was the same for 57-year-old Gary Guja, a physician’s assistant whose identical twin, Geoff, a firefighter, died when the south tower fell. ‘I remember my mother often saying, “I don’t know who did it, but you’re both getting punished now.” ’

Link: Dan D'Allara whose twin was a policeman said he felt something when the second tower fell, he just knew his brother had been killed

Gary says, ‘I love my sisters and other brothers, but there’s just no comparison between the relationship between twins. It’s really a unity. It’s a oneness.’

Zachary Fletcher, 47, a New York City firefighter who lost his twin Andre, also a firefighter, feels that half of him is missing too. When they were growing up, the pair felt their twinship distinguished them from other children.
‘We used to play that we were like superheroes because being a twin, we had special powers,’ says Zachary.

'I love you bro': Zachary Fletcher, left, recalls twin Andre's final words to him

The Twin Towers was an ambitious building project, which rejuvenated New York’s financial district in Lower Manhattan. Completed in 1973, the buildings dominated the Manhattan skyline and could be seen from 25 miles away.
Greg recalls standing and looking at the World Trade Centre with Stephen. ‘We said to each other, “They’re our buildings, man, the twins and the towers, those are our buildings.’’ ’

The need to form a coherent narrative of the events in our lives is often born of the desire to find understanding, and in the case of the twins, their stories of 9/11 have been worked and reworked over ten years in an attempt to comprehend how something so terrible could have happened.

'Then I said, “I love you.” He said, “I love you too, bro,”
You know, the weird thing about it is why did I say, “I love you”? I rarely told my brother I loved him. I mean, because we knew it. It was just something you knew.'

Zachary Fletcher

When Greg heard the news of the first hijacked plane flying into the north tower, he immediately tried to call his brother, who worked on the 104th floor for Cantor Fitzgerald, the investment bank that suffered the greatest loss of life on 9/11.
‘The phone rang but it went to his voicemail. I said, “Steve, please call me. Please call me. See what’s going on.” So as each minute passes, 8.51, 8.52, 8.53, 8.54, it’s like a drum getting louder,’ says Greg. ‘I started feeling as if I was hyperventilating.’ Even as he tells me this, all these years later, his anxiety is palpable.
At 9.02am, Stephen finally answered his phone. Greg asked him if he was alright. ‘He said, “Yeah, we are alright.” And then at that point, I’m looking at the TV and watching the other plane come in.’
Greg was on the phone to Stephen as the second plane crashed into the south tower. ‘I remember the last thing Stephen said was, “Oh God, look at that.” Then the phone went dead. Then all the mobile phones went. But at that moment, he was alive.’
A couple of days later, at a gathering organised by Cantor Fitzgerald for the relatives of their dead employees, a woman called Barbara Jackman arrived cradling an answer ing machine.

As one: Dan D'Allara, left, felt the moment when his brother John was killed

On it was the last message from her 23-year-old daughter Brooke, who was in her first job. Mrs Jackman wanted to know if anyone recognised the voice of the man talking in the background, encouraging and comforting her daughter, who was very distressed.

The voice belonged to Stephen Hoffman, the time was 9.17am and, as the FBI later informed Mrs Jackman, this was one of the final phone calls to come out of the north tower, which collapsed at 10.28am.
Stephen, Brooke and 30 or 40 colleagues were trapped in a con ference room on the 104th floor with no means of escape.

Panic: Pedestrians run from the scene as one of the World Trade Center Towers collapse

Zachary Fletcher arrived at the scene shortly before the south tower fell. He had seen his twin Andre’s fire engine going ahead of him and called his brother on his radio. ‘I said, “Don’t do anything stupid.”

Then I said, “I love you.” He said, “I love you too, bro,” ’ recalls Zachary. ‘You know, the weird thing about it is why did I say, “I love you”? I rarely told my brother I loved him. I mean, because we knew it. It was just something you knew.’
It was the last time they spoke to each other.
Gary Guja’s firefighter brother, Geoff, was confined to office duties having been injured in a previous blaze, and wasn’t supposed to res pond to emergency calls at all. From his office window in Brooklyn, he saw the second plane hitting the south tower and tried twice to leave his building to head for Manhattan but was told to stay put.
But his third attempt was successful and he reached the entrance of the south tower just before 9.59am. That’s when it collapsed, burying him under the rubble.
Lisa, failing to reach her brother Michael by phone, had raced to the area soon after the first tower was struck. At the time, she was working as an undercover police officer in vice and narcotics. ‘I saw people jumping out of the windows and off the roof and people were screaming in horror,’ she says.
Lisa was accustomed to running towards dangerous situations but as she approached the towers, something prevented her from entering them.

¿When I got a block from the Trade Centre and I saw it and I knew he was in there': Lisa DeRienzo said it was almost like her twin stopped her from going any further

She says: ‘When I got a block from the Trade Centre and I saw it and I knew he was in there, I almost felt like he may have kept me out.’ Michael also worked for Cantor Fitzgerald. Like so many of the 9/11 victims, his remains were never recovered.
Some twins believe that their bond means they can literally feel each other’s pain, but neither Greg, Lisa nor Zachary ‘felt’ the moment their twins died and all mourn the fact. ‘I didn’t feel anything,’ Zachary says, sadly. ‘What happened to those special powers that we were supposed to have?’
Only Dan D’Allara, 56, whose twin John was a policeman, felt something at the moment when the second tower fell. ‘I nearly jumped out of my skin with anxiety,’ Dan says. ‘I said, “John! Holy s***, John! I got to get out of here.” And my boss said to me, “Where do you think you’re going?” I said, “I have to get out of here, my brother just got killed.” ’

For the spouses of the dead twins, seeing the surviving sibling has sometimes proved traumatic and the ripple effect of 9/11 has given rise to animosity and estrangement.

The years since 9/11 have been difficult for the twins: no longer part of a twosome, they have had to reinvent themselves.
‘If I knew then what I know now, I think I would have developed more of a Linda personality as opposed to Brendalinda,’ says Linda.
‘I remember the first anniversary... I thought, “Wow, one year as just Linda,” you know.
‘And it seemed as if every year is like, “OK, this is two years as just Linda.” I guess I’m turning ten years old in September.’

For the spouses of the dead twins, seeing the surviving sibling has sometimes proved traumatic and the ripple effect of 9/11 has given rise to animosity and estrangement. But Greg is still as close as ever to Stephen’s widow, Gabrielle, and his niece Madeline.
At a wedding soon after Stephen’s death, Gabrielle even asked Greg to dance with her. She says: ‘I remember I said, “Dance with me. Don’t talk. I want to pretend I’m dancing with your brother. You feel like him – just dance with me.” And he did and I closed my eyes and I got to dance with my husband in my head and it was wonderful.’
The pain Greg felt after losing Stephen was so great that he would stand on Brooklyn Bridge and contemplate suicide. ‘I remember saying to myself, you know, “I jump up on there, I take five steps and jump. My pain will be over.” ’
When he revealed to his wife Aileen that he had a special ‘spot’ on the bridge where he would stand and think about jumping, she took action and formed a support group for the 9/11 twins.
It was the saving of Greg, who feels that ‘it does wonders for the healing in the heart to know that we’ve got each other. Maybe this is the next best thing. It ain’t oatmeal, but cornflakes ain’t bad sometimes’.
Ten years on, they are all doing their best to get on with their lives but they still define themselves as twins. When you spend time with them, you can almost feel the shadow of their missing twin beside them.
But for Lisa, comfort has come in an unexpected form. The children she has had with her girlfriend Kerri Kuhlsen have provided her with what Kerri calls ‘happiness or completeness’.
Kerri gave birth to boys – Cooper and Michael – 18 months ago. They are identical twins.

英国纪录片首次披露46对双胞胎因9·11事件

落单

英国《星期日邮报》4日报道，2001年9月11日，纽约世贸中心双子 塔被恐怖分 子劫持的飞机撞毁，3000多人死于那场世纪浩劫。

不为人知的是，在3000多名遇难者中，有46人是孪生子。对于46对双胞胎中幸存的另一半来说，10年来，那天 发生的惊魂 回忆始终萦绕不去。在9·11恐怖袭击10周年，英国BBC电视一台的纪录片《双子塔的双胞胎》对发生 在双子塔的“双子惊 魂”进行了首次披露。

“哦，上帝啊，你看到那飞机了吗？”

现年46岁的格雷格·霍夫曼拥有12个兄弟姐妹，他和同卵双胞胎兄弟斯蒂芬由于性格同样合群外向，所以 总是出双入对。这对孪 生兄弟上了同一所大学，结识了他们未来的妻子，并且在相近的地方安了家。结婚一年之后，他们分别都生下了女儿。

当听到第一架被劫持的飞机撞上世贸大楼北塔的新闻后，格雷格立即打电话给斯蒂芬。后者在世贸大楼北塔第104层工 作，而那里 正是9·11恐怖袭击中遇难人数最多的地方。即便事隔多年，格雷格回忆起当时情形依然很紧张。格雷格说：“电话铃 响了，但随 即被转接到他的语音信箱，我的心中仿佛有一面鼓，时间每过一分钟，那面鼓的敲击声也越来越响，我感到自 己快要窒息一般。”

上午9时02分，斯蒂芬终于回了他电话。格雷格回忆道：“我问他是否安全，他说‘万幸，我们没事。’但话音未落，我 就从电视 上看到另一架飞机撞上了世贸大楼南塔。我记得斯蒂芬说的最后一句话是：‘哦，上帝啊，你看到那飞机了 吗？’然后电话就断了。 接着，所有手机都打不通了。那时，他还活着。”

数天后，在遇难者家属组织的聚会上，一位名叫芭芭拉·杰克曼的女子怀抱着一部电话留言机出现在现场，这 部留言机中储存着她遇 难的23岁女儿布露克的最后留言录音。芭芭拉太太希望能有人辨别出那段留言的背景音中一名男子的声音，后 者正在鼓励安慰她那 已经崩溃的女儿。最终证实，那是格雷格孪生兄弟斯蒂芬的声音，时间是上午9时17分。而这是北塔10时28分倒塌 前的最后几 个电话之一。

“我也爱你，兄弟”

现年47岁的扎查利·弗雷奇尔至今仍清楚地记得，他的已故双胞胎兄弟安德烈临终前在对讲机里对他说的最后一句话是“我 也爱 你，兄弟”。扎查利是名纽约市消防员，而安德烈同样也是一名消防员。扎查利回忆道：“过去我们时常扮演 一对超级英雄，自以为 身为双胞胎，我们拥有超人的能量。”

扎查利在南塔倒塌之前不久才赶到现场，而他的孪生兄弟安德烈早他一步前往世贸大楼救灾。扎查利看到安德 烈的消防车出发后，立 即用无线电对讲机和他通话。

扎查利回忆道：“我对他说，‘不要做任何愚蠢的事。’然后我说，‘我爱你’。而他回答说，‘我也爱你，兄弟。’你 知道吗，我 很少告诉我的孪生兄弟我爱他。”然而，这却是扎查利和孪生兄弟安德烈的最后一次对话。

丧兄之痛难以愈合

现年45岁的丽莎·德里恩佐与迈克尔是对龙凤双胞胎，后者在9·11袭击中不幸身亡。丽莎是一名纽约警方的卧底女 警官，迈克 尔则在世贸大楼北塔的第104层工作。9·11袭击发生时，丽莎始终没能用电话联系到她的孪生哥哥迈克尔，当第一 座塔楼遇袭 后，丽莎迅速朝双子塔狂奔而去。

尽管丽莎对在危险状态下工作早已习以为常，但当她赶到双子塔附近时，仿佛有种力量阻止她接近双子塔。她说：“当 我走到离世贸 中心双子塔还有一个街区的地方时，看见它就在眼前。这时我突然有一种强烈的感觉，迈克尔就在里面，但他 不想让我进去。”丽莎 告诉记者：“当得知还有那么多对双胞胎在这场灾难中遇难时，我被震惊了。”对于丽莎来说，孪生哥哥迈克尔的遇难给 她带来了难 以愈合的伤痛。幸运的是——出事前18个月，迈克尔的女友凯丽·库尔森生下了2个男孩——库帕和迈克尔。而他们， 也是一对同 卵双胞胎。