What It Was Like to Live Through 9/11, According to Shocked Survivor Interviews Right After the Attacks

"That silvery shiny plane, just going right into the building — I'll replay it in my mind over and over"

Ken White was chatting with an office temp at his job in the north tower of the World Trade Center when American Airlines Flight 11 struck at 8:46 a.m. local time on Sept. 11, 2001 — marking the start of a terror attack that killed 2,977 victims and changed the country and the world.

"All of a sudden the building shook, then it started to sway," White told PEOPLE soon after, in an issue entirely devoted to 9/11. "We didn't know what was going on. I ran towards the reception area. It was completely collapsed."

White was one of many witnesses, survivors and first responders who spoke with PEOPLE immediately after the attack to share their horror, heartbreak and heroism.

On the 23rd anniversary of 9/11, here is a look back at those memories when they were still fresh.

White, an administrative assistant at the time, worked for a financial tech company on the 80th floor of 1 World Trade Center when the hijacked plans began to hit.

"People started to panic," he told PEOPLE. "We got all our people on the floor into the stairwell, and then people began to calm down. At that time we all thought it was a fire."

Related: 9/11 Hero Bob Beckwith, Who Stood with President Bush in Iconic Ground Zero Photo, Dies at 91

Janitor Kenneth Johannemann recalled how he was on the 30th floor, “waiting by the elevator to go do the restrooms, and then there was a big bang, and the whole building shook.”

“The elevator door flew open, and a guy stumbled out, and he was badly burned up. It seemed like he was smoldering, almost,” Johannemann said.

“He was a delivery guy. The skin from his wrist was hanging down past his fingertips. He was screaming all sorts of things like, ‘Bombing! Please get me out of here! I'm going to die!’ “ Johannemann continued.

He did what he could for the man, helping bring him out of the building to nearby emergency personnel. But then the two split up in the unfolding chaos. “I really hope he survived,” Johannemann said at the time.

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Bob Borski, then a financial director at the AIG insurance organization, was standing with his boss on the 15th floor at their office six blocks from the World Trade Center when he saw United Airlines Flight 175 heading for the second tower.

"It was a swift explosion, it wasn't resounding. It was ‘boom’ — like a door shutting," Borski said then. "Quick and loud. That silvery shiny plane, just going right into the building. I'll replay it in my mind over and over."

Meanwhile, Louie Cacchioli — a firefighter assigned to Engine 47 in Harlem — told PEOPLE that he was one of the first ones in the south tower when Flight 175 crashed into it.

"There were probably 500 people trapped in the stairwell," Cacchioli said. "It was mass chaos. The power went out. It was dark. Everybody was screaming. We had oxygen masks and we were giving people oxygen. Some of us made it out and some of us didn't."

He shrugged off the idea he had acted beyond any other first responder.

"I didn't do anything my brothers didn't do," he says. "I lost good people."

Pat Newman’s husband, Danny, was among the other firefighters who rushed to the scene — despite the dangers. "How do they do it?" Pat said. "They love life and they are there to protect it. That's how."

Anthony Bellomo, who worked inside the north tower, said that as soon as he got outside, he heard Flight 175 hit the south tower.

"People were on the ground, they were burnt, they were gone, they had no clothes on," he added. "You didn't know where to go. All you heard was the police saying, 'Don't look up! Don't look up!' Then you're looking up and you're seeing people jumping out of the buildings."

Related: 9/11 Victim’s Son 'Found Inspiration' in Dad’s Death to Help Others: 'I Know the Loss' (Exclusive)

Firefighter Gregg Hansson recalled that after entering the north tower, "everything started to collapse."

“There were still civilians in the building. We were trying to help them out,” he said. “But at that point everything was dark and black, and you had to find your own way out.”

For a time, though, he wasn’t sure he would make it back down and out of the falling tower.

“I thought it was over. I thought I was going to die today. I started to say a little prayer and huddled in a corner and waited it out,” Hansson said then. "Radio communications became almost nonexistent. I just heard silence. All I saw was black.”

Eventually, Hansson managed to escape and tried to locate people from his engine company in the surrounding area but "it looked like a ghost town."

"I know I am very lucky," he said.

In Washington, D.C., Laura Hallock, was driving by the Pentagon when she saw American Airlines Flight 11 head "straight into the building."

"I got out," she continued. "Everyone was staring at the Pentagon. There weren't any screams. Everyone was like a zombie picking up cell phones. Deer-in-the-headlights silent."

Related: Retired Flight Attendant Walks 200 Miles to World Trade Center in Honor of Fallen 9/11 Colleagues

Less than an hour later, Tom Burnett called his wife, Deena, onboard United Airlines Flight 93 not long before the passengers fought back and forced the plane down in Pennsylvania.

"'We're all going to die, but three of us are going to do something,' " Denna recalled her husband telling her. "He signed off with I love you, Honey."

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