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Volume No. 1 Issue No. 28 - Friday, September 13, 2002 |
Fitzroy St. Rose Remembered
by Thomson Fontaine
 One year after this fateful day when terrorists tore into the heart of America, Dominicans remember one of their
own who died in the World Trade Center twin towers. Fitz Roy St. Rose was one of the almost 3000 persons killed on that day in September in New York.
In commemoration of his death, Gillian Hamilton, an Australian Quilter constructed a quilted block in Fitzroy's memory (see inset) for the United in Memory Quilt project, which has begun touring the US. This project contains pictures and information about every person who lost their lives in the tragic events of September 11, 2001.
The Dominican.net was the first news service to break the news of Fitzroy's death just hours after the planes tore into the towers. A few days later, when hope of finding him alive was rapidly fading, the following report was printed in theDominican.net.
Hope of finding survivors in the collapsed buildings of the World Trade Center was rapidly fading one week after the worst- ever-terrorist attack on American soil.
On September 11, 2001, groups of terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, flying two into the World Trade Center towers and one into the Pentagon, with the fourth plane crashing in an open field in Pennsylvania.
In the wake of the attacks, more than 5,000 people were missing and feared dead. Among those missing is Fitzroy St. Rose of Dominica. St. Rose was an employee of General Telecom and at the
time of the attack was working on the 96th floor of the first tower to be struck at 9:03.
Immediately following the attack, St. Rose made several cell phone calls to his close friends as well as to his mother who resides in Dominica. He reported that he had made it to the 83rd floor of the tower but was essentially trapped and unable to go down any further. As late as 9:45 am, he was on the phone to his friend, just minutes before the tower collapsed. He has not been heard from since.
Family and friends of St. Rose launched an intensive search canvassing hospitals and shelters where the injured were taken after the attacks. His photo has been printed on the Internet including on CNN's website of missing persons.
Several other Dominicans were reported to have worked at the towers and in surrounding buildings. At the time of publication however, no others were reported missing.
A number of these workers tell stories of miracles and divine guidance on this terrible morning. One such individual received facial bruises from falling debris, but was otherwise unhurt. Another arrived a few minutes late for work and saw the first attack from the outside. Yet another recounted been ill with an asthma attack on that fateful morning.
Thirty-eight year old St. Rose from Canefield, Dominica attended the St. Mary's Academy and worked for a few years as a fire fighter in the Dominica Fire Services before migrating to New York.

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