All-clear message sent man to doom

The trader is missing after heading back upstairs in Tower 2 when an intercom pronounced the building safe.

By DONG-PHUONG NGUYEN

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 18, 2001

In the moments after hijackers flew the first airplane into the World Trade Center, 42-year-old Charles Joseph Houston called his mother from the south tower and told her he was okay. Then the line went dead.

Houston called from the Euro Brokers offices on the 84th floor of Tower 2 where he worked as a trader. Then he joined his co-workers in the mass evacuation.

His older brother, Frank Houston of Tampa, said the family has learned that Charles made it down about 50 flights of stairs before intercom announcements told them it was safe to return to their offices. He went back up.

Shortly thereafter, the second plane hit the south tower somewhere between floors 87 and 93. Charles Houston has not been heard from since.

"Seventeen years of our lives, we shared a room," Frank said. "And to think he's in that rubble ... ."

Frank Houston, who lives in the Arbor Greene community of north Tampa, said his family remains hopeful. But, he concedes, he is a realist.

"You're numb and you have hope," Frank said. "But it doesn't look good."

Frank said that his brother's wife, Linda, has scoured the city.

She is among thousands of family members of the missing who have provided hospital officials with medical and dental records. Her hope is that Charles Houston is alive somewhere, but too critically injured to communicate.

"This is terrible, absolutely terrible," Frank said. "We're not giving up, yet. But obviously, we're crushed."

The Houstons grew up in the Gerritsen Beach area of Brooklyn. The oldest brother, Bill, is a New York City police officer. Frank is a banker, and younger sister, Joan, was working in a law firm on a lower floor of the first tower that was hit. She made it out safely.

"We're very close," said Frank, 11 months older than his missing brother. Charles Houston and his wife of 12 years were in the process of adopting a child.

When the first tower was hit, Charles called Linda at the school where she teaches. He couldn't reach her. So he called her sister to report that everyone was fine.

Then he called his mother, who lives in Brooklyn.

"After five words, the phone went dead," Frank Houston said.

Of the 285 workers on that floor, one is confirmed dead, 59 others are missing.

"I just don't understand it," Frank said.

Houston expressed sadness for all of the families left behind.

"I just hope against all hope that the government is going to help the people who survived," he said. "We give aid to all these countries around the world. It's time to take care of our own."

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