Every year around this time I post about what it was like to live and work in Manhattan on 9/11.

My husband and his colleagues worked in the building across the street from the World Trade Center, and were forced to dodge burning debris (and falling human bodies) as they fled the area. Fortunately all of them returned home safely.

But many others, including friends, were not so lucky. This is their story as well as mine. I post it every year because I so often hear questions from people who were...