Gown

Survivor Richard Eichen had been employed at Pass Consulting Corporation for only a week before September 11, 2001. That morning, he arrived at work on the 90th floor of the North Tower at about 8:30 a.m. He was in the corridor of the office and awaiting the arrival of coworkers to unlock the entrance door when he heard a series of loud bangs and fell to the floor. Seconds later, flames engulfed the area. A nearby bathroom door blew open releasing a huge fireball. Eichen noticed that blood had soaked his shirt. He had suffered a gash to his head.

Eichen made his way across the hall to a nearby banking office, where he encountered four other people. The group began their evacuation together. During their descent, the South Tower collapsed but Eichen and his group remained completely unaware of what had happened. When his group finally reached street level, an EMT turned to tend to Eichen just as the North Tower began to fall. Eichen, ran down Fulton towards Broadway and braced himself behind an exterior metal column of a bank building as the dust cloud roared toward him. After the air cleared, Eichen walked to NYU Downtown Hospital, where he received treatment for his head wound. While in the hospital, Eichen heard televised news replays of the jetliners crashing into the Twin Towers. 

Fearing more attacks, Eichen discharged himself from the hospital, still wearing the hospital gown (he put his pants and shoes back on). While on the Brooklyn Bridge, Eichen was offered a ride by a stranger who drove him to Rockaway, where he was reunited with his family.

Eichen saved his hospital gown, medical records from his emergency hospital visit, and the shirts he wore while fleeing the North Tower as reminders of his harrowing experience and survival.