Remembering Bradley Fetchet at the 9/11 Memorial

Bradley Fetchet had only worked at the World Trade Center for a short time. After graduating from Bucknell University in 1999, he moved to New York City to pursue a career on Wall Street as an equities trader at the financial firm Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

Friends and family say that this was a surprising career path for him, given his unassuming nature. According to his mother Mary Fetchet, he kept a quote in his journal that read, “You can tell the character of a man by what the does for the man who can offer him nothing.”

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Fetchet was at work in his office on the 89th floor of the South Tower. Within 10 minutes of hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 crashing into the neighboring tower, Fetchet called his parents. After speaking briefly with his father, Frank Fetchet, he left a voice message for Mary:

Hey Mom, it’s Brad. I just wanted to call and let you know…that a plane crashed into World Trade Center One. We’re fine, we’re in World Trade Center Two. I’m obviously alive over here, but obviously a pretty scary experience…you’re welcome to give a call. I think we’ll be here all day…Love you.

Minutes later, a second commercial airliner struck the South Tower. Sadly, Fetchet’s office was above the impact zone and he was not able to escape. The thoughtful voicemail he left for his mother can be heard in the 9/11 Memorial Museum’s historical exhibition.

Today a white rose on the 9/11 Memorial marks what would have been his 40th birthday.

By Jenny Pachucki, 9/11 Memorial Content Strategist