Patrice Braut was a man who was killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in Manhattan, New York. His remains were identified in March 2015 and was the 1639th victim to be identified. He was the only Belgian victim of the terrorist attack.
Background[]
Patrice Braut was born on August 8, 1970 in Brussels, Belgium to Michel and Paola. He was an only child, born after three failed pregnancies. He recieved his Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Pace University and worked for Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. on the 97th floor of the north World Trade Center tower. Per his parents, "He was very successful and went after the American Dream. Every year he climbed a floor." He loved to travel, play soccer, and take photographs, especially of the WTC.
In 1997, Patrice met Lupe Mendez at a company Christmas party. The two danced and she left before he learned her surname. The next day, she found a note on her desk in Midtown, saying, "You left without saying goodbye." The two started dating, and Patrice took her to Belgium to meet his parents. In the first week of September 2001, the two, living in the Riverdale neighborhood of Bronx, New York, went house-hunting in the suburbs.
9/11 terrorist attack[]
At 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 aircraft, hijacked by Al-Qaeda terrorists, hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The impact spanned from floors 93 to 99 and the Marsh & McLennan Companies had office from floors 93 to 100. Everyone at those offices, including Patrice, were killed as all stairwells and elevators passing through the impact zone were destroyed or blocked by the crash.
At 9:03 a.m., the United Airlines Flight 175 plane, also hijacked by Al-Qaeda terrorists, hit the South Tower of the World Trade. Al-Qaeda terrorists would also fly American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. and a fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania at 10:03 a.m. after passengers fought back against the hijackers.
Overall, 2,977 Americans and people of other nationalities and nineteen Al-Qaeda hijackers were killed and 25,000 people were injured in the September 11th attacks.
Aftermath[]
After the attacks, it was determined the Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda led by Osama bin Laden was responsible for the September 11th attacks. The US responded to this by starting the War in Afghanistan and the War on Terrorism. Bin Laden was killed in a US military raid in 2011 in Pakistan.
Patrice was among the 295 employees and 63 contractors of Marsh McLennan that were killed in the terrorist attack. A memorial dedicated to the victims is located at the plaza adjacent to Marsh McLennan's New York Headquarters at 1166 Avenue of the Americas. Patrice's colleagues endowed a scholarship in his name at the Lycee Theodore Bracops, his childhood school. It is not for the best student, but for the most tenacious.
During the cleanup of the site, Patrice's remains were recovered between 2001 and 2002, but they were not identified.
Identification[]
Since the attack, the New York Medical Examiner's Office has been using DNA technology to identify about 22,000 remains that were recovered. Mark Desire, the assistant director of forensic technology at the medical examiner’s office, commented on the task, "As a forensic scientist, you're trained to be neutral and unbiased. But with the World Trade Center investigation, it's a different kind of case and you meet with the families and the hugs and the thank yous, it gets emotional with them and it really helps with that drive to keep improving that process."
Using the DNA the Braut family had provided after the attack, the medical examiner’s office identified Patrice Braut's remains in September 2014. He is considered the 1,639th victim whose remains have been identified. His name is on Panel N-10 at the National September 11 Memorial in Manhattan.
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