Among people in New York just before the terrible events of 9/11 20 years ago were Tony McGrady and Bob Atkinson.
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Mr McGrady was Queensland police minister at the time and Bob Atkinson was Police Commissioner and they were on government business in July and August.
They were in New York a few weeks before 9/11 lobbying for Brisbane to get the international police and fire games ahead of Adelaide (one of the consequences of 9/11 was that the games went instead to Indianapolis in the US).
Mr McGrady said that during their stay in New York they were invited to attend the farewell function for one of the heads of the F.B.I who was leaving to take up a position as Chief of Security at the Twin Towers.
That man was John Patrick O'Neill and he subsequently died on the attack on the building which happened barely weeks into his new job.
Mr Atkinson said it was terribly sad.
"FBI agents retire in their 50s and because they are so in demand they then go off and work in the security industry," Mr Atkinson said.
"They told us John was taking over security at the Twin Towers, he was killed along with thousands of others,"
Mr Atkinson was back home in Brisbane when the attack happened in the middle of the night.
"Someone told me and I turned the TV on around 2am, it was a bit surreal initially," he said.
But it got real very quickly and Mr Atkinson quickly woke up his police minister.
"I received a call from Bob saying 'Hey Min. are you watching the CNN news'," Mr McGrady said.
"Come on Bob, Its 2am. Anyway once I understood the gravity of the situation I certainly watched the proceedings."
There were local implications in the middle of the night as Mr Atkinson recalls.
"Not long after that a United Airlines flight was on its way from LA to Sydney and there was fears it might have a bomb on board and the federal government directed it to land in Brisbane," he said.
"We sent out as many emergency response squad members as we could.
"They brought it in over the ocean, as it turns out it was a false alarm and it landed safely at 6am."
Another issue was that former president Bill Clinton was holidaying in North Queensland at the time.
"He had a small detail of secret service with him, and we had a response squad in Cairns for him," Mr Atkinson said.
"And despite the ban on flights, the US government sent a plane out for him."
Mr McGrady said the memories of his trip weighed heavily on him as he watched the events unfold and he was fortunate enough to go back and pay respects to the thousands that died that day.
"I returned to New York on Wednesday 22nd June 2005 and was invited to lay a wreath at Ground Zero on behalf of the Queensland Government," he said.
"Some things in your life you never forget, that was one of them."