Kansas Stories

Frank Saiya, Topeka

FRANK SAIYA
Greensburg Kansas High School
May 28, 2011

Frank was asked by the Topeka 912 to be present today because of his personal connection to the 9/11 event.  Frank is a third generation American of Italian decent.  He was born and raised with his three younger brothers in Brooklyn, NY.  They were known as the “FAME Brothers”, Frank, Artie, Mike and Eddie.  All four of the Saiya brothers served their country during the Vietnam Era.  Frank, Art and Mike enlisted for four years in the USAF and Eddied enlisted in the USN with all receiving Honorable Discharges.  After serving their country, they all returned to Brooklyn, began their families and pursued careers in communications in large corporations.

On the morning of September 11, 2011 Frank was awakened by a phone call from Eddie.  Eddie said, “Turn on the TV, a plane hit the World Trade Center—I’ll call you back later.”  For the next several hours Frank watched the events unfold on TV as well as contacting family members in hopes of news of Eddie.  That afternoon, Frank received a phone call from Eddie’s home office, informing him that he was training two new employees on the 110th floor of the second tower.

Frank’s family is fortunate in that Eddie’s hand was identified through a fingerprint match and the family was notified of this during Christmas, 2002, giving them some closure.  To date, 1/3 of the victim’s remains have not been identified.