Godwin Forde senior's name appears on the top line of the middle memorial plaque honouring British victims of the September 11 attacks. His son, also named Godwin Forde, has spent more than two decades carrying the weight of that loss—and a profound sense of pride in how his father spent his final moments.
From childhood, young Godwin had dreamed of joining his father in the United States after the elder Forde relocated there years earlier. In September 2001, at last old enough to travel alone, he was preparing to visit his dad and complete his schooling in America. That reunion would never happen. His father was among 67 British nationals killed in the al-Qaeda attack on the World Trade Centre on 11 September 2001.
The timing made the tragedy even more acute. Godwin's sister Charlene, then 19 years old, had relocated to New York with their father just a week before the attacks. What should have been a joyful family reunion instead became a desperate search through the wreckage of lower Manhattan.
The day everything changed
On the morning of the attacks, Godwin was at school in north-west London. When he returned home, his foster mother asked him to stay in and await a call from his sister. He sat down as the news coverage began, watching the images unfold on screen. Although his father and sister were living in New York, he felt no immediate alarm—he had no idea his father was working inside one of the twin towers.
Godwin senior had built a career in security, working previously at Fox News and on the David Letterman show, becoming a fairly recognisable figure in television production. What his son did not know was that he had recently been promoted to head a security team on one of the upper floors of the South Tower. Records from 2002 identified him as a 38-year-old security officer for Morgan Stanley, stationed on the 42nd floor of the South Tower.
When Charlene rang from New York, her voice carried fear. She had not heard from their father. No one had seen him. No one else had any word of his whereabouts.
"She was explaining that, she hadn't heard from Dad yet. No-one had seen him, and no-one else had heard from him. At that point, I just wanted to get to her, to make sure she was OK,"Godwin recalled.
The search and the waiting
Two weeks later, Godwin flew to New York. The teenage siblings began searching for their father together, putting up posters, calling helplines, and visiting the pier where crowds of anxious relatives gathered hoping for news. They worked largely alone, receiving some assistance from the Red Cross. The uncertainty stretched through the autumn. It was not until the end of October that they received official confirmation their father had not survived.
"We finally got the death certificate. We had to plan a memorial. We couldn't even plan a funeral. We had no body, no belongings."
What happened in those final moments?
Over time, Godwin pieced together two accounts of his father's final actions. One came directly from a colleague who had been with Godwin senior when the attacks occurred and managed to escape. She told his son that their father—known to colleagues as "Mr G"—had instructed her to find her way out while he remained behind to help clear the building and guide others to safety.
A second version suggested something equally selfless: that Godwin senior had made it out of the building but, realising more people were still trapped inside, ran back in to help them escape. That version ended with the building's collapse.
"Either way, both stories are heroic however you look at it,"his son reflected.
Godwin Forde senior's name now appears on the 9/11 memorial plaque in Grosvenor Square, London, alongside the other 66 Britons who perished in the attacks. Recent commemorations in 2026 marked the 25th anniversary of the attacks, bringing bereaved families together to remember those lost.
The life that never was
For Godwin, nothing has been the same since his father's death. The plans he had made—moving to the United States, finishing his education there, building a life alongside his father—were completely derailed. Other goals and aspirations shifted as well. The trajectory of his entire life altered in an instant.
Each year on 11 September, when images of the attacks resurface and fill television screens, Godwin finds the experience unbearable.
"I normally leave the country for a month if possible, and kind of disappear off the grid,"he explained.
"This year I'm here, and I'm kind of just going through the motions, really."
The emotional toll is difficult to convey to others. Few people can truly understand what he has endured and continues to endure.
"There is only a select few people who know. It's not something I discuss,"he said.
"Something like this you can never get used to. Having someone taken away like that, you never really get over it."
Pride, grief, and complicated emotions
Godwin's feelings about what happened are layered and sometimes contradictory. There is undeniable pride and love for his father. There is profound grief and sadness. But there are also moments of anger and frustration.
"There are times when you do get upset and angry at him based on the fact that we are here, and he could have come home. But at the same time I do understand that he did his duty and I feel like I would have probably done the same thing."
What Godwin wants most is for his father to be remembered as the hero he truly was.
"Someone that would literally go out of his way for anyone,"he said of his father.
"I would be lucky if I could be just half of what he was."
