11 Days and Counting

[reisen55]

As a member of this community for many years, I am also a participant in the club that Bill Mauldin would have called the " THEM WHAT WAS THERE ON THAT DAY" group. 11 days to the 11th of September and as a survivor from the 101st floor of the South Tower, starting a thread in honor of that day and all it meant way back then. We seem to have lost that of late.

[nachtjaeger]

Charles Lesperance
Ignatius Adanga
See-Wong Shum

My coworkers in our NY office who didn't make it out. One was a floor captain, and went back for one last sweep to make sure everybody got out. Another was last seen helping a woman who was having an asthma attack down the stairs.

A good friend of mine goes to NY every year for the reading of the names.

For years afterward, I would get flashbacks of that day. When the plane hit the first tower, we were all thinking accident. I still remember my coworker Mary (who has also passed away) saying, "Oh my God, NYMTC!" and we all realized that we had coworkers in danger. Then the second plane hit, and we knew it was something straight out of Tom Clancy. I still remember the anger. Those bastards! They have NO idea what they've started!!
Watching the collapse on the TV in the conference room, and describing to a coworker how it happened. Leaving early, to pick up our daughter from daycare, my wife in tears. My wife hugged me tightly and said "If you're going to enlist, I understand, and I won't try to stop you."

Never forget. Fly the flag.

As a member of this community for many years, I am also a participant in the club that Bill Mauldin would have called the " THEM WHAT WAS THERE ON THAT DAY" group. 11 days to the 11th of September and as a survivor from the 101st floor of the South Tower, starting a thread in honor of that day and all it meant way back then. We seem to have lost that of late.

[MadMax359]

i didn't know anyone in the towers
but one of my colleagues was a good friend of one of the firemen
he was off duty that day but responded to the call
and he went into that place to help others get out
no greater calling, you know?

[reisen55]

I am inspired and following are the 19 good friends I lost at Aon Consulting

Heinz Ackerman
James Berger
George Bishop
Eugene Clark
John Crowe
Pamela Gaff
Lillian Frederick
Donald Havlish Jr.
Charles Karczewski
Lorraine Lee
Brian Martineau
Ana Medina
Cartherine Nardella
Edward Pullis
Clarin Schwartz
Laura Marie Snik
Leonard Snyder
Edward Straub
Erica Van Acker

Never forget.

[Mynock]

I was in class at college when a prof from across the hall busted in and said a plane hit one of the WTC buildings. We all went down to the cafe watch CNN on the big plasmas they had on the wall in there. I'll never forget seeing that 2nd plane come out of nowhere and hit the other building or everyone in the cafe screaming when it happened. Time may heal all wounds but scars are there forever.

[bumberjack]

I was 16, a junior in high school, when the attacks happened.

I didn't see the planes hit the towers live on television. Only the countless replays. I knew something big was up when my math teacher (my second-hour class) had the TV on when we got in. From class to class, for three hours straight, we were watching the TVs. I remember my chemistry teacher (my fifth hour) trying to get us to resume a normal class routine, but that didn't really work out too well.

I have no ties to anyone in New York City (I'm from nowhere), but we did have someone from our neck of the woods in that city that day. Fortunately she was nowhere near the World Trade Center when the attack happened.

The next day we had an assembly in the gym. At the end of it, Lee Greenwood's "God Bless The USA" was played.

Not too long after that I saw "Saving Private Ryan" for the first time. I had a feeling that the draft wouldn't be reinstated, but watching those men storm Omaha Beach had me scared of an uncertain future. What if a draft were to take place in two years? What if I were drafted? What would be my shining moment? Would it be my solemn hour? Would it be both?

Years pass and I was "temporarily disqualified" from joining the Marines, if I were to pursue that path in the first place. I went to Louisiana State University in August 2003 and graduated in May 2008.

Now I work at a laundromat. 9/11 has been overshadowed by 8/29 (Katrina), or to me at least. But I have yet to forget what happened on that Tuesday morning.

[jack c]

I work at a steel mill in Pennsylvania. One of my tasks is to show around the insurance auditors annually. In early 2001, the auditor was a really nice guy from Long Island who had just beat cancer - he was only 35 and had two young kids. He talked of his office high atop one of the WTC towers. A few days after 9/11, I remembered this, and pulled out his business card. I went on line and found the story - he had gone to work early so he could leave early to coach his daughter's soccer team in the afternoon. He was among the 3,000 perished - by the bad luck of an early arrival. It was an eerie feeling. My deepest sympathy to you guys who really knew people, or who were actually there. I know I won't forget it.

[just4fun]

As a firefighter, I lost 343 of my brothers that day. I will always honor them and the others we lost that day too.

[nachtjaeger]

I was at the New York State Museum today. I had made up my mind that the 9/11 exhibit wasn't going to get to me. I made it all the way through (tried not to look at the crushed NYC fire engine any more than I could help) but just as I was walking out there was the chalkboard from the engine house, with the names of the men who were on duty that shift. That's when it all hit me. I'm an ex-firefighter myself, so I know a little about what they were up against. You don't think about the personal danger- you just go.

As a firefighter, I lost 343 of my brothers that day. I will always honor them and the others we lost that day too.

[SmileyMcDeath]

I was getting up for class that morning.

I turned the television on to provide some light while I staggered out of my bed to go to the bathroom. It had been left on CNN the night before.

I noticed a building, apparently on fire.

It looked vaguely familiar, but I was extremely groggy. I stumbled into the bathroom to pee, where it finally sank in what I had just seen.

I ran back and unmuted it. I remember hearing someone on screen say, "Oh my God." Someone off screen was crying, and then I saw what they had seen before anyone else had. I was just in time to watch the second plane come in, bank, and then collide with the tower.

I sat in front of the television for the rest of the morning wondering why I didn't just turn off the television, look away, something. I didn't make class. That afternoon, I finally made myself get up and take my car to have the brakes serviced, and pick up some essentials at the store for my mother.

I was struck by the utter lack of vehicular traffic. The town was as quiet as a tomb, with almost no one about on the roads, and not a plane in the sky. The silence struck me--it was positively sepulchral. I came home, and we had a very quiet, very subdued dinner. And then I spent the rest of that night watching the news until I finally fell asleep, and my dreams that night were surreal. I don't want to imagine what went on inside, because watching people falling outside the buildings was more than I wanted to see, and yet I couldn't look away. I wish I could unsee it.

I didn't know anyone who was there until today. reisen55, it's nice to meet you. I'm glad you're okay.