The 9/11 victims America wants to forget: The 200 jumpers who flung themselves from the Twin Towers

Daily Mail ^ | 9/9/11 | Tom Leonard

[Nachum]

Almost all of them jumped alone, although eyewitnesses talked of a couple who held hands as they fell. One woman, in a final act of modesty, appeared to be holding down her skirt. Others tried to make parachutes out of curtains or tablecloths, only to have them wrenched from their grip by the force of their descent. The fall was said to take about ten seconds. It would vary according to the body position and how long it took to reach terminal velocity — around 125mph in most cases, but if someone fell head down with their body straight, as

[Amberdawn]

Saying ‘God Bless You’ after a sneeze probably earns them a fine.

[baa39]

Exactly! Instead of calling the statue “Tumbling Woman” which received so much protest, they should have called her “Jihad Victim”. She was not an acrobat in a circus.

[Niuhuru]

I gotcha.

[Spktyr]

Even in religious structures that say suicide is wrong, this cannot be counted as suicide. Those people were already dead; the only question was what would kill them first. Fire is an extremely painful way to go, gravity is not.

This is no more suicide than World War II sailors trapped in an inverted sunken warship compartment with the water rising, no hope of rescue and loaded sidearms. And no less honorable.

[Spktyr]

And even that, IIRC, is forgivable if you repent before you die.

[rmh47]

You are absolutely right. Heavy smoke will do the same thing. You have to get out of it. You are like a fish out of water. All you know is that where you are is intolerable.

I have been a volunteer firefighter for many years and have been in that situation once. It is visceral, a gut reaction. You have no control over it.

[takenoprisoner]

Barry Barack Hussein Soterro is a muslim indeed. And an imposter.

Well, you are gentle. Me? Not so much.

Is it 2012 yet? Do citizens have emergency powers? Yea, I know. It was a rhetorical question. But if we did, this muslim marxist occupying our Whitehouse would be in jail, by now.

If we survive til 2012 with this muslim marxist at the helm, it will be a miracle. We need a miracle.

[baa39]

I’m with you, I never heard it in 10 years, I never thought it, and none in my family would dream of such a thing. We lost a relative, she worked at Cantor Fitzgerald, floor 105, Tower One. 30 years old about to be married. No remains ever recovered.

Due to her location she could have been a jumper. Her poor parents will never know if she burned to death, jumped, or maybe was overcome by smoke. No last cell call from her.

I spit on these smug British theorists who insult her memory and that of all the others with their smears on our American religious (which means “backwards and ignorant”) attitudes and their insidious projections of their own cowardice.

[Spktyr]

Jesus told us to turn the other cheek, sure.

He also told us not to be patsies and be perennial victims, either. Immediately before He left us, he demanded that those who followed him arm themselves - not for revenge, marauding or banditry, but to defend themselves against those who would harm them. Luke 22:35-36, to be specific.

From the Bible, I take it thusly: Jesus tells us to let the slings and arrows (insults and affronts) of everyday life in stride and not to let them get to you, let alone start feuds. But when attacked, one is to defend oneself.

[21twelve]

Well stated. That is how I have had it explained to me - and also what seems right within me. The “turn the other cheek” did include a slap to the cheek - an insulting act (not like a violent punch).

[3boysdad]

I want to take a f**king bat to his head “Casino” style. How’s that for gentle? ;)

[Forward the Light Brigade]

Such acts are not a sin in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church.

[Rocco DiPippo]

"I don’t want them forgotten, I want them avenged."

Yes indeed.

[max americana]

I don’t even try to watch the 9/11 stuff anymore. I;ve remembered enough.

I have the the entire Robotech series and will watch that instead.

[ponygirl]

If you watch the documentary "Falling Man," which some others have linked from this thread, you will see that the reporter took this entire story directly from the documentary. The family of Windows on the World pastry chef Norberto Hernandez were extremely upset when the media went forward with their claims that the "Falling Man" photo was of their father. One of the man's daughters says on the film, "Our religion says that to jump would have been suicide. My father would not have done that." So they are taking it directly from the documentary and what these family members said on film. They appeared to be Puerto Rican, so I am assuming they were probably Catholic? I don't know and I don't recall if she named the religion.

Don't flame me... I do not agree with her AT ALL. In fact, I had never even considered that point of view until I watched the documentary last weekend.

[denydenydeny]

The account is from the book September 11th: An oral history, and it's the testimony of an EMT named Ernest Armstead, titled "Tormented by conversions with death." Reproduced below:

"....I ran towards them, my triage tags in hand. There was a man having a seizure and his eyes were rolling into the back of his head. He had struck the pavement so hard that there was virturally nothing else left of him. There were a couple others that I never got to, but I could see from a short distance that they were dead. And then there was the lady with the nice hairdo and earrings.

When I got to her, I ripped out a black tag. What impressed me - and scared me - was that she was alert and was watching what I was doing. I put the tag around her neck and she looked at me and said, "I am not dead. Call my daughter. I am not dead." I was so startled that for a split second I was speechless. "Ma'am," I said. "don't worry about it, We will be right back for you." That was a lie. She couldn't see what I could see. Somehow, I guess it was an air draft or something, her fall had been cushioned enough so that she didn't splatter like the others. Still her body was so twisted and torn apart that I could only ask myself, Why is this lady still alive and talking to me? How can this be? Her right lung, shoulder and head were intacted, but from the diaphragm down she was unrecognizable. Yet she was lucid enough that she continued to argue with me."I am not dead," she insisted again.

....but another wave of casualties arrived in the lobby from upstairs, so I needed to return. As I headed back, I stepped over the lady one more time. And as eerie and unsettling as our first encounter had been, the second was even worse. She yelled at me.

"I am not dead! I am not dead!"

"They're coming, they're coming." I replied without stopping.

"I am not dead! I am not dead!"

[beaversmom]

I never even thought that someone would be ashamed of someone that was forced to jump from those towers. I’m not ashamed of those people. I don’t want them forgotten. I’m of the opinion that it is dishonorable to the memory of someone to hide your head or forget how they died—no matter how horrific. These people didn’t do anything wrong. Their memories don’t have to be shamed. I don’t care if they fell, were forced to jump, or chose to jump—they should all be honored as human beings in an unfathomably desperate situation. I’ll never forget them.

[antceecee]

I’m with you and I think God agrees.

[beaversmom]

Excellent point. I remember many on FR, including myself, didn’t want it censored like it was.

[stansblugrassgrl]

Cathy, I can’t watch anything, either. I remember it like it was yesterday with all the emotion I felt that day. I don’t have to watch a documentary to remember because it is seared in my mind.