A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day...911 Week, Day ONE 09-09-02

Written by JohnHuang2 with Graphics and Layout by Billie | JohnHuang2

[Billie]

              

September 11th --
A Day America Must Never Forget

By JohnHuang2

It was early September 11, 2001 -- just another beautiful, sparkling summer morning in America. From Florida's comely, sandy beaches, across the Carolina Smoky Mountains, to sensual Mt. Rainer in Washington State, it was just another typical, uneventful workaday. The roads and highways bustling with rush-hour traffic, factories humming right along, tireless shopkeepers, vendors and farmers were busy as ever.

The imperturbable, mundane serenity augured not a clue of the nightmare to come.

The clock strikes 8:46 a.m. EST. Suddenly, seemingly from nowhere, a colossal, titanic explosion rips the heart of New York's financial center. A Boeing 767 passenger jet had just plunged into the World Trade Center's north tower. Instantly, a hellish fireball erupts, engulfing the skyscraper's upper-third, the towering flames scorching the morning sky. The explosion's unbridled power and fury were felt miles from the infernal epicenter.

Then, minutes later, yet another jet from hell rumbles over the trembling city, flying low as it eerily swoops towards the embattled WTC. At 9:03 a.m., the gruesome horror is repeated; this time the south tower is struck.

The world knew then this was no accident, no unlucky mishaps. This was terrorism -- the evil misdeed of savages.

But, more than that, these were acts of war. America was under attack.

As if to remove any doubt, reports of yet another kamikaze strike crosses the wires -- barely an hour after the south tower was struck. This time, the nation's military nerve center was the target. At 9:43 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon in Washington.

Then, reports of United Airlines Flight 93, and still another hijacking. At 10:03 a.m. a Boeing 757, bound originally for San Francisco, slams into a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, killing all 40 on board.

All told, the most barbaric acts of domestic terrorism snuffed out the lives of more than 3,000 men, women and children. These innocents became the war's first casualties.

The unspeakable horror and agony that day had broken the quietude and serenity we had long casually taken for granted.

America would never be the same again, her innocence ravished and raped that black September morning.

Suddenly, bursting before our eyes, what hitherto had seemed beyond unimaginable. The nation, whipsawed in terror and sorrow, stumbled and staggered.

Gone forever was our sense of sheltered invulnerability. The unfettered brutality and virulence (common-place in Bogota and Beirut, perhaps), could never befall on American soil -- or so we thought.

That indomitable aura of invincibility, like the World Trade Center itself, lay in ruins.

Amid the seared and parched remains, the smoldering corpses, the shrieks of agony and bellowing cries for help from under the sizzling rubble, as jolted rescuers, shrouded by plumes of blinding smoke, scurried heroically in search for survivors, the inevitable question "why?" ricochet across the lengths and breadths of our shaken land.

What kind of animals would deign to perpetrate such dastardly, despicable horror?

The answer would soon be forthcoming, as the trail of evidence pointed inexorably towards an all-too-familiar name, Osama bin Laden -- perennial enemy of the United States.

The shadowy, elusive Saudi national had long ago become a household name, having been the terror mastermind behind a deadly series of devastating attacks in the 90s, involving hundreds of casualties -- all under the unwatchful eye of the Clinton (mal) administration. The pathetic, halfhearted/half-baked 'military' 'retaliations' which followed would only embolden bin Laden and his al-Qaeda camarilla of war criminals.

While Clinton diehards deny it, September 11 has become an indelible blotch on the Clinton "legacy" -- a stain far more tarnishing than Lewinsky.

Today, exactly one year to the day after the harrowing carnage that awful morning, we commemorate the victims of 9/11 -- the more than 3,000 innocent men, women and children who perished that infamous day.

Three-thousand lives pulverized suddenly, senselessly.

Three-thousand hopes, 3,000 dreams, 3,000 candles of life extinguished, for no reason.

Among the victims, someone's father, someone's mother, someone's son or daughter, aunt or uncle or dear friend.

But all of them, fellow human beings.

A part of America died with them that terrible day.

September 11th was a cruel and vicious attack on all of us -- as Americans.

September 11th reminds us all of our shared humanity, and our common mortality.

The stupendous and miraculous out-pouring of love and support from people all across America during those darkest hours stands as living testament to the greatness of America itself. Our resilience as a people is what makes us uniquely American.

Our enemies may bomb us, hijack our planes, topple our buildings, but our shared sense of community, our effervescence and our love for each other can never say die.

This indomitable spirit moved the gallant heroes of hijacked Flight 93 to fight back, sparing the capital even greater carnage and destruction. Todd Beamer, who led the passenger revolt, epitomizes the courage and spirit and valor of America. This nation will never forget him.

The invincible spirit of the firefighters saved countless lives that day. The stories of heroism, of courage overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds would take more than a lifetime to recount. These brave men boldly defied death in the face that day, again and again.

Take the story of the men of Ladder Company 6. It's a story of how six New York firefighters were miraculously saved from the jaws of death -- all because of Josephine Harris, a woman they call their very own 'Guardian Angel'.

Stationed in downtown Manhattan, Ladder 6 heard the harrowing explosion when the first jet slammed the north tower. "A plane has gone into the World Trade Center!", boomed the intercom.

Ladder 6 rushed to the scene. Three minutes later, they saw "pieces of aircraft lying on the sidewalk and there were computer monitors smashing in the street", firefighter Billy Butler told the Guardian newspaper.

Butler, a seven-year veteran on the force, recalls how they "waited for the debris to stop falling and grabbed our stuff and made a beeline for the front door."

Captain John Jonas told Dateline NBC that, as they entered "One World Trade Center, the [north] tower, there were two badly burned people right there at the lobby door."

"We were in the lobby when the second plane hit", recounted Sal D' Agostino. "You could hear a rumble and an explosion. And from the windows in the World Financial Center across the street, the reflection of the explosion came off of that, came off of those windows", he said.

Climbing stairwell B, each carrying 110 lbs of gear on their backs, Ladder 6 reached the 27th floor when suddenly they heard a "rumble that nobody's ever heard before -- a 110-story building coming down", Captain Jonas told Dateline. The south tower had just crumbled to earth. They were ordered to evacuate -- immediately.

It was then when Ladder 6 came upon Josephine, a Grandmother who had already climbed down 46 floors from her office at the Port Authority.

Captain Jonas described his reaction to Dateline this way: "And Billy's my biggest, and strongest guy. I said, 'Billy, just put her arm around you, and just, we'll do the best we can'. And she was having a hard time. She was elderly, and she wasn't walking very well."

"We started down with her and it was a slow process because she was extremely fatigued, her legs were collapsing," Billy Butler tells the Guardian.

Butler: "We made it down to the fourth floor. We took two steps down the stairs and the whole building started to collapse. It threw us down to half landing. I have never been in a tornado or an earthquake but I think it was like a combination of both. You could see the stuff coming down past your face and the next minute it was going up past your face."

"My lower legs were covered with debris", Butler added, "and as I picked it off I heard something. It was this woman Josephine, she was laying at my feet. Then some of the other guys started getting up. The dust and the smoke did not clear for an hour and half."

Mr Butler: "We didn't give a Mayday initially because we thought we could walk out of there like gentlemen. Then we gave a Mayday and nobody answered, we couldn't get a signal. The chief finally ... got a message out. Captain Jonas told them that they were in the north tower's stairway B. The reply came back, 'where's the north tower?"

Richie Picciotto, the Batallion Chief, told Dateline that "there was no way out. We were encapsulated. So even though we were alive, there's 105 floors above us."

In fact, as Dateline reports, little did they know "those 105 floors were now in pieces all around them. The men of Ladder 6 had survived the collapse but were now marooned in one of the few fragments of the building still standing -- a darkened stairwell. And surrounding them, a craggy wasteland shrouded in smoke."

In his Mayday call, Captain Jonas kept "telling them, 'we're in World Trade Center One. You enter through the glass doors, you make a right, stairway B is the first stairway on the left. We're on -- between the second and the fourth floor. And my five year old daughter could follow those directions."

But Butler has a better idea. He borrows a cell phone from a Port Authority police officer hunkering with them and calls home.

Bill Butler: "My wife answered the phone. She said how are you doing. She was asking a lot of questions. I said, listen to me. And she started to whimper a little bit, and I said, ‘You can’t cry, do not cry right now.' She actually is writing this stuff down, so I just told her call the fire house and tell the guys where we’re at."

Then, suddenly, miraculously, "everything cleared just for a moment. And we could see we were at the top of this debris pile. And I'm thinking, this is going to be OK, you know? This, we're going to be OK here."

Richie Picciotto: "There’s light there. I thought it was an optical illusion. There’s light, we’re safe. There’s life. There’s light."

Dateline recounts how "Chief Picciotto followed the light to an opening they had not seen before, climbed out and secured a rope to show others the way. Still sounding his bullhorn siren, the chief was soon discovered by the men of Ladder Company 43. The firefighters could now climb out. But what about Josephine Harris?"

"I knew that we couldn’t get Josephine out by ourselves", Butler recalls. They stayed with Josephine till she was rescued.

Butler explains the remarkable irony to the Guardian this way: "This woman was soooo slow, but she was a guardian angel sent to us. It was because she slowed us up that we ended up in that void. If we had gotten out of that building we may have sought refuge in our fire truck which was flattened. I saw it the other day and it's just one twisted piece of metal."

Folks, the story of Ladder 6 is the story of America, a tribute to this great and wonderful country of ours.

'But that was a year ago', the cynic scoffs. 'Today, that spirit is dead'.

Nonsense.

America is roaring back, thanks to the leadership of our President, George W. Bush. And thanks to the courage and bravery of the troops he leads, our enemies are either dead, captured or on the run.

"We'll succeed," thundered the Commander-in-Chief at a White House ceremony in March marking six months since the September 11th attacks.

"There will be a day when the organized threat against America, our friends and allies is broken," the President continued. "I see a peaceful world beyond the war on terror, and with courage and unity, we are building that world together."

Over the site of the World Trade Center, two beams of light tower defiantly into New York's night sky, a touching memorial to the victims of 9/11. But more than just columns of light, those beams piercing boldly the darkness are unflinching towers of courage, towers of strength, towers of firmness and undaunted resolve. To our enemies, these poignant symbols send a message, loud and clear: You will never defeat us, we will never surrender, through fire and water we will triumph over you, whatever it takes.

To the victims and heroes of September 11th; to the firefighters, policemen, emergency/rescue workers -- to all who were taken from us that day -- these radiant beams illuminating the heavens are our way of saying, 'We will never ever forget you.'

America must never forget. ~ JohnHuang2

THIS WEEKEND'S THREAD

09-07-02 through 09-08-02 ReCap of the Week's Threads

[Mama_Bear]

Good day to you, Pippin!

[Lorena]

Billie and John, this is so moving. John thank you for sharing with us your wonderful tribute. Billie, your graphics are stunning. This is an excellent idea for this week and I thank you both for this thread. God bless America, God bless President Bush and God bless our military.

Deuteronomy 20:4 - For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to give you victory.

[JohnHuang2]

You're welcome, my friend -- and thanks for the compliments.

[Chairman_December_19th_Society]

"I hear you. The whole world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon." [President Bush speaking to fire and rescue workers at Ground Zero.]

[dansangel]

Such a beautiful tribute, JH2. Thank-you for sharing that. It brings back all of the horror of that day. We need to keep remembering, no matter what the liberal left says. WE MUST NEVER FORGET!

I was coming out of a meeting that morning and walking through our billing and collections department. Something didn't feel right. It seemed almost too quiet. I caught a woman's eye as I walked past and could see fear. She lowered her headphones and asked if I had heard the news. "No, what's up?" I asked.

"A plane flew into one of the towers at the World Trade Center."

She wasn't smiling, this wasn't a joke, but I kept waiting for the punchline. My brain could not register those words.

Suddenly, I found my legs again and hurried into my office to call my husband (.45MAN) at his work and to turn the radio on. He told me it was true, a commercial jetliner had flown into one of the towers. No one was sure if it was an accident, or not. As I sat on the phone with him, we both heard the news silmultaneously from the radio - Another plane had crashed into the second tower! We knew then that it was no accident. We were under attack.

The towers fell, the Pentagon was hit and another plane crashed in Pennsylvania. As the morning went on, I couldn't leave my office, couldn't leave my radio. I wanted my husband - I felt so alone. Friends drifted in and out of my office, their faces ashen masks of grief, shock and horror.

Sometime that morning a horrible thought occurred to me. My boss was due to fly back from Boston that very same morning. Had the plane that left from Boston been his? His assistant kept trying to get him on his cell phone, but couldn't get through. Why didn't he call? Surely he knew we'd be worried.

We finally learned the name of the airline that my boss was flying. It had not been his plane. We would later learn that his flight had left Logan airport within minutes of the doomed flight. He told us that his plane had received a fighter plane "escort" somewhere over Washington DC. He's never been the same. Just knowing that by the Grace of God it could have been his flight shook him to his core. It's difficult to rejoice in being lucky when others have died.

Something changed forever in me that day. I cry more easily. I'm quicker to express my love and concern for someone that I care about instead of shying away from showing my emotions. I have an anger and hatred directed to those who caused this to happen that will not die.

Above all, 9-11 ignited a latent patriotism in me that I proudly talk about and display. I don't worry about being "PC" or hurting a liberal-minded person's feelings. I am an American, I am proud and my grief for the victims of the terror attack and their families knows no bounds.

God Bless Us All and God Bless America!

[ru4liberty]

Thank you, JH2. I miss him terribly.

[dansangel]

I am such a ditz....as a postscript to what I just wrote, I want you to know how wonderful your graphics are. Outstanding!

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

[JohnHuang2]

Thank you, both for the compliments and for sharing with us your thoughts and memories of that horrible, unforgettable day.

Something changed forever in me that day. I cry more easily. I'm quicker to express my love and concern for someone that I care about instead of shying away from showing my emotions. I have an anger and hatred directed to those who caused this to happen that will not die.

Above all, 9-11 ignited a latent patriotism in me that I proudly talk about and display. I don't worry about being "PC" or hurting a liberal-minded person's feelings. I am an American, I am proud and my grief for the victims of the terror attack and their families knows no bounds.

God Bless Us All and God Bless America!

Beautifully stated -- my sentiments exactly.

[Dog]

John.....thank you so much for that beautiful essay. Now I need to go find some tissue's.

Billie thank you for this thread...

[lodwick]

Beautiful post at 125 - thank you.

[Chairman_December_19th_Society]

Some of my personal memories of the day.

The first I heard of the attacks was after I had decided to go to the employee cafeteria and get a cup of coffee. The TV in the room was tuned to CNN, and it was shortly after the first first plane struck the WTC. I thought it was a horrible accident.

I went back upstairs and told my boss. She was dumbfounded.

Moments later, the second plane hit - while I was conversing on FR. AMERICA - The Right Way, September 11, 2001

When the plane hit the Pentagon, the office was in chaos with conversation and people wondering what was going on (it was a downtown Washington, DC, office building and speculation took on all kinds of flavors).

We were told to evacuate the building. No fire klaxons or other signals, just go to the street and wait for further instructions.

While down there, a friend of mine tells me about a plane flying north along 16th Street at very low altitude and very fast. Reports were circulating the New Executive Office Building - blocks away - had been bombed.

Management comes around and tells us we have a choice as to whether to stay or go home. At the moment, I choose to stay. We are still not allowed to re-enter the building.

A short time later - I would say five minutes, but it was really difficult to guage time - we were told another plane was inbound to DC and we were to go home.

The subway ride was long. We were removed from the car in Rosslyn (first stop in Virginia), due to "mechanical problems." A long time passed, no status reports over the loudspeaker from Metro. Many people, including me, becoming nervous. Several opt to go to the surface and find another way.

Finally, another train comes. I remember vividly when the train emerged from underground just east of Falls Church people were applauding. We had to change trains again at West Falls Church - not a normal circumstance (we were actually riding a train that normally passed under the Pentagon, but was diverted).

On leaving the subway in Vienna, I looked back east. Smoke was pouring upward from the location of the Pentagon, and the east sky was a smokey haze generally. I wasn't quite sure what to make of all of this.

While going home, I turned on the radio in the car - it was an unusually long drive from the Metro stop as lights were timed for lunchtime volume, not what was now, essentially, rush hour. News reports were talking about the World Trade Center being gone. I'm thinking - gone? That's not possible. Those towers will stand forever. Must be some rhetoric in the news story. They must be referring to some of the offices or something.

Continuing to listen to the news, I come to learn it is real - the towers were indeed razed. It was overwhelming. It made the remaining trip home very difficult indeed.

On arriving home, Mrs. Chairman asks why I'm home so early. That was good for me, it meant she didn't know so she wasn't worrying (the channel she was watching, amazingly, had not pre-empted broadcasting).

We tune to FoxNews. It was as if it were a nightmare, but it was real. Planes flying into the WTC and Pentagon. Hearing about Todd Beamer and the Americans who struggled on the aircraft that went down in Pennsylvania - thinking "good, we didn't take it like sheep, we fought back."

Girl child comes home from school, in tears - having heard about what happened from a friend. She, at 12, was trying to grasp how we went from being at peace when she went to school to being at war when she came home. We all were. Boy child was not given any information, so he had no idea what was going on.

Phone lines. An inability to make a phone call in northern Virginia is another distinct memory. Even cell phones were useless because there was so many people trying to place calls. I did get a call from my mother in the evening. I learned my b-i-l, who is in the Navy and stationed at the Pentagon, was in the wing that was struck by the aircraft. My sister was frantic all afternoon, my mother said; by the time she had called, we learned that, while he was physically present in that wedge, he was able to get to safety quickly, but was not able to let loved ones know because of the communication difficulties.

After all that, I went into the sitting room, alone. It seemed like 15 minutes, but Mrs. Chairman said it was more like an hour. Anyhow, she said I should get some sleep. I went to bed, but sleep wasn't possible.

[Lorena]

"I hear you. The whole world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon." [President Bush speaking to fire and rescue workers at Ground Zero.]

Oh, my, those words really bring it all back, don't they?

<

Standing upon the ashes of the worst terrorist attack on American soil Sept. 14, President Bush pledges that the voices calling for justice from across the country will be heard. Responding to the Presidents' words, rescue workers cheer and chant, "U.S.A, U.S.A."

Text of entire speech:

Remarks by the President To Police, Firemen and Rescue Workers
Murray and West Streets
New York, New York
September 14, 2001

4:40 P.M. EDT

CROWD: U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. I want you all to know --

Q Can't hear you.

THE PRESIDENT: I can't talk any louder. (Laughter.)

I want you all to know that America today -- that America today is on bended knee in prayer for the people whose lives were lost here, for the workers who work here, for the families who mourn. This nation stands with the good people of New York City, and New Jersey and Connecticut, as we mourn the loss of thousands of our citizens.

Q I can't hear you.

THE PRESIDENT: I can hear you. (Applause.) I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. (Applause.) And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon. (Applause.)

CROWD: U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

THE PRESIDENT: The nation sends its love and compassion to everybody who is here. Thank you for your hard work. Thank you for making the nation proud. And may God bless America. (Applause.)

CROWD: U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

(The President waves small American flag.)
(Applause.) END 4:43 P.M. EDT

[LBGA]

Thank you both for a moving tribute with your beautiful graphics and words.

[LBGA]

What a beautiful but heart-wrenching movie! Thank you so much for doing this and sharing it with us. I like the message of faith and hope at the end.

[Pippin]

I remember watching that speech on Fox News.

Did you see yesterday were (I think it was Laurie Dhue) They were interviewing that fireman who was with the President that day?

[daisyscarlett]

America remembering....

Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White displays a new specialty license plate to honor the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks during a news conference in Chicago, Monday, Sept. 9, 2002. The initial purchase price for plate will be $118 of which $25 goes to the Sept. 11 fund.

[Chairman_December_19th_Society]

Excellent. I like it!!

[daisyscarlett]

America Remembering...continued

Anthony Gelpi, district manager of Swan Cleaners, irons U.S. flags Monday, Sept. 9, 2002, for the Ohio Capitol, in Columbus, Ohio. About 3,000 flags are to be placed at the state house for a Sept. 11 memorial service. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)

[Billie]

Hi, Cob, like you, I can't decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing you didn't have a TV to watch during those horrible moments and all the days following as we relived it over and over again. I was practically glued to the set, my eyes swollen from crying so much.

[ofMagog]

0620 dawn Tuesday 10Sep02
south of Wellington, NZ

Other ships seeing our American flag are signaling us and blowing horns.