9/11...5 Years

[scooter1369]

Thx for the kudos guys. Is there anything I need to do to allow it to show?

No. I'm sure its just one item that Clarity and team haven't gotten to yet.

That hacker tore us up pretty good. C

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

The lack of a GPA icon is indeed a known problem. My "option" is to "Remove Award" which means the GPA is there, just not the icon.

 

[BuckPshrink]

I was a Fed. cop then, was driving a 4x4 along a notorious train trackside in Atlanta famous for the trains being shot at.(target practice) Was listening to talk radio when our Dept. radio kicked in a message from our Director to every Agent in the country.(that had never happened before) During his transmission the 2nd. tower fell & our lives changed for the drastic. Did not have a day off for almost 3 months following that yet no one said a word....

 

[Steve19]

I was holding while the duty nurse at Riverside Methodist Hospital tried to find my mother. No one was answering the phone in his room because he had into a coma a few minutes before my call. At the same time, I was holding on with our travel agent, trying to get tickets for a flight to the US from South Africa or to New York via London. CNN was playing on TV with the sound down, across the room.

As my mother picked up the phone, I immediately told her that I was fighting to get a flight the following week. She was very distraught and told me that he stopped responding to her a few moments before and appeared to be in a coma.

I was angry for not listening to my wife. Her area is cancer research. She told me that Dad's doctors probably were wrong and that he wouldn't last three months. She had begged me to book a flight and see him the week before. But, I had a speech and an exec ed thing and "what difference will one week make?"

My memory is very hazy. As I tried to calm my mother, CNN broke the program with the urgent news about an accident at the WTC involving a plane, which was identifed as a small passenger plane at first, as I remember it. They began showing live footage of the fire which appeared to be not too serious at first. With the sound down low, I couldn't make much sense of what I was seeing. It was so unexpected. Anyway, a fire wasn't as important as my Dad in a coma.

After calming my mother a bit and letting her get back to Dad. I got into a full blown argument with the booking agents who could not get me on a flight for more than a week. I hung up threatening to move our business if they couldn't get it done.

Hanging up I walked toward the TV to turn up the sound. As I reached for the remote control, the second airplane hit the towers.

I actually don't remember much after that except walking outside to stand by my pool and try say some prayers for my father and the people on the planes and in the towers, while my two-year-old tagged at my trousers saying, "Gampa, Gampa, see Gampa?" Everything just seemed surreal. My Dad. The attack. It couldn't actually be real. I had spoken to Dad two days before and he was to be discharged, what happened? It is all a blur to me now.

It took me two weeks to get into America to bury Dad. We were detained for eight hours in a 6' x 4' room in Johannesburg because our luggage had been checked through from Cape Town and the rules wouldn't allow us to retrieve it. Our baby formula and bottles were in the luggage. It was hell, people fighting for seats on planes. Two ladies in Atlanta pulling each others hair and screaming. Trying to keep enough baby formula and diapers at hand during the journey.

My biggest memory is that these bastards had robbed America of its happiness. It's hard to remember now that America was an extremely happy place at the end of the 1990s. The national debt would be paid in a few years. The e-commerce revolution was in full bloom. When I had left after my last visit, America was smiling, when I arrived to bury dad, no one was smiling. People didn't even greet one another in shopping malls in Columbus, but rather just passed in great sadness.

To this day, I am most thankful that Dad never saw the attack on America. He was a patriot and war veteran of the Charleton Heston mould.

As I type these words I am overwhelmed by the feeling that this ugly time will pass. America will eventually be victorious in the war against terrorism. And these terrorists will see that all that they thought they might accomplish through violence has come to naught, whether in this world or the next.

 

[scooter1369]

I was holding while the duty nurse at Riverside Methodist Hospital tried to find my mother. No one was answering the phone in his room because he had into a coma a few minutes before my call. At the same time, I was holding on with our travel agent, trying to get tickets for a flight to the US from South Africa or to New York via London. CNN was playing on TV with the sound down, across the room.

As my mother picked up the phone, I immediately told her that I was fighting to get a flight the following week. She was very distraught and told me that he stopped responding to her a few moments before and appeared to be in a coma.

I was angry for not listening to my wife. Her area is cancer research. She told me that Dad's doctors probably were wrong and that he wouldn't last three months. She had begged me to book a flight and see him the week before. But, I had a speech and an exec ed thing and "what difference will one week make?"

My memory is very hazy. As I tried to calm my mother, CNN broke the program with the urgent news about an accident at the WTC involving a plane, which was identifed as a small passenger plane at first, as I remember it. They began showing live footage of the fire which appeared to be not too serious at first. With the sound down low, I couldn't make much sense of what I was seeing. It was so unexpected. Anyway, a fire wasn't as important as my Dad in a coma.

After calming my mother a bit and letting her get back to Dad. I got into a full blown argument with the booking agents who could not get me on a flight for more than a week. I hung up threatening to move our business if they couldn't get it done.

Hanging up I walked toward the TV to turn up the sound. As I reached for the remote control, the second airplane hit the towers.

I actually don't remember much after that except walking outside to stand by my pool and try say some prayers for my father and the people on the planes and in the towers, while my two-year-old tagged at my trousers saying, "Gampa, Gampa, see Gampa?" Everything just seemed surreal. My Dad. The attack. It couldn't actually be real. I had spoken to Dad two days before and he was to be discharged, what happened? It is all a blur to me now.

It took me two weeks to get into America to bury Dad. We were detained for eight hours in a 6' x 4' room in Johannesburg because our luggage had been checked through from Cape Town and the rules wouldn't allow us to retrieve it. Our baby formula and bottles were in the luggage. It was hell, people fighting for seats on planes. Two ladies in Atlanta pulling each others hair and screaming. Trying to keep enough baby formula and diapers at hand during the journey.

My biggest memory is that these bastards had robbed America of its happiness. It's hard to remember now that America was an extremely happy place at the end of the 1990s. The national debt would be paid in a few years. The e-commerce revolution was in full bloom. When I had left after my last visit, America was smiling, when I arrived to bury dad, no one was smiling. People didn't even greet one another in shopping malls in Columbus, but rather just passed in great sadness.

To this day, I am most thankful that Dad never saw the attack on America. He was a patriot and war veteran of the Charleton Heston mould.

As I type these words I am overwhelmed by the feeling that this ugly time will pass. America will eventually be victorious in the war against terrorism. And these terrorists will see that all that they thought they might accomplish through violence has come to naught, whether in this world or the next.

Maybe the most powerful and gut wrenching post I have ever read on these forums. I only wish I knew what to say, Steve. I appreciate your fortitude and respect how you pulled through a very difficult time.

Thanks for sharing your story of that day. I know how it affected me as an American. But the crisis affected you as a son, leaving you with a headful of "what if's" to deal with.

Everyone remembers what they were doing and where they were at 8:45am on 9/11. I guess that can be magnified by those living and working overseas who aren't a short drive from home.

 

[G-FORCE]

Never forget the innocent men, women, and children who lost their lives in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center buildings, the Pentagon, and those aboard the flights of United Airlines 175, American Airlines 11, United 93, and American Airlines 77.
God bless the men and women who responded to their call domestically and around the world.

NEVER FORGET

 

[LoKyBuckeye]

I heard an interesting story today... President Bush was in Sarasota that day at Booker Middle School where kids were reading to him that morning.... Linda Carson (wife of coaching legend Bud Carson) works at our station as an Anchor/ Reporter and she was there covering the Presidents visit. She was in the room with him when he was told the country was under attack. A few minutes after he was told he was rushed out of the room... not knowing what was going on the press followed but were turned away at the doorway where Bush was running to a phone. She was telling the story like it happened last week...

 

[BuckeyeRyn]

As I had posted before, I was having an ultrasound done of my unborn child. This ultrasound was of utmost importance to BKB and me because my mother-in-law had recently been diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer and we didn't know how long she had to live, we wanted to be able to share with her the gender of this child. Would she have another granddaughter or perhaps another grandson. The apt was scheduled for 8:45, the doc was running right on time, laying there looking at the beauty of a life growing inside of me, I felt guilty, BKB's mom was dying but I was excited and selfish for this new life. An ultrasound typically last 5 minutes or so, a few pictures, a few measurements and you are done. My doctor knew how important finding out the gender was to us so the scan was lasting a bit longer than normal. At this point my doctors phone kept ringing and ringing, he would check it, saying, "its just my wife I will call her back in a few" I finally told him, "You'd better answer it" so he did and he reported the news a small airplane has crashed into one of the towers in New York. We hypothesized about what could have happened, the pictures of our unborn child were printed out with date and time stamp... we each got in our cars and headed our separate directions to work. I turned the radio on was half listening as I was bummed we hadn't discovered the sex of the baby and knew my mother in law was going to be disapointed, I didn't want to make that phone call to hear, at that moment I started realizing the radio hadn't played any songs, I listened closer to realize they were now convinced this was an act of terrorism. I arrived at work, TV already on, I sat down and watched it all unfold. Buildings down, more hijacked planes, pentagon being hit.. My motherly instinct kicked in, I rubbed my belly all day, thinking what on earth was I doing bringing a child into a world like this. Since that day a lot has changed in my life, some good, some bad. The one thing I do know is that I am trying to raise my children to be good people, to be considerate, kind, compassionate, respectful, responsible, tolerant and true to their word. Maybe, hopefully someday they will make a difference. Terrorism only wins when the core is destroyed, the acts that day came nowhere near destroying our core values. I feel bad for everyone/thing that was lost that day but as long as we try to be the best people we can be we will win this battle. Hug your loved ones extra tight today simply because you can!

 

[ScriptOhio]

I was actually at the 9/11 Memorial last month; Yeah I know, I take lousy pictures.

 

[DubCoffman62]