Never Forget ~ 9-11-2001

Saturday it will be 20 years since that day, the day America stood still. The day that America changed. Whether you believe the conspiracies or the original story, those first hours and days will forever be burned in our minds and hearts. We will never forget.

Twenty years later I still cannot think of that day without tears in my eyes. It was a beautiful crisp morning with a nip of Fall in the air. It was a morning of wrangling the 3 children, getting them ready for school and daycare so I could get to work. At the school I learned that something had hit a tower and to this day, I know the exact spot I was at when the radio said the other tower was hit. Scared and filled with disbelief, it was a day of realizing that terror can happen in America.

Let us remember to raise our flags this weekend, take a moment to remember that day and those that lost their lives plus those that to this day still fight the illnesses from helping the recovery.



All times are expressed in the morning in Eastern time:

• 8:46 am: American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower
• 9:03 am: United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower
• 9:37 am: AA Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon
• 9:59 am: The south tower collapses
• 10:03 am: UA 93 crashed in an empty field in Pennsylvania.
• 10:28 am: The north tower collapses.

 

Was at work in shop. No radio or tv, customers just kept coming in shop and telling us the latest of it. About 12 the boss handed me his credit card and said go buy a small tv. Could still pick it up off air then. About 2 pm, said that's it for the day and we went home. Came back to work the next day and didn't really know what was going on. Scary times.

 

Unfortunately 9/11 will be forgotten just like Pearl Harbor remembrance is fading into history as those WW II vets pass on and we the children are getting older. I can truthfully say as a son of a WW II vet I have never forgotten Pearl Harbor but my sons to my dismay do.

 

Haven't been around on this site, as we moved to a more free state, and can now fly a flag without concern for it being disrespected, or worse.

Purposefully went out to purchase a flag for 9/11; couldn't help but break composure when telling the clerk (daughter in a USMC family) why I was buying one at this time. Can't write this without breaking. Although we were on the opposite coast, talk at work was about all of the people that were known, but on the East coast. And concern for their safety. And the shock.

We'll never forget, some may, but I guess that"s just our nature.

 

We were out on an oilfield location in the cypress swamp when this was going down.
The guy I was working with got a phone call from his wife about something bad going down.
We left the location and drove into town to a truck stop on La.1
You could hear a pin drop inside, All eyes were on the TV.

 

Was just leaving for work when the first plane hit, was discussing it when the second one hit.

 

I was in Port of Spain, Trinidad on a salvage job when I got a call from my wife on the sat-phone telling me we were under missile attack, at least in New York. Comms went down, the sat TV was still up so I switched to CNN in time to see the second plane striking the tower. My next phone call to the U.S. was three weeks later.

 

Am 83, very few things stick in your mind, VE, VJ, Kennedy death, 9 11, still remember what I was doing when I heard.

 

We ( my teams and I) had just returned to base from a joint training session with others in JSOC, we had debriefed and were hittin the showers when this Sgt. came running in and told us to No Shit, suit up, gear up, grab weapons and kit and haul ass to the flight line, update in route! None of us, including our pilots or C.O's had any idea what was happening, only that we were on full alert and were to get airborn as quick as we could, the sirens on base were all going off and serious folks with rifles were showing up out of nowhere!! Once we took off, we were ordered to disperse to Georgia and hold for further orders! Part of our many contingencies was to disperse all assets and personal during an attack, and then await orders that would have tasking for us should we be needed! It wasn't until after we landed and were told to shut down and made our way to the mobile Tactical Command Center that we finally saw what was going on! You wanna see a bunch of pissed off dudes in war paint, that was us! The collective attitude was Some One Some Where was gonna get nasty visit soon! It was plainly obvious to everyone after the second plane hit that we were under attack, prior to that, we thought it was a bad accident, but were not sure! We spent most of that first day watching the alert fighter interceptors launching and recovering, and later we were put back on flight rotation to help enforce the NO-FLY orders nation wide! That first week was both the quietist and yet loudest time I have ever witnessed in this country, quiet as there were ZERO civilian flights, loud as hell from all the Military fighter aircraft taking off and buzzing around purposely making as much noise as possible! We stayed in Georgia for almost 12 days before receiving orders to return to base and get ready to deploy within 1 hour of receiving a stand up order. We pulled out all our sterile aircraft and fueled and loaded them with all of our weapons, equipment, and gear, plus all our personal stuff we would need for a deployment! 3 days after we were ordered to Landstuhl Germany and there we waited, We didn't have long to wait! Orders came down to make our way south east first to Italy and then across the med to Saudi and hold for further tasking! A few weeks later, we were attached to an F-15E squadron and moved to a friendly country and hold again! We stayed there until the kick off of activities ramped up in Afghanistan, and then stood up on alert for potential rescue ops in Indian country, first mission was less then 8 hours later!

 

Working at a remote mine site in Northern Nevada, think it was a Tuesday morning. We had internet and we were looking at a little 2" x 2" picture of the first tower on fire with a very brief explanation that it had been struck by a passenger jet.

Thought a awful lot of things had to have gone wrong for an accident such as that to happen, but anything was possible. Then came news of the second tower...and the striking realization that this was no accident.

 

Was headed into town that morning to my job ,, had my helper with me ,, on the way to town ,, something was weird ,, something just didn't feel right ,, couldn't put my finger on it , but just had a bad feeling. When we got to the job ,, we walked into the house ,,, a customers house ,, the contractor and his helper was watching the homeowners TV ,, that seemed weird to me . The contractor was from NY ,, Long Island area . They told us what happened ,, a few minutes later,, the 2nd plane hit ,,,, the contractor had tears flowing from his eyes ,, he said ,, he couldn't believe it was happening ,,, as I was watching the TV ,,, I said ,, without really realizing it ,,, I said ,, I couldn't believe it took them this long to hit us ,,,, the contractor looked at me like I had hit the towers myself ,,, not realizing I had been in Beruit 18 years earlier. To this day ,,, there's still a debt I owe them sons-of -bitches ,,,

 

If it makes ya feel any better, I helped send a whole bunch of those evil bastards to meet their 72 virgins, and while I take no pleasure in having done it, I stand ready to do it again if the need ever arose! I will never pick up a rifle for this country again, but for friends and loved ones, even the devil hisself couldn't stop me from exacting such a toll upon those evil spawn of his!

 

9/11/2021 - #NewWorldNextWeek

 

Amen brother ,,, I'm just happy to know you made it back ,, and your service and sacrifice is much appreciated,, and a debt that we can never repay to you . I pray you'll rest easy for your remaining days .

 

Does anyone think the events from 9/10 were worse than 9/11? Who remembers what happened on that day?

 

I'm afraid you'll have to refresh my memory .

 

You have had many of those stand still moments. Seems every generation has one. Pretty sure it will happen for my Gen Z kids but terrified at what it will be. All I can do is prepare them to always be alert.

 

We also need to remember that our Northern neighbors who took in plane loads of folks, opening their hearts and homes. It was truly an event that had neighbor helping neighbors. Good video in the link.
Remembering 9/11: The Day Canadian Town Of Gander Opened Its Doors, Hearts To Complete Strangers
Remembering 9/11: The Day Canadian Town Of Gander Opened Its Doors, Hearts To Complete Strangers

 

Today we remember the murder of nearly 3000 people by terrorist. But there are people in this country today. That need to remember that they hijacked 4 planes before they could complete their attack Patriots rallied and took it to the terrorist on flight 93 . That hundreds of first responders run into hell on Earth ,many gave all that day thousands of people just helped where ever they could . Every boat nearby showed up to get people off the island 9/11/2001 public watercraft private businesses and private citizens worked together to put together the largest boat lift the world has ever seen. In the days following people stood in line to donate blood Men and women joined the military in droves . An Army moved in to recover our loved ones lost . Other armies worked to feed and support the recovery people.
The American people will only be pushed so far until they say enough! They will quit arguing with each other stand shoulder to to shoulder once that happens ... And you are the one who pushed them to that point
May God have mercy on your soul