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Five Years Later: My Post from 9/11/2001


Nirvjam

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I posted this on the evening of Sep. 11, 2001 after finally getting home from my Manhattan job. I saved the thread as an html file at:

 

Sep. 11, 2001

 

(There may be broken links/messages on the page - just scroll down for the saved thread.)

 

We will never forget those who perished.....

769682[/snapback]

 

Thanks Jerry for digging this up. I have been bummed out all day, and TBD has enabled me to take my mind off of the ugly memories of 9/11 to a degree. Just think...... in a few weeks we will be back in WNY!!!

 

This year, please remind me not to leave the chocolates for cablelady in the room. ;)

 

I'll call you later.

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Thanks Jerry for digging this up. I have been bummed out all day, and TBD has enabled me to take my mind off of the ugly memories of 9/11 to a degree. Just think...... in a few weeks we will be back in WNY!!!

 

This year, please remind me not to leave the chocolates for cablelady in the room.  ;)

 

I'll call you later.

769815[/snapback]

 

Are you tailgating at Kenny's Pinto or Hammer's?

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I watched United 93 earlier this morning....I thought it was more of a documentary type film, but they pretty much just throw you right into the middle of all that's going on. I was hesitant to watch it, cause - like many people - I get upset to the point that I can't function right when I start thinking about all that went on. The last five minutes of the film will haunt me the rest of my life, I think....as will most of the events of that day. I cannot fathom the suffering that people had to endure on that day and in the days that have followed. :angry:<_<

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Thanks Jerry for digging this up. I have been bummed out all day, and TBD has enabled me to take my mind off of the ugly memories of 9/11 to a degree. Just think...... in a few weeks we will be back in WNY!!!

 

This year, please remind me not to leave the chocolates for cablelady in the room.  :angry:

 

I'll call you later.

769815[/snapback]

 

 

Look forward to seeing you both in just a few weeks, William and Gerald.

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I posted this on the evening of Sep. 11, 2001 after finally getting home from my Manhattan job. I saved the thread as an html file at:

 

Sep. 11, 2001

 

(There may be broken links/messages on the page - just scroll down for the saved thread.)

 

We will never forget those who perished.....

769682[/snapback]

 

I remember reading that the first time through...

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I will never forget that day, I posted the experiences of my day after I woke up the following day. I couldnt find it in the archives, but someone sent it to me this morning with a note. I still go through the names of the people I know who were lost that day, one guy I had golfed with on the Monday after the Bills game. Here is what I had written on the morning of the 12th:

 

I almost feel ashamed looking at this board, since football is far from my

mind right now, but my home page is TBD...

 

When I was on my way to work yesterday, I was on the #1 express from Penn

down to WTC, at 14th a couple got on and said they saw a plane hit the trade

center, I figured it was a light plane, and continued on. There was an

announcement by the conductor that said "Due to a fire at WTC there will be

no service to Cortland ave (in the wtc), I got out at chambers street and

started walking..as I turned around to face the north tower I saw people

just string up in awe..there was a hole in the tower with smoke and flames,

I asked some guy what happened and he said, he saw the plane go in.. and

then he said 15 minutes later the other tower exploded.. (we were on the

north side so he didn't see the 2nd plane , only the impact)

 

I tried my cell phone (no good) so I tried to find a pay phone , I thought

of my wife wondering if I was in there, and just the worry that the rest of

the family would have when they heard..I was able to get through to her

voice mail, and then I called our office on 36th st ( I am a consultant

assigned to 4 WTC since last September). The office wanted me to try to

locate another employee, and we started using my cell phone with the two way

radio feature.

 

I started looping around to the east of the buildings, trying to find my

co-worker, as I walked near the post office, I saw debris and broken

concrete, small puddles of blood, shoes ,lots of shoes and I picked up a

warm hunk of metal ( I have no idea why) it was almost hot and it was heavy

and it was oily or greasy... I dropped it when I saw a wheel or turbine that

was 20 feet away, high density aluminum about 6 feet wide....

 

Using my radio to my boss, I kept chatter back and forth and kept moving

towards where I figured Marcia would be (we went through the bombing in 93

and had always said, head for the water by the Seaport).

 

Police were busy on Church so I moved to Broadway by J&R Music and continued

the radio chatter with my boss, he said Marcia had not checked in yet, keep

looking, he also told me he saw video of the 2nd plane as it went in, he

said it had been hijacked as well as the first one, he also told be about

the Pentagon being hit.

 

I had worked my way to Nassau street, a pedestrian mall about 3 blocks east

of the towers. My radio was quirky, sometimes the frequency was jammed,

sometimes you could get through, so I told my boss I was going to keep it on

once I get a signal. As I was walking up Nassau I left the center of the

street and stayed along the storefronts, I was talking to Doug and he heard

me say "Oh @#$%^! something's happening, oh my God something went off", and

he could hear the rumbling as the first tower went down, I felt a shock wave

and wind rush as I ducked into a doorway (from the narrow street you could

not see the tower) I knew that one of them had fallen and I assumed it had

toppled over like a domino, not the gentle slide that I saw later.

 

The dust and debris cloud came next as I peered out of the doorway the cloud

came east towards the Nassau area, I started sprinting north and got one

block, as I looked over my left shoulder I saw a huge cloud of debris/dust

coming our way, as we ran I saw a woman fall, someone slowed down to help

and they were trampled ( I know I should have stopped, but I was thinking

about wife, kids etc, and she went down pretty hard) As I rounded the corner

near Beekman Hospital emergency personnel were waving us away I zigged

through the waiting stretchers, and headed to the Seaport, I slowed down to

catch my breath....

The smoke/debris cloud was covering us with something that was making me

choke and burning my eyes, it looked like snow... I started towards the

Brooklyn Bridge, but I was afraid that if the other tower went it may drop

towards us, so I started to go towards Chinatown. As I was walking I

remembered my radio.. the (last transmission I sent was Oh my God and the

rumbling in the background) when I finally got through my boss was excited,

he thought I was a goner.

 

A woman stopped be and asked to borrow the phone, I told her there were no

calls in or out, she then started wandering back towards the site and I

stopped her and asked what she was doing, "I have to get my pocketbook" I

said that would not be a great idea, and I asked her where she lives, we

were going the same way and started walking together, we saw a cab (empty)

so we got in and the driver said "I'm only going north" (well hello....that

was an understatement, who the hell wants to go back there!!!)

 

In the cab, Doug (boss) confirmed that the tower had fallen, we looked back

and saw the new skyline with just one tower standing up. A short time later

Doug asked where we were, I told him in a cab, and he told us the second

tower just went down, we looked out the back window of the cab as the debris

and smoke filled the air in the distance.

 

We were up to the village, and I saw the Empire State building looming in

the distance.. I told the driver to stop and let me out, the girl (Valerie)

said why get out now??? I pointed to the building/target and said"what would

be the next landmark to get hit??

 

I got out and gave the girl some money for the cab , she insisted on paying

me back and made me give her my card ( amazing at a time like this the

etiquette thing still remains in some people).

 

I started west to avoid the Empire State Building and went around it to get

to our office located 2 blocks north of the ESB. I got upstairs and changed,

called the wife ( she heard my voice cracking on the messages and she cried

every time she heard news of my progress)

 

We watched the news as others straggled in (Marcia had gotten up there too).

Once they opened the Long Island Rail Road, I left and got on and headed

home..

 

I never figured out whose shoes those were..

 

I am home now, and I suggest the following:

Don't complain about doing your kids homework.

Say I love you whenever possible

Try to keep in touch with your loved ones,

Whatever you think is very important today, may seem like a pimple on the

ass of an elephant tomorrow.

 

God Bless us all

 

Guff

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NirvJam & Guff - I remember these posts as if they were yesterday.  I got more news from TBD that day than I did from anywhere else.

 

:D

770321[/snapback]

Likewise. I was home that day, so had the TV going... but spent most of the time hitting refresh on the board, and breathing a sigh of relief every time one of the NYC crew checked in OK...

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Likewise. I was home that day, so had the TV going... but spent most of the time hitting refresh on the board, and breathing a sigh of relief every time one of the NYC crew checked in OK...

770379[/snapback]

I re-registered on the 'new' Stadium Wall on 9/11 to check in on people and keep up to daye with the news. My date of registration is a spooky reminder of how connected TBD makes me feel to people I have often never met, or spoken to.

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Likewise. I was home that day, so had the TV going... but spent most of the time hitting refresh on the board, and breathing a sigh of relief every time one of the NYC crew checked in OK...

770379[/snapback]

I spent that morning at work going between the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) directors office, he had a TV going, the EOC itself, three TV's there, but it was filling up with responders fast, and my office, posting/reading TBD.

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I knew the Wall existed around 9/11, but didn't even look @ any posts here until around November of '01. Those were the days that I just checked Two Bills Drive for the latest Bills news, but didn't get into the message board thing. Once I started lurking, I started to like this place, then I registered a few months later, but still didn't post yet. My first post wasn't until about 4 months after I finally registered here.

 

I wish I had known you guys back then. It would've been nice to have the support system then.

 

Hey, my first post ever here!

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