September 11th

[LewPort71]

I read about the attacks here on TBD...Then went to the conference room where the

TV is....Can not believe it has been 7 years

[bills_fan]

I will never forget the shoes in the street, some matched, some not. Some bloody, some brand new. Two of our boardrooms are named after guys we lost from that day. Our Exchange was housed in the Trade Center, amazing that so few were lost from over 1300 on our trading floor and support offices.

 

 

I was working on the 52nd floor of One Liberty Plaza, right across the street. I had just gotten in, dropped my bag in my office (that had a view of the WTC) and went to get my morning coffee. The lights flickered in the coffee room. I walked back to my office with my coffee, looked out the window, and the first tower was on fire, with a big hole in it.

[Bullpen]

I was working on the 52nd floor of One Liberty Plaza, right across the street. I had just gotten in, dropped my bag in my office (that had a view of the WTC) and went to get my morning coffee. The lights flickered in the coffee room. I walked back to my office with my coffee, looked out the window, and the first tower was on fire, with a big hole in it.

 

Sweet Jesus, that's got to be something you'll remember in vivid detail for the rest of your life.

 

I was here in Colorado, had a friend who worked across the river from the WTC and he was emailing me to get information because they were having all kinds of technical problems. It was strange that he was getting word from me in Colorado as to what was going on.

 

I remember by Friday or Saturday night I finally told the family "that's enough, we've been glued to the TV every night, we're going out to dinner to get away from it all and talk to eachother rather than stare at the TV."

 

Seems like forever ago sometimes... and other times like it was yesterday.

[stuckincincy]

God bless all...

[WellDressed]

Johnathan Winters' anniversary.

[bartshan-83]

I was working on the 52nd floor of One Liberty Plaza, right across the street. I had just gotten in, dropped my bag in my office (that had a view of the WTC) and went to get my morning coffee. The lights flickered in the coffee room. I walked back to my office with my coffee, looked out the window, and the first tower was on fire, with a big hole in it.

Holy shite...that about takes the cake.

 

It was my 2nd week of college. Woke up to my roommate shaking me and shouting hysterically. By the time I got to my computer, the first tower was a cloud of black smoke.

 

 

I agree with a previous poster that people should think of this more often. Not to remember the tragedy, but to remember the feelings of goodwill and compassion that flooded our country in the immediate aftermath. Sometimes is takes such a tragedy to bring out the full potential of the human spirit.

[H2o]

Why the F is Osama still out there!!!

 

Because they aren't REALLY trying to catch him

 

I remember being at work and hearing about the first plane while listening to Glenn Beck on AM radio. I immediately went to a television in one of the offices. I could not believe what I was seeing. I was watching for about 5 minutes when the second tower was hit. You cold have heard a feather hit the floor. Deafening silence covered the room. No one could believe what they were seeing. I remeber the overwhelming sorrow I felt for the people of that city and the patriotic fire that I felt burning inside that day. I remember empty skies with no blinking lights from airplanes for days. I remember the first time that any of us heard and saw a plane while at the Honeywell plant. We all looked up, half way ducked, and cringed in case it was coming for us. The plane was only about 400 to 500 feet overhead. Some people say things, but I say that life as a whole for EVERY American has never been the same, nor will it be ever again

[Fingon]

Why the F is Osama still out there!!!

Because he is hiding in Pakistan, and the Pakistani's will not go after him. If they/we tried to go after him... the flimsy Pakistani government might collapse, and an extremist one would replace it. The area OBL is hiding in is very sympathetic to his "cause".

[Wacka]

The place I worked at had an office in Jersey. One of the people that would travel there would book several flights. He would later cash in the unused tickets for another flight . The guy flew back to CA late on Sept 10 from Newark. That morning at work, he showed us the unused boarding passes he had. One was for Flight 93! This was when they printed the passes and you couldn't do it from home.

[The Avenger]

I remember trying to keep up with what ws happening via the Net and none of the news sites was loading - just too much traffic. I called my wife and she told me that one of the towers fell - I just couldn't believe it. A plane hit a building and as unbelieveable as that was, it was clearly physically possible. It happened a second time and you knew it was purposeful. But when the building collapsed it didn't register that it could even happen. In 1993 a huge bomb went off, blowing away many levels of a parking garage and while the intent was to topple the building, it didn't even make in impact on the building structurally speaking - how could something tht big, somethng that could have survived a hurricane or earhquake could have come down. It still barely registers.

[bills_fan]

Holy shite...that about takes the cake.

 

It was my 2nd week of college. Woke up to my roommate shaking me and shouting hysterically. By the time I got to my computer, the first tower was a cloud of black smoke.

 

 

I agree with a previous poster that people should think of this more often. Not to remember the tragedy, but to remember the feelings of goodwill and compassion that flooded our country in the immediate aftermath. Sometimes is takes such a tragedy to bring out the full potential of the human spirit.

 

 

It got even worse.

 

Noone in my office really knew what happened. We figured a plane had crashed into the tower, but figured it was some type of accident, perhaps the pilot had a heart attack or whatever. A coworker's wife worked on a very high floor in the North Tower, as a compliance officer. He told me they had told the workers to stay at their desks and not to panic because the fire from the South Tower would not affect the North Tower. She did not listen to them and left the building.

 

I walked downstairs with a few co-workers and stood outside Brooks Brothers (the one they later used as a morgue) in my building, just looking up at the towers..really pretty dumbfounded.

 

We were facing the towers when suddenly the second tower just exploded...no warning or anything. Debris falling down all around us and the plate glass windows of the Brooks Brothers shattered. Then it was mass confusion as everyone tried to figure out what was going on. I was standing on Broadway, at the corner of Liberty, with a coworker in disbelief, watching as people jumped the 105+ stories.

 

Then, we heard an awful low rumbling, that just got louder and louder, like an earthquake or bomb...the tower was coming down. We turned and ran into the nearest builing, at the corner of Broadway and Maiden Lane. I escaped the major plume of debris headed through the streets of lower Manhattan. I walked out of the side door and into the dust. What was a brilliant, blue sky was now black with dust. The streets were covered in dust three inches thick. I walked down the street in a daze.

 

I went to a bar we often went for happy hour. They had stopped their lunch preparations. It was a makeshift infirmary. They had used all the tablecloths and napkins to bandage anyone who came in looking for help. Those of us who were unhurt started pitching in and helping, bringing people in from the streets until the whole place was full.

 

I do confess, a large glass of scotch was had by me well before noon.

 

There was one payphone in the bar, it was the only phone that was working. Cell service was out. People were taking turns trying to get in touch with loved ones.

 

We waited in the bar, there was still one tower standing. It was a surreal sight on TV, seeing only one tower. When the second tower fell, the ground shook. The windows rattled and got black as night as the debris cloud passed. You could have heard a pin drop.

 

A short while later, I walked outside and it was surreal. As I walked outside and up Broadway, I looked down Maiden Lane, by Century 21, toward the towers where I had stood about an hour before. There was a section of the latticework of the towers, stuck into the ground on a 45 degree angle. Behind it, the fires glowed fiercely. I wished I had a camera.

 

There were human remains on Broadway.

 

I walked to City Hall Park and finally got cell service, got in touch with my folks and girlfriend (now wife). There was a polic officer looking for volunteers to help takes supplies to FDNY. I'm in.

 

Turns out, we waited for most of the day at the command post set up on the West Side Highway, the fire was just too hot to approach and we had to wait until 7 WTC came down. NYC was a ghost town.

 

Finally, after 10 PM, I walked over the Manhattan Bridge, where my girlfriend picked me up.

 

It was a very long day.

 

EDIT: 7 years later, I type this and am still tingling. Time for a LaGavulin.

[Lori]

I will never forget the shoes in the street, some matched, some not. Some bloody, some brand new. Two of our boardrooms are named after guys we lost from that day. Our Exchange was housed in the Trade Center, amazing that so few were lost from over 1300 on our trading floor and support offices.

Think I mentioned it Sunday -- I still have the post you wrote when you checked in here the next day.

[sullim4]

I won't soon forget it. Happened my senior year of high school. Kids were calling their parents who worked in the city to see if they were ok. Cell phone lines were completely jammed. My government teacher's husband died in the attack.

[USMCBillsFan]

Very good chance I may be on my way to Afghanistan from here in Japan by mid November for a year. As most of you know I have been to Somolia, and Iraq with awesome support from the wallers. The opportunity came up for Afghanistan and I jumped on it. It's what we do. We (the Marines) are starting to take over for the Army there and will have a large presence there very soon. We'll find that bastard, one way or another.

[BarkLessWagMore]

Very good chance I may be on my way to Afghanistan from here in Japan by mid November for a year. As most of you know I have been to Somolia, and Iraq with awesome support from the wallers. The opportunity came up for Afghanistan and I jumped on it. It's what we do. We (the Marines) are starting to take over for the Army there and will have a large presence there very soon. We'll find that bastard, one way or another.

 

A sincere thank you USMC for your service to our country from this waller and his family. Stay safe. And Bills Fan, your posts are chilling and take me back to that horrible day in ways I'm sure we all would soon forget, but can't. God bless all of the innocent victims of that attack and god damn all of the terrorists.

[Bullpen]

Bills_fan, your post is probably one of the most powerful and impactful, I've ever read here in my long history of lurking and over past two years posting. Being in the military I know the whole "service before self" mantra, but your post about staying behind and pitching in when it was not "demanded" of you really exemplifies that mantra. Hat's off to you.

 

USMC, although I no longer wear "Mother Blue's" uniform, my thoughts and prayers are with you if/when you ship out. Godspeed to you.

[JoeFerguson]

Very good chance I may be on my way to Afghanistan from here in Japan by mid November for a year. As most of you know I have been to Somolia, and Iraq with awesome support from the wallers. The opportunity came up for Afghanistan and I jumped on it. It's what we do. We (the Marines) are starting to take over for the Army there and will have a large presence there very soon. We'll find that bastard, one way or another.

 

 

Good luck and thank you.

[bills_fan]

Very good chance I may be on my way to Afghanistan from here in Japan by mid November for a year. As most of you know I have been to Somolia, and Iraq with awesome support from the wallers. The opportunity came up for Afghanistan and I jumped on it. It's what we do. We (the Marines) are starting to take over for the Army there and will have a large presence there very soon. We'll find that bastard, one way or another.

 

 

Thank you for your service.

 

I lost a lot of friends that day, the financial services industry really is a small town. Find the bastard and kill him. I don't care how. Just kill him.

 

As an aside, for my Lagavulin last nite, I went to the same bar I was in on 9/11, Jim Brady's, in lower Manhattan. By sheer chance, I saw a few of the same faces, 7 years older. The bartender was also the same. One Lagavulin turned into more than a couple.

[Dan]

It got even worse.

....

I find it hard to even write a response. I'm sure it was tougher for you. I still prefer to not recount much of what I experienced in the days after.

 

 

Very good chance I may be on my way to Afghanistan from here in Japan by mid November for a year. As most of you know I have been to Somolia, and Iraq with awesome support from the wallers. The opportunity came up for Afghanistan and I jumped on it. It's what we do. We (the Marines) are starting to take over for the Army there and will have a large presence there very soon. We'll find that bastard, one way or another.

Thank you for all you do. And that last sentence.. please. That's all I've wanted to see on the news for 7 years. But, ya know, I don't even care anymore to see it on the news. If you find him and he disappears from thought forever, I can live with that.