# 9/11 Rememberance



## surfaceone (Sep 9, 2011)

Hello A-BN,

 It's almost 10 years. Those signal life events make powerful impressions and memories. What are yours? Where were you when you learned of the attack? Please share your memories.

 ********

 I have an overlapping, layered memory of two tragic events.

 I was sitting in math class on November 22, 1963 doodling as a substitute teacher tried to get her bearings, and then was called out of the room. I turned around to talk to one of my classmates about weekend plans, when she returned to tell us of the shooting of President Kennedy.

 September 11, 2001 I was early to the bank, filling out a deposit slip, when the manager waved me over. On his small television was film of an airliner flying into the North Tower. "Oh, my God," I said to him, "greetings from Osama bin Laden..." He looked at me uncomprehendingly, and waved someone else in.

 I finished my business, and hurried home to see the tragedy unfold further.

 Days later, I learned that the boy I had been chatting with in math class, all those years before, had died in the attack.

 Rest in peace, George.


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## LtlBtl (Sep 9, 2011)

My wife and i were in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France. We were part of of a tour group, enjoying some free time in a beautiful little town. It's about 3:30PM, the tables outside the cafes are mysteriously empty. People are gathered around tvs. I say to my wife "Something must be going on". She tells me to stop being paranoid and enjoy this beautiful town on a beautiful day. We have to meet our group- 40 or so Americans, most from Boston/NY/DC. Our guide says to us
 CNN is on channel 18, dineer is at 7:30. You are n't going to hear anything I say after this... You have no more WTC and your Pentagon is being attacked.
 The next few days were alternating between a drunken blur and the hangovers asocciated. The French kept coming up to us-I am pretty obviously American from my butchering of language- and giving me drinks and saying how sorry.
 8 lane highway in France comes to a complete stop for moment of silence that Friday.
 in line a bank in Beaune, a group of young French men, wave me in front of them, tell me "tres horrible"
 our flights are due to leave Sunday. in line at Charles de gaulle at 4:00 am. A agent does a fabulous job of getting us onto our flight. We are set to board and we are evacuated from terminal, bomb dogs go in. A Saudi flight had just left terminal and there were carry-ons left. Somehow we get on the flight.
 Landing in Philadelphia, there were cheers and tears to be back home.
 I'll never forget those feelings. We were getting much rawer footage in Europe than here. We didn't know if and when we get back. A rollercoaster that still seems so recent. What should have been a great honeymoon turned into much different story.
 As much of a conspiracy theorist i am, the pains are real. we all lost alot that day. Friends, freedoms, family. Since those few weeks after, I lost the faith and hope that for that brief time, we were Americans first and all the pseudo/trivial differences took second.


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## carobran (Sep 9, 2011)

i dont really remember ,i was a little young...........2 men from a nearby town died though[&o][&o]


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## Steve/sewell (Sep 9, 2011)

I was driving to Fort Dix New Jersey to the military base for a data issue on the base with a fibre optic cable. I had just gotten off the New Jersey Turnpike and I was listening to AM talk radio when the news broke in.I proceeded through the check point security booth and stopped at the commissary on base for a bottle of water and proceeded to my contact on Tennessee avenue.Life on that base and the rest of the New Jersey/ New York metro area was changed forever in an instant.I remember watching the news with our point of contact in their lunch room. About 15 minutes later being in total shock you began to hear the sirens on the base going off.  Next the fighter jets were taking off like crazy from every point of the landing /takeoff strip.The military personnel were so  p i s s e d  off  and fired up as could be and wanted to be able to help immediately.We finished our repair of the cable and I was out by a little after noon.

 I admit to this day I will never be able to totally trust Islamic men again as it is they for the most part that are responsible for all the carnage.I just wish their own community's would condemn the terrorist extremists. This would show others like myself they can be trusted again.If it is only a very small percentage of them why do you NEVER see any of their outspoken clerics condemn the terrorists. A lot of WWII vets and Korean war vets never forgave their combatants, I feel the same way towards these people.For you younger members on here that were a little too young to fully grasp what had just happened we were attacked,it was an act of war nothing less,don't let your history teachers teach you otherwise.When your military command center is attacked its an act of war not just some angry Islamist's.

 The war with the extremists of Muslim Nationalities will go on for quite sometime and you will hear sometimes good arguments as to why we should not have gone to war in the first place, however even though no Weapons of mass destruction were ever found etc etc.we played the game on their turf not ours.When your enemy is spread all over the dessert you have to pick a place to draw the bad guys out and we chose Iraq and it has worked.Would any of you had wanted the war to be fought here at home?.I didnt think so.We have had many service men sacrificed to keep us safe over here I feel for their families and I am forever grateful.I don't trust these Muslim extremist  b a s t a r d s and wont be surprised if they pull off another big one in the coming days.I will let you in on a little secret I know is a fact,No rental truck companies were allowed for the last two weeks to rent any kind of truck to anyone with a certain type of last name.This information comes from a top source I am very friendly with at Lockheed Martin defense contractors. This also goes for planes and boats etc ect.

 I hope and pray nothing happens to any of our citizens or our landmarks.God Bless the USA


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## carobran (Sep 9, 2011)

i wouldnt be surprised either...........i know it was an act of war.......but im glad they finally got b[]enl[:'(]od[:'(][]en[][]


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## cyberdigger (Sep 9, 2011)

My brother woke me up with a phone call, all he could say was "The World Trade Center is GONE!" ..I thought he was goofing with me until I turned on the TV, where I remained glued for a few hours, then decided to drive from Long Branch up to Mt. Mitchell scenic overlook in Atlantic Highlands, and took this pic.. I remember that day better than I remember yesterday..


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## slag pile digger (Sep 9, 2011)

I was working on the Williamsburg Bridge (which connects Brooklyn & Manhattan) on the Manhattan side, we noticed the first building smoking and watched the plane fly into the second building. It was and is a day that will forever be instilled in my mind!!    I  WILL NEVER FORGET!!!


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## RICKJJ59W (Sep 9, 2011)

I was working,driving a dump truck with no radio.When I came back for another load,my co workers were all gathered around talking,I got out of the truck and learned the first tower was hit. I used my head phone radio to listen to the news until lunch,then I went home and watched it on TV,that is when the second plane hit. 
    It was a bad  sad day in America. 
     I was stressed to the max all day. A Dump truck and stress do not mix.


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## blobbottlebob (Sep 9, 2011)

Great stuff people. We all seem to recall exactly what was going on like when JFK died (for those who were old enough to remember that). 

 And God Bless America.

 I was getting ready to go diving because it was a Tuesday. My (then) girlfriend called to say that a plane had hit the world trade center. I had my gear packed and ready but turned on the TV. I watched the smoke and the conjecture. Conjecture right up until the second tower was hit. Then there was certainty. I wound up glued to the set all day in horror as the structures eventually collapsed. It was a sad day but there were also stories of bravery, heroism, patriotism . . .


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## nydigger (Sep 10, 2011)

I was living in Nashville, TN at the time. I was working at a WALMART while going to a tech school. We listened to the display radios while we zoned the shelves and put stock away in the auto dept. The radios when silent then cut into the news....the first plane and how it was a terrible accident....Then the second plane....oh sh*t we are under attack.....then the pentagon was hit and word of more planes.....my heart sunk...see my parents both work at the US Military Academy and now they were hitting military targets....It took 5 hours to finnally get through to make sure there were ok....I have never felt so helpless in my life.....being so far from my family and friends made it worse...I had friends that volunteered to go help and I felt bad because I couldn't help too. So on this day this year its funny how the weather worked out cuz I am doing something positive on this day now that mother nature is gonna allow it... My son's 4th birthday party in going to take place on 9-11-11


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## RICKJJ59W (Sep 10, 2011)

HAPPY B DAY TO YOUR SON JOSH.[]


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## bostaurus (Sep 10, 2011)

We had just moved to San Antonio and my husband was stationed at Ft. Sam Houston.  The kids and I were just getting ready to start our homeschooling day.  My husband called and told me to turn on the TV.  Needless to say we did not have school that day.  My thoughts were that I should turn off the TV, continue with school, and not let on to the kids that anything was amiss.  I found that impossible.  Like most everyone else you were just glued to the TV.  I did my best to explain what was going on to the kids even though I had no idea myself.  The base went into high security mode and units went on alert.  Senior wives went into "Army" mode fielding calls from anxious young enlisted and officer wives worried about what would happen next.  
 Once the shock wore off I was angry and proud.  The base kicked into high gear with an unwavering sense of purpose.  
 I have been reading the last couple days about all the rallies and services that will be held to promote peace without delving into what happened that day.  I have read  articles denouncing the apparent backlash on Muslims and how we must accommodate them by allowing Shariah laws, etc.  There are even rallies to promote the "truther" theories that these attacks were allowed by our government.  Plans for memorials at the sights of the disasters and elsewhere to promote peace and understanding.
 I am all for peace but these men were not and many others out there are not.  The memorials need to be "in-your-face" monuments to the bravery,courage, and lives of the men and women that died in those plane crashes and those that fought to save them from those buildings.  Those moments were not about peace. 
 "End of rant"


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## blobbottlebob (Sep 10, 2011)

> "End of rant"


 Sweet rant Melinda.

 I heard that the New York City 10th anniversary ceremonies at ground zero will not include fire fighters because they don't have enough room. Stupid.


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## Bottles r LEET (Sep 10, 2011)

I was in pre-school at the time. I don't really remember much, though.


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## splante (Sep 10, 2011)

seems like yesterday I was at work (of course) and heard about the first plane on the radio, The manager had a tv in the office, and asked some of us to come see the news. When I went to the office I seen a plane slam into the tower, i thought thats strange the other tower was already on fire. The boss said, no thats live its a second plane...I then knew we were in trouble....One of the news broadcast from that night that still gets to me is they showed a school gym with like 20 young kids  shooting basketball and running around playing they were maybe 3 to 12 years old they..didnt know what was really going on it was like 9pm school officials were trying to get a hold of or ..were waiting for next of kin to pick them up because their parents were killed ..that still chokes me up when I think about


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## cyberdigger (Sep 10, 2011)

I often catch myself wishing the US would have a bigger appetite for making war, colonizing poorly governed lands afar and exploiting their resources, like the good old days. It was bad, of course, but it paid the bills. [8|]


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## JohnN (Sep 10, 2011)

I remember that I was in 1st grade. I believe the class was watching a video of a play from the year before. My mom came and picked me up, and I didn't know why. Needless to say, I soon found out why. Those images will forever be in my mind. I will never forget that day, even though I was only 6.
 On a side note, Kyle Busch is running a special paint scheme in remembrance of 9/11, with only NASCAR required sponsors.  Kyle Busch's car
 NASCAR also had 3 silent laps, laps 9-11, where everyone was silent and waving flags.


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## Wheelah23 (Sep 10, 2011)

I was in 1st grade too. I don't remember anything of that day whatsoever, I can only go by what people have told me happened. I think school was canceled early and we needed to be picked up by our parents. It didn't affect me personally, but a girl in my grade lost her father that day... The town itself lost a bunch of people. It was obviously a very horrible, traumatic day, so maybe I subconsciously blocked it out of my memory.


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## splante (Sep 10, 2011)

> ORIGINAL:  splante
> 
> seems like yesterday I was at work (of course) and heard about the first plane on the radio, The manager had a tv in the office, and asked some of us to come see the news. When I went to the office I seen a plane slam into the tower, i thought thats strange the other tower was already on fire. The boss said, no thats live its a second plane...I then knew we were in trouble....One of the news broadcast from that night that still gets to me is they showed a school gym with like 20 young kids  shooting basketball and running around playing they were maybe 3 to 12 years old they..didnt know what was really going on it was like 9pm school officials were trying to get a hold of or ..were waiting for next of kin to pick them up because their parents were killed ..that still chokes me up when I think about


 forgot the picture


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## Wangan (Sep 10, 2011)

All I remember of the Kennedy assassination was watching my grandmother on her knees and crying and praying in front of the T.V.,I was 3.

 My wife called me into the living room and the first plane had just hit.We watched the replay in shock.How could this happen?Then the second plane hit...thats how! I was standing behind my recliner clutching the material with a death grip.I was so mad,I wanted that chair to be a terrorists neck.With something like this,a gun is too easy.I wanted to kill with my bare hands and watch em turn blue until their eyes glassed over.Im getting all riled up just thinking about it again.

 They are not terrorists to me for I dont fear them.They are targets to be perforated like the paper sheets I have with circles on them.I may be disgusted by the corruption that goes on here but I love this country with all my heart.When you hurt my friends,you have hurt me.They may not have been my friends,because I didnt get to know them,but they were my brothers and sisters.I just keep reminding myself that God will have the last say and not a one will get away.


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## nydigger (Sep 11, 2011)

Thanks Rick...his birthday was actually Aug. 26th but Irene and then Lee had other plans for the weekends after the 26th, so the 11th is go time..tis fitting though to be able fill such a somber day with happieness, joy, and beer for the adults lol


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## appliedlips (Sep 11, 2011)

I remember sitting there next to my wife, watching helplessly as that second plane flew into the tower. I don't remember many thoughts, I do remember being without words, which doesn't happen with me. As the day went on, I couldn't do much of anything but watch. I felt so small! As I sit here watching another wonderful day unfold ten years later, my thoughts are with the heroes of that day and their families. I give thanks that I live in the BEST country in the world. My life has changed a lot in this time, my soon to be ex wife will be taking off in Boston and landing in New York before returning to St. Louis this evening, and I feel she is safe as I feel my family here at home is. Their mission was not accomplished, not in this American's heart, anyhow. One nation under God, indivisible! A lot of the Patriotism has been lost, that was gained that day but I have know doubt that when tragedy strikes again, we will rise up again. This is not the responsibility of our government as we were without one and being threatened by the very Throne we were answering to when we first formed one. It is who we are, and I hope it is never lost.


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## Poison_Us (Sep 11, 2011)

I was in the hospital with my now ex-wife and step daughter, Sarah.  Sarah was recovering from surgery and the tv went to the news just after the first plane hit.  We watched the rest of the events unfold.  The whole hospital was eery quiet.  Was so unreal to witness... I'm sure it was the same for the people hearing that Pear Harbor was attacked back on Dec. 7th, 1941 on the radio.


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## carobran (Sep 11, 2011)

_AMERICA..........LAND of the FREE & HOME of the BRAVE!!!_


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## RedGinger (Sep 11, 2011)

I didn't know what was happening, until I turned on the TV.  I was quite shocked.  I tried calling home all morning and finally got through after numerous tries, on a landline.  I talked to my then- boyfriend.  He said everyone was leaving work, and I just didn't want to be alone, but he didn't come home.  I was living in a different state, so I didn't know many people.  I remember all the TV channels putting up messages that they would not be broadcasting for some time.  Even the Food network was shut down.  I could not sleep that night, or many nights after that.  I saw the Time cover with people jumping out of windows.  I believe the heat pushed them out, rather than them jumping.  It was a really horrible time in our history.  After that, every time I flew, I would be taken aside and inspected, while my boyfriend and later husband, who looked foreign was never checked.  I thought that was weird, but I felt safer since they were taking precautions.


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## surfaceone (Sep 11, 2011)

"The Names"


 Yesterday, I lay awake in the palm of the night.

 A soft rain stole in, unhelped by any breeze,

 And when I saw the silver glaze on the windows,

 I started with A, with Ackerman, as it happened,

 Then Baxter and Calabro,

 Davis and Eberling, names falling into place

 As droplets fell through the dark.

 Names printed on the ceiling of the night.

 Names slipping around a watery bend.

 Twenty-six willows on the banks of a stream.

 In the morning, I walked out barefoot

 Among thousands of flowers

 Heavy with dew like the eyes of tears,

 And each had a name --

 Fiori inscribed on a yellow petal

 Then Gonzalez and Han, Ishikawa and Jenkins.

 Names written in the air

 And stitched into the cloth of the day.

 A name under a photograph taped to a mailbox.

 Monogram on a torn shirt,

 I see you spelled out on storefront windows

 And on the bright unfurled awnings of this city.

 I say the syllables as I turn a corner --

 Kelly and Lee,

 Medina, Nardella, and O'Connor.

 When I peer into the woods,

 I see a thick tangle where letters are hidden

 As in a puzzle concocted for children.

 Parker and Quigley in the twigs of an ash,

 Rizzo, Schubert, Torres, and Upton,

 Secrets in the boughs of an ancient maple.

 Names written in the pale sky.

 Names rising in the updraft amid buildings.

 Names silent in stone

 Or cried out behind a door.

 Names blown over the earth and out to sea.

 In the evening -- weakening light, the last swallows.

 A boy on a lake lifts his oars.

 A woman by a window puts a match to a candle,

 And the names are outlined on the rose clouds --

 Vanacore and Wallace,

 (let X stand, if it can, for the ones unfound)

 Then Young and Ziminsky, the final jolt of Z.

 Names etched on the head of a pin.

 One name spanning a bridge, another undergoing a tunnel.

 A blue name needled into the skin.

 Names of citizens, workers, mothers and fathers,

 The bright-eyed daughter, the quick son.

 Alphabet of names in a green field.

 Names in the small tracks of birds.

 Names lifted from a hat

 Or balanced on the tip of the tongue.

 Names wheeled into the dim warehouse of memory.

 So many names, there is barely room on the walls of the heart."

 BILLY COLLINS, poet laureate of the United States: This poem is dedicated to the victims of September 11 and to their survivors.


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