I feel so sorry for all those families that have to suffer through this 10th anniversary.
May they all find some solace on Sunday.
Indeed. I had a hard time deciding if I should fly home on 9/11/11, but I imagine security will be heightened, so I decided to go ahead and book it. I wish I could have spent more time here, and come earlier, but I am not as young as I was during past trips.
Re: The Twin Towers « Reply #42 on Sept 8, 2011, 10:35am »
Being a professional firefighter in Upstate New York, I felt very guilty on 9/11 because I knew there were thousands of people losing their lives but my thoughts were with the firefighters in the towers. I mourn all the victims at all three sites but changed my avatar for the next few days to salute the 343 members of FDNY who gave their lives that day.
Being a professional firefighter in Upstate New York, I felt very guilty on 9/11 because I knew there were thousands of people losing their lives but my thoughts were with the firefighters in the towers. I mourn all the victims at all three sites but changed my avatar for the next few days to salute the 343 members of FDNY who gave their lives that day.
Dan
May God bless you man for choosing a most noble profession.
Joined: Jul 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 2,952 Location: North Carolina, U.S.A.
Re: The Twin Towers « Reply #45 on Sept 10, 2011, 7:40am »
I was working at night 10 years ago and woke up after the planes hit the World Trade Center. All day long I watched the news and realized how different the world had become. My anger was very deep and I can understand why others felt even more when they saw what had happened. The phrase "Never Forget" became a bumper sticker on cars and flags were everywhere. At times we seemed to turn this event into a religious crusade that must be avenged. Bin Laden is now dead along with many of his cohorts. The war continues for our troops who serve as volunteers while we complain about other issues. Instead of being "United"it seems we are more divided than ever.
I hope tomorrow reminds us more about the days when we were "United" as a country. The reasons for what happened are very complex in a world of hatred. I want to live in a country that can learn from the past without being destroyed by fear. Maybe this is too much for others who lost more than I will ever know. They live with the loss of their loved ones who died that day. The way I feel today is that we are still a country that is in mourning from what happened. That is why we should all hold hands together and be "United" once more. All religions and races included....I can only hope.
I am very proud to have witnessed our country coming together in the aftermath of this most horrible event.
I just wish it lasted longer...
Picking up from an earlier post, Karen and I remained in our Bleecker Street apartment that day until around 5:30 p.m. That strong, acrid smell of burning rubber, flesh, debris penetrated the windows of our apartment and that's all we could smell.
When 7 WTC collapsed, we didn't really know what would happen next, and I was thinking there could be gas main explosions and that we were too close. So, I said, let's go uptown, and we walked up to 14th Street to see if we could find a bus that would take us to the apartment on the Upper West Side where I had lived for many years before we were married -- which I have mentioned in Jim's Tull Cave thread, and which I will describe in more detail, with photos, soon.
No buses were running below 14th Street, but we were able to catch an uptown bus on Sixth and 14th. (We had heard on television that buses were leaving from there.) As we were walking up Broadway to Union Square, the winds had shifted so the smell had suddenly gone away. But when we got off the bus at Amsterdam and 72nd, a good five or six miles north, we immediately were hit with that acrid smell again, which the winds had carried all the way uptown, so we couldn't escape it.
We stayed at the Tull Cave that night, and the next morning, within 24 hours of the tragedy, tee shirt vendors had already set up shop on Amsterdam Avenue, hawking shirts that they had prepared, literally overnight, with various designs incorporating the American flag and eagle, the Towers, etc.
I bought two of those shirts. One with an American flag and eagle, trumpeted "United We Stand." Another, with the Twin Towers emblazoned in red, white and blue and wrapped in a ribbon, threatened "Evil Will Be Punished." I still have both.
A few months ago evil was punished, we kept our promise, as Osama Bin Laden met with the fate that he deserved. Let's not forget the courage and determination of President Obama and our military in hunting down and killing that asshole.
Jeff
« Last Edit: Sept 11, 2011, 10:08am by Nonfatman »
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Re: The Twin Towers « Reply #49 on Sept 11, 2011, 9:54am »
I've been writing about what we saw and experienced that day, and the weird and tense atmosphere of the City in the weeks and months thereafter, the makeshift memorials all over town, the anthrax attacks, the fear of other attacks, etc., and the constant sirens blaring down Broadway right past our building stressed us out and caused us many sleepless nights. But we were at no time in any real danger, as our building was a mile and a half away.
People saw and went through much worse, obviously, people who were right there when it all happened. People lost loved ones, their closest relatives, the people who are crying at the memorial service I am watching as I write this. Aside from one person, who I knew vaguely from many years earlier, I did not lose any family or friends in the tragedy, neither did Karen. What we went through was really nothing.
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Re: The Twin Towers « Reply #51 on Sept 11, 2011, 10:49am »
The waterfalls and reflecting pool memorials are beautiful, and a fitting symbol and reminder, not only of the towers that fell and the people who died, but also the many tears which have been shed remembering them.
I've read that when it's finished, the two pools will be surronded by groves of trees, literally a forest surrounding the two pools and the 9/11 museum that will open in 2013, and benches for people to quietly reflect.
The waterfalls and reflecting pool memorials are beautiful, and a fitting symbol and reminder, not only of the towers that fell and the people who died, but also the many tears which have been shed remembering them.
I've read that when it's finished, the two pools will be surronded by groves of trees, literally a forest surrounding the two pools and the 9/11 museum that will open in 2013, and benches for people to quietly reflect.
Jeff
The memorial is beautiful.
And Paul Simon's "Sounds Of Silence" was a very moving tribute.
Listening and seeing the names of the fallen along with their families during this day of remembrance serves as a reminder of what makes this country so special - our diversity and our unity.
Re: The Twin Towers « Reply #55 on Sept 12, 2011, 7:16am »
I never saw this interview taped in Italy on Sept.11, 2001 with Ian and his thoughts on the attack. Can't believe this hasn't surfaced in 10 years. Thanks to Red Ronnie (whomever he is) for the interview.
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Re: The Twin Towers « Reply #56 on Sept 12, 2011, 7:19am »
I could not watch every part of the 9-11 memorial yesterday. It was extremely well done and set the right tone for a healing nation. I was very moved by all the stories of heroism and grief that were a part of the tragedy. It is very hard to watch these images over and over unless we can learn what the real lesson is. We are a nation of heroes that become the firefighters, rescue workers, doctors, police,construction workers, mayors, national guard, EMS, and even regular citizens that find themselves in the middle of a disaster. They won't care if their lives are in danger, they just do what has to be done to save lives. I am in awe of their courage.
Now, more than ever, The Jethro Tull Board kicks ass!
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Re: The Twin Towers « Reply #57 on Oct 17, 2011, 9:41pm »
I was at the 9/11 Memorial site today....an intense and profound experience, viewing the massive reflecting pools and waterfalls close up, with all the names. I took lots of photos of the memorials and the two huge towers that are rapidly going up, which I will be posting here, along with other stories and memories I have of the Towers.
It is amazing how much progress has been made, because if you go back two years, nothing was even started yet. But I just read today that the outgoing director of the Port Authority -- or perhaps the 9/11 memorial, I forgot which -- was so hell-bent on making an enormous amount of progress in a short time, that he authorized massive overspending, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. This was revealed in an audit conducted at the behest of Governor Cuomo, and helps to explain why bridge and tunnel tolls to enter NYC from New Jersey are now $15 a pop, and are slated to be increased another couple of bucks two years from now.
When I left the memorial, I also had a chance to mingle with the Occupy Wall Street protestors in Zuccoti Park, after having unexpectingly gotten caught up in their Times Square protest the other night, with Paul and our wives, as we made our way to the Richard Thompson show at Town Hall. Very peaceful bunch, it was really kind of tame actually, but interesting to see. More later.
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Re: The Twin Towers « Reply #58 on Oct 22, 2011, 9:30pm »
You need a pass for a specific date and time to enter the 9/11 memorial site, and most dates (except for X-mas and New Years) are booked through sometime in February I think. Somehow, I was able to get a pass only two weeks in advance of my visit, but it was for the only other date available, October 17th.
The memorial is beautiful and awe-inspiring, as is the progress that has been made on the two towers now under construction. Originally five were planned -- and still are -- but there is a lack of financing for the other three, so they are currently only being built up to their base, which can then be built upwards later on. The musuem is a beautiful building which is pretty much done and will be opening next year. There are already some exhibits in there which you can see if you press your face to the glass window. Progress is also being made on the futuristic, wing-shaped transportation center, with the "oculus" of the building taking shape.
Here are some photos, with more to follow soon:
The view from Albany Street, two blocks south of the site, where you enter the memorial from what used to be the Deutsche Bank building. The structural steel of the Freedom Tower (the new 1 WTC) is currently built up to what will be its 86th floor, so it still has about twenty floors to go, and then an additional several hundred feet of what will be unoccupied space and the antenna. The exterior "skin" is finished up to the 55th floor. To the right of, and just behind, the Freedom Tower is the new 7 WTC building, which was the first building completed, on the site of the old building whicih collapsed at about 5:30 p.m. on 9/11.
Entering the memorial site and plaza:
4 WTC rising from the original site on the southeast corner of Church and Liberty Street, diagonally across from Zucotti Park where the protestors are. The new WTC site will restore Greenwich Street through the plaza, thereby bifurcating the old site, which extended westward several blocks, all the way from Church Street to West Street:
I took these photos of the 2 WTC memorial pool, right at the spot where I would enter through the doors of what used to be the second tower, every day for two and a half years. I cannot tell you how weird a feeling it was to be standing there, thinking this is where I used to go to work as a young lawyer who moved into the City specifically to work in the World Trade Center tower, and I remembered how exciting that was for me.
Looking west along the southern wall of the 2 WTC memorial pool, this gives you a sense of the 30 foot waterfall.
Another perspective, taken from the southeast corner, with the museum in the upper right-hand corner of the photo. These photographs show how the waterfalls symbolize not only the falling of the buildings, which we will remember forever, but also all the tears that have flowed, and continue to flow even now, for all the people who were lost that day.
Joined: Jul 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 2,952 Location: North Carolina, U.S.A.
Re: The Twin Towers « Reply #59 on Oct 23, 2011, 6:09am »
Jeff, Those are beautiful images of the work being done at the World Trade center. Thank you for sharing them. I have mixed feelings about the area being looked at as sacred ground. The tragedy was so horrific I could not conceive of it becoming a sacred site. When you see the Pools of Reflection, it makes more sense to me now. The area has become even more sacred with the way it was designed. I hope this will bring peace to the families of those lost.
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