9/11 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Rob
- Start date
Louis Badolato
Lieutenant General
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2005
- Messages
- 17,354
10 years, and the sight of the fireball from the second plane hitting that tower is still burned into my brain like it was yesterday. I had just come up out of the subway, and was walking towards the Court of Claims (then at 5 World Trade Center) on the phone with my secretary, Kim, asking her why one of the trade center towers was smoking, and she had just told me that some commuter plane had crashed into it (that was the original belief, that it was an accident), when I saw the fireball from the second tower (I never saw the plane, it was coming from the opposite direction) about 5 blocks away. Kim screamed because she heard the explosion through my cell phone. As I stood there, dumfounded, some idiot asked me to take a picture of her with the disaster in the background. That's when it registered - this was an attack. I actually told my secretary to call the Court of Claims and tell them I wasn't going to be able to make it to the deposition - that's how in shock I was, it didn't even dawn on me that if both Twin Towers had been hit by terrorists, the adjacent Court of Claims would be closing and cancelling all appearances. I was too stunned to be scared. I just got walled back down into the Fulton Street Subway and caught what was probably one of the last trains out of Manhattan back to my office in Brooklyn. From the 26th Floor of 26 Court Street in downtown Brooklyn, directly across the East River, I watched the two towers fall. The cloud of debris from the rubble literally blocked out our otherwise unobstructed view of Manhattan and even the bridges and river.
I think the scariest hour of my life was the time it took me to get in touch with my wife (who works in the neighborhood) and my best friend Billy's wife Nancy (who worked across the West Side Highway from ground zero, and walked through the plaza every morning right about the time the first plane hit) and make sure they were okay. Billy got through to me first, telling me Nancy was safe, although she had nearly been hit by falling debris in the plaza (she never talked about it with me, and she had to see a psychiatrist for a long time, but Billy told me the falling things that just missed her were human bodies), and was walking across the Brooklyn Bridge to safety. The one good thing that came as a result of this, as far as I'm concerned, is my second Godson, Billy and Nancy's son Liam, was born exactly 9 months after 9-11.
When I finally was sure Meredith was okay, I called her Mom, because she was having trouble getting through to anyone on her cell phone (cell service was all screwed up that day), and told her she was allright. It wasn't until the following day that we found out that our dear friend, George, could not get in touch with his younger brother, Andrew, who worked in the building. For days George, his family, and Andrew's fiance checked every hospital, and eventually, all the morgues, but they never found him. They buried a photograph a month or so later, when all hope was gone. I've been to my share of funerals, but Andrew's was far and away the worst. He was only 24 years old.
Meredith and I lived in lower Manhattan at the time, below the cut off beneath which all the streets were closed off. I had to sneak in to get her little Pomeranian out, then pick her up where she had ended up in Queens, and drive out to her mother's home on Long Island, where we spent the next few days. What I remember most after slipping past the roadblocks (using my dad's and Uncle Tony's retired badges to get through), was the unbelievable stench of burned things (jet fuel, among other things I prefer not mention).
I think the scariest hour of my life was the time it took me to get in touch with my wife (who works in the neighborhood) and my best friend Billy's wife Nancy (who worked across the West Side Highway from ground zero, and walked through the plaza every morning right about the time the first plane hit) and make sure they were okay. Billy got through to me first, telling me Nancy was safe, although she had nearly been hit by falling debris in the plaza (she never talked about it with me, and she had to see a psychiatrist for a long time, but Billy told me the falling things that just missed her were human bodies), and was walking across the Brooklyn Bridge to safety. The one good thing that came as a result of this, as far as I'm concerned, is my second Godson, Billy and Nancy's son Liam, was born exactly 9 months after 9-11.
When I finally was sure Meredith was okay, I called her Mom, because she was having trouble getting through to anyone on her cell phone (cell service was all screwed up that day), and told her she was allright. It wasn't until the following day that we found out that our dear friend, George, could not get in touch with his younger brother, Andrew, who worked in the building. For days George, his family, and Andrew's fiance checked every hospital, and eventually, all the morgues, but they never found him. They buried a photograph a month or so later, when all hope was gone. I've been to my share of funerals, but Andrew's was far and away the worst. He was only 24 years old.
Meredith and I lived in lower Manhattan at the time, below the cut off beneath which all the streets were closed off. I had to sneak in to get her little Pomeranian out, then pick her up where she had ended up in Queens, and drive out to her mother's home on Long Island, where we spent the next few days. What I remember most after slipping past the roadblocks (using my dad's and Uncle Tony's retired badges to get through), was the unbelievable stench of burned things (jet fuel, among other things I prefer not mention).
ExRanger
Staff Sergeant
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2006
- Messages
- 880
As a 1st Responder on that tragic day in NY, I hope everyone on this forum takes some quite time today and reflects on that horrible day. This affected not only the U.S. but all civilized nations who stand against terror.
And let's NOT FORGET the serviceman and women who heeded the call after 9/11 and who have made the ultimate sacrifice against terrorism. This fight will not end until we stand tall and wipe out these animals. Animals is probably too kind of a word to use.
And God Bless Seal Team 6. You removed one of the Devils servants from this planet.
George Orwell.
And let's NOT FORGET the serviceman and women who heeded the call after 9/11 and who have made the ultimate sacrifice against terrorism. This fight will not end until we stand tall and wipe out these animals. Animals is probably too kind of a word to use.
And God Bless Seal Team 6. You removed one of the Devils servants from this planet.
George Orwell.
jazzeum
Four Star General
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2005
- Messages
- 38,434
Amen to what everybody had said. I went to the Mets game yesterday and as I was driving there was listening to the radio and heard two unusual stories:
Tommy John was on Ed Randall's Talking Baseball and they were on a flight from Charlotte that day and as they were approaching NY for landing at LaGuardia they saw the WTC on fire and his wife snapped a few photos. It was the last flight that day.
Then I was listening to the NFL Channel on XM and a man called in and said that day he was supposed to go to the WTC on business. His wife said please don't go, she just had a feeling. He listened to his wife and went to play golf. When he was playing he heard what was happening and almost collapsed. He went straight home. It was very moving.
Myself, I had gone early into work that day to go to the gym and I was in the cafeteria, picking up coffee around 9 or so, when a radio broadcast that a plane had hit the WTC. Like most, I assumed it was a small plane and said to myself, well that's something unusual, but didn't think anything of it, until I heard what had happened. We rushed into our company's boardroom, where they had a big tv going, and saw everything. Guess I'll never forget that day.
God bless everyone.
Tommy John was on Ed Randall's Talking Baseball and they were on a flight from Charlotte that day and as they were approaching NY for landing at LaGuardia they saw the WTC on fire and his wife snapped a few photos. It was the last flight that day.
Then I was listening to the NFL Channel on XM and a man called in and said that day he was supposed to go to the WTC on business. His wife said please don't go, she just had a feeling. He listened to his wife and went to play golf. When he was playing he heard what was happening and almost collapsed. He went straight home. It was very moving.
Myself, I had gone early into work that day to go to the gym and I was in the cafeteria, picking up coffee around 9 or so, when a radio broadcast that a plane had hit the WTC. Like most, I assumed it was a small plane and said to myself, well that's something unusual, but didn't think anything of it, until I heard what had happened. We rushed into our company's boardroom, where they had a big tv going, and saw everything. Guess I'll never forget that day.
God bless everyone.
maddadicus
2nd Lieutenant
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2006
- Messages
- 3,333
10 years ago on 9/10, my Father passed away. I was living in PA. when we got the call that my Dad who was at home in R.I. had only a few hours to live . ( He was at hospice in the family home ). My wife and I left immediately to try to reach him and traveled overnight some 8 hours to get there. We passed through N.Y. city and was able to spend an hour with my Father before he passed. Had his time come a day later, we might never had got through with the chaos that ensued. The following morning, on 9/11, like most ,we witnessed the attack. I felt guilty that I was watching an event that would overwhelm my emotions more than our family' personal tragedy. The loss of one Dad versus that of any number of dads, moms, brothers, sisters and friends. I told myself that the biggest difference was that my Dad's time was due while those who passed that next day had no choice or chance to say different or to say goodbye. My Dad would have understood. Michael
Combat
Brigadier General
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2005
- Messages
- 10,487
A very sad and poignant story in the Wash Post today:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...trip/2011/09/15/gIQA3YUwUK_story.html?hpid=z2
http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...trip/2011/09/15/gIQA3YUwUK_story.html?hpid=z2