SEPTEMBER 11th

[martyb]

I also posted this on Alamo-John Wayne site. It's amazing how much you can have flashbacks when you don't want them. I have been remembering a lot this week.

Nine years ago today I was the Multimedia Manager at Keesler Air Force Base. I was sitting in my office getting ready for a staff meeting when my Video Supervisor, Bruce Norton, came into my office and said, "Turn on the news." I had a TV in my office to monitor the Cable One feed to the base. I turned the TV on and there was a report about an aircraft hitting one of the twin towers in NY. I had just told Bruce about the B-25 that had slammed into the Empire State Building during WW2, when we saw a second plane zip in and hit the second tower. I'll never forget that moment...my feet froze and my mouth went dry. Norton said, "Jesus Christ…We're at war." I replied, "You're goddamned right we are. Somebody just killed a lot of people." I told Bruce to inform the alert photographer and the photo lab chief to stand by. I said, "We're gonna be getting a lot of calls real quick!" Just then my phone rang and it was the Comm Sq. Command Post. They needed every building locked down, they were sending some armed airmen over to monitor the doors and validate all id's and we went to Defcon 1. During the entire time of the Vietnam War I had never been in a Defcon 1 situation. By the end of the day we were at Defcon 2.

[Kevin Young]

Thanks Marty-I was at the desk in the lobby of the Landmark Inn when one of my off duty employees called to tell us what was going on, so we wrangled a TV from our conference room and brought it in...later that morning we got a memo from our regional director telling all parks not to have TV's or Radio's not playing where the public could see them, and not to discuss the events as to stop any panic....

[garyzaboly]

I live eleven miles north of Ground Zero, and I will never forget the heavy smell of burning debris, rubber, etc., that permeated that cool September night, even that far distance north.....

[Paul Sylvain]

I was going through some training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia, on 9/11. Our class was taking a test, and as I walked into the breakout room, I saw all eyes glued to CNN on the TV. One building was on fire but no one knew what was happening, yet. Out of 46 students, more than 30 were from New York offices within a couple of blocks of the Twin Towers. One classmate's brother working in one of the towers and saw the second tower get hit. She finally made contact with her brother later that night, and found out he had called off sick that day.
All classes were shut down at noon and the facility went on lock-down. I will go to my grave remembering that day.

[jesswald]

My law office was across Broadway from Ground Zero. The day before, I told my female associate that I would handle the conference was had scheduled for Tuesday in the Bronx, because hey, the Bronx Courthouse is in a dangerous neighborhood, and I'm a macho guy, and chivalrous, so you just go to the office. She never got to the office---the subways stopped a couple of stops north, right after the planes hit. Some of my staff had to walk miles to get off Manhattan Island, and some claimed to have seen people jumping from the World Trade Center. We weren't allowed back into the office for ten days, but there was no damage. Just debris from the Towers that had blown onto a parapet outside our windows, including business cards from Cantor Fitzgerald.
My daughter, who lived in New Hampshire, had come into New York for a few days to show the town to a friend who was in from UK. They had coupons for the major sight-seeing attractions, and had saved the World Trade Center for Tuesday. Fortunately, there was no way they were going to be there as early as 9 a.m.

Me, I covered the conference in the Bronx that morning. In the courtroom there was a moment of silence, and the judge granted anyone an adjournment if they wanted it. On the elevator, there was an eerie silence, like the time I rode home on the subway after JFK was assassinated. Except one respectable citizen on that elevator decided to voice his opinion that the reason this happened was that the politicians insisted on supporting the state of Israel. I am ashamed to say that no one called him out on it---we were all in shock.
Jesse Waldinger