At this tenth anniversary of the tragic attacks of 9/11 let us Americans honor the memory of the innocent victims and valiant rescuers who lost their lives that day by keeping the best of our ideals of liberty and justice for all. And, let us remember that citizens from many countries around the world (some of those countries represented by forum members here) have also faced the horrors of terrorism, so we may unite across borders with a shared determinism to promote freedom, justice, and peace.

Ralph

Here is the WTC as it was when it first opened. The CNJ's Communipaw engine terminal in the foreground with the north roundhouse in the view, At one time it was 32 stalls.[attachment=8822]

Now I pic that I took on the 11th from almost the same spot. On that day the towers joined the terminal as part of history.[attachment=8821]

I remember that day very good. I was in my home office working on the PC with a small TV set in my back (had no layout at that time) running a news channel.
The first plane was a tragic accident, the second plane was the beginning of a new area of terrorism but when the first tower collapsed I was in tears. A collapsing (and later the other one too) office sky scraper full of thousands of working people was (and somehow still is) totally beyond my imagination.

I did turn around after the very first news and had my face very close to the little TV set. The collapsing tower was as if it happened right in front of me. I can not express my feelings in English (and hardly in German).

I will remember. I will stand. I will fight.

I know what you mean, Reinhard. I came home early that day for some reason - think I maybe started work at 7 am, and was done at 3 pm, and took the 3:39pm train out of Oslo. It was the day after our parliamentary election in 2001, and the labor party government had just lost the election.

My dad met me at the station at 4:10 pm CET (which would be about 10:10 am in New York), and told me that he had been watching a news report on BBC about a plane that had crashed into the World Trade Center when another plane had hit the neighboring building.

By the time I got home and turned on the TV to CNN, the first tower had already fallen. The second tower fell about 10-15 minutes later, as I was watching in horror. My wife, who is an American, and who was seven months pregnant at the time, could not bear to watch. She went to the kitchen, and closed the door. I spent the afternoon walking between the kitchen, and the TV in the living room, where the sound was turned down so my wife would not have to listen.

It was about 7 hours after the attack before I sent the first email to relatives in the US, late in the evening, after my wife had fallen asleep, recording my first reactions. My time must have been off by one hour in that first email - I had been told a little after 4pm, not a little after 3pm :

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"We have been watching the TV news tonight too. My dad told us about it a little after 3 pm our time, just minutes after the second plane had hit the world trade center. He had been watching BBC live coverage of about the first crash and fire when the second plane hit.

I checked the location the fourth plane came down - United 175, I think it was, out of Newark or Boston. Came down near a town called Shanksville in SW Pennsylvania. Pretty much on a direct line between Pittsburg, PA and Washington DC, not too far from Thurmond, MD, where Camp David is located.

No idea what they were going for - probably some other target in DC, and what happened - maybe the pilots refused to allow themselves to be hijacked. Who knows ? But that plane crashing probably saved a lot more people on the ground somewhere.

I hope they find the bastards who organized this. And I hope everybody else agrees with the brits and israelis - whoever organized this is an enemy of *every* civilized nation in the world, and we should pool our resources to hunt them down and kill them."
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The next day, nobody was getting any work done at my job - everybody was just congregating into small groups around TV sets and computer monitors, talking in hushed tones about what had happened, and watching the news over and over again. Horror was giving way to anger, and the determination that whoever had ordered this needed to be found and killed.

When it was announced in the evening of the 12th that NATO had declared that they would invoke section five of the North Atlantic Treaty (that the attack on the US was to be treated as an attack on all of us), most people seemed grimly satisfied. Our first troops deployed to Afghanistan (in December 2001) were special forces troops, plus mine clearance and EOD groups. As of the end of 2010, a total of about 7000 of my countrymen have served in Afghanistan during the last decade, with ten killed and several hundred wounded.

I must confess that I felt joy when I heard that US special forces had finally killed Osama Bin Laden this year. As Winston Churchill put it after Second Alamein: "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning".

Stein

Thank you for your service Mark, and to all men and women in uniform, we are grateful.
Ralph

Yes,those brave rescue workers that went boldly forth should be remembered as the heroes of 9-11.

Those citizens that help their follow man out of the towers should be remembered as heroes on that terrible day.

Those that fought the terrorist on flight 93 should be remembered as heroes.


Let us not forget those that perish on that faithful day.


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I gave a small speech and offered a prayer today at church for those who serve in harm's way and to those who willingly serve others as first-responders. To those who run into the face of danger to aid others. The whole point of my short talk was to let people know they needed to "lean into the enemy and fight...not back away...not even shift your weight in a moments hesitation." In today's world, all of us need to be ready to defend not only ourselves, but others. To run into the face of danger to deter evil. For we know too well that they will strike and like the cowards they are, they seek to harm the innocent and unprotected.

I reminded everyone that the enemy does not seek our resources, our land, or our prosperity. Does not wish to rule or conquer us for glory or power. He does not wish appeasement or seek negotiation. Only subjugation under a harsh and totalitarian rule. Complete conversion, or complete annihilation.

We are all on the "front line" in this war.

May God give peace to the families of all those who have lost family and friends in this conflict, both here at home, and on lands far away.

I grew up in NJ and could see the NY skyline from our back window. I left to go in the service before the towers were built, so I never saw them that way. Ten years ago, I was on my old high school's forum when someone posted something about what was going on. One post about the first tower, then a few minutes later, a second post about the other tower. We switched on the TV and like everyone else in the world, we stayed glued to it for the next week or more. I was very young on Dec 7,1941, but I do remember the announcements on the radio and the President's speech about a "day in infamy". I didn't understand the significance of what was going on then, but surely, the impact equaled that of the announcements of ten years ago. The difference was that there were no visuals back then until you bought a newspaper or went to the movies to see the Movietone Newsreels. Here, you could see the horror as it unfolded. I will never forget either event, even though they were some 60 years apart. The first event sixty years ago, I can only remember what I heard, but those images from ten years ago are embedded in our minds and hearts.

When I went into the living room this morning, my wife already had the TV on and was watching the dedications and memorials since were are three hours behind NY time. She was crying and very emotional and found it hard to watch again. There's not much more to say other than that, except perhaps, God bless all those that were there that day, the innocent, the first responders, the workers, the police, God bless them all.

I recommend watching Loose Change: 9/11 currently being presented on the DISH network.

MountainMan Wrote:I recommend watching Loose Change: 9/11 currently being presented on the DISH network.

Why? So people can be misinformed about some ridiculous conspiracy theory nonsense. Please. Most of the time I'd agree with what you'd have to say on any given discussion, but not this time.

Don't bring that into this. I rather focus on the memorial built to mark that awful moment in history. I think the message behind it and the design is very beautiful and a fitting way to remember those who died on that day.



Much love and heart to those who lost lost the people they cared about most on that day.

Peace.

tetters Wrote:Why? So people can be misinformed about some ridiculous conspiracy theory nonsense. Please. Most of the time I'd agree with what you'd have to say on any given discussion, but not this time.

Shame on you Tetters
Don't you know that Bush plotted 9/11? Just look at how well everything turned out for him....

Edit: I was being sarcastic, I apologize for any confusion :oops:

Justin - I'm sorry - but speaking as a Brit, that isn't funny! GB may not have been the greatest President of the USA, but he tried! As someone who spent 33 years in the Military (RAF), lost good friends, and knows people with relatives involved with 9-11, 7-7, and the Lockerbie bombing, and also knowing that there are people still dying from the effects of Ground Zero - you should be ashamed of yourself. I suggest you grow up, join the armed services, and put yourself in harms way for a while - then, and only then, will you be entitled to make such a fatuous comment!

shortliner Wrote:Justin - I'm sorry - but speaking as a Brit, that isn't funny! GB may not have been the greatest President of the USA, but he tried! As someone who spent 33 years in the Military (RAF), lost good friends, and knows people with relatives involved with 9-11, 7-7, and the Lockerbie bombing, and also knowing that there are people still dying from the effects of Ground Zero - you should be ashamed of yourself. I suggest you grow up, join the armed services, and put yourself in harms way for a while - then, and only then, will you be entitled to make such a fatuous comment!

I was being sarcastic

I was just trying to point out the absurdity of the conspiracy theories about 9/11, that is all.

I remember the smell (everyone remembers the TV coverage) it was bloody awful and lingered for days and days.....

My Sister in Law was on that Staten Island ferry just about to dock when the second plane hit. Remarkably she was sensible and stayed on it and returned to SI. The thing is we're looking at it as a historic event now - at the time it was "Is there more incoming?"

Best, Pete.