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25 years later...

Caramooche Range at Fort Benning, GA. I was a student at the Bradley Master Gunner Course and we had rolled out to the range early that morning to set up for gunnery week. The Marines in our class were itching to get back to their units but the lead instructor reminded all of us the best thing we can do is to focus and finish the course. We'd be far more useful to our units as qualified Master Gunners. He was right.
 
I was standing in the same room that I'm sitting in right now.
 
I was onsite in a customer's office in Rochester, NY. I'd arrived at 8am, been escorted up the elevator, and then everyone was in the breakroom, watching as the second plane hit. The office emptied out as people varyingly went to get their kids from school or went to the city to try and help loved ones. I had to work the entire week, they asked me to stay over the weekend to do work on Monday, but I said no, got in my rental car, and drove 25 hours straight to Dallas so I could hug my wife.
 
I was living in SF having moved from NY.
My upstairs neighbor started yelling and screaming and told me that NY was being bombed. I turned on the news and watched it unfold.
 
Driving to work. Heard reports of crazy on the radio.

Stopped in at Baji’s in Mt View because my Dad was there having brekkie.

We watch the second jet hit in horror.
Never forgot. :rose
 
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I was at home, my wife called me from work.

I turned on the TV to see just one tower, the other was already gone.

I called my friend, telling him to turn on the TV.

In the background I could hear his wife: "OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!"

Went in to work, but they sent us all home.

The_Falling_Man.jpg


Later, I was watching a show about it. About the firefighters. They happened to have a film crew with them for a ride along.

They were in the lobby of one of the towers, documenting the firefighters coordinating their response.

And every now and then, you'd hear *WHAM*. Something hitting a roof. No regular interval, just *WHAM*, *WHAM*, *WHAM*, in the background.

Those were jumpers. Landing.

Never Forget -- it's a promise.
 
I was working the front desk at the Hyatt in SF. My coworker called me from the cafeteria in hysterics, saying the World Trade Center had been bombed and was gone, and planes were crashing. I couldn't really comprehend what she was saying, and figured maybe something got lost in the translation as English was not her first language. I went down to see what was going on and there it was in living color on TV... It was pandemonium in the hotel. We were watching the progress of the plane headed to SFO, certain it would bypass the airport and head to SF proper. The phones were ringing off the hook, in addition to all the employees having their family members calling telling us to leave SF now. Guests were panicking, the housekeepers all wanted to leave and go home...it was just chaos. People just wanted to get home to their families, and of course no planes were flying. We had complete strangers in the lobby booking rental cars to drive back to Chicago, Boston, Florida, etc., and other guests would overhear and before you knew it the car was filled with complete strangers heading back to their homes. It was pretty incredible, really. After things leveled out a bit and we knew the plane wasn't heading for us anymore, I called my sister and wished her a happy birthday...
 
My friend and neighbor:

vimeo.com

Hard to breathe: A first-responders' story.

Chief Harold Schapelhouman was a first-responder to Ground Zero in NYC on 9/11. Along with many of the rescue personnel that helped in the efforts to clear the fallen World Trade Center, he has respiratory problems to this day. He doesn't give up though, he fights, he bikes, he remembers.
vimeo.com
 
I was up and preparing for surgery to repair my clavicle. A friend called and asked told me to turn on the television. I called the surgery center and they said to come in. I sat in pre-op watching everything unfold. I was a little nervous that the staff wouldn't be as focused as they should be. Surgery took place as planned. I don't remember much about the pre and post op though. I was distracted by more important events.
 
I was in grad school at Berkeley, taking the bus to class when the first plane hit. Saw the second plane live. Scary times.
 
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