on pbs this morning at 4 am,i dont remember the name of the show but it was all about 911...from that morning to the day after...anyway it was horrible...as everyone knows....
-i will never forget the feeling i had when i saw the horror on tv,i will never forget where i was and what i was doing....i guess no one will !!!
My friend Gina, has sent me 2 baseball caps with N.Y. on them , so my daughter and i are going to wear them with pride,eventhough we are not Americans,we are also children of love and peace - on 911 our freedom challenged.....PEACE GUY in Rawdon , quebec,Canada.
i wish i could write more,but i`m a little rushed this morning, I would like for every one to leave a little thought about 911.... come on now friends.
Early that morning (09/11/01) as I was headed to work at the Fire Station, I was listening to a radeo program where the Male/female broadcasters often joke with one another. I thought they were pulling a joke when they said a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers. When they repeated it, I thought it was probably a small plane. Then when the second plane hit the other tower I started to think about what the results could be.
After I reached work and watched the TV news, all I could think of was the safety of all those Emergency Responders rushing into an unknown danger.
Most of them were trained to handle emergencys and fight structure fires. BUT... this wouldn't be an ordinary fire. ALL that JET FUEL.... and liquid seeks it's own level. As the firemen worked their way upward, the fuel was working it's way down.
As Fire Marshal, part of my job was fire safety, so I was very conserned about the safety of the firefighters. But at the same time I knew that their job was to provide a steady hand for the public to hold in time of emergency.
I visited NYC in 1976 when the twin towers were still new. But I wasn't as impressed with them, as I was the older Empire state Building. I knew these were huge buildings, but it's hard to imagine just how many persons were in them from day to day. Besides they have fire alarms and sprinklers, so other than the section of the building directly dammaged things would be okay. But we all saw what happened.
My hat is off to those brave men and women who helped save so many lives. And my heart is saddened by the loss of those who could not get out and for the loss of those who gave their lives trying to save another.
I watched the movie about 9/11 on Sunday night and a few others. It was about President Bush and the decisions he had to make during that trying week. I wept again for all those lost.
One thing we as Americans need to remember! There were not just Americans involved in this terrible event, but that it affected several other nations as well.
And we should thank all of those nations that have helped hunt down and crush those responsible.
I wanted to attend the memorials for those lost on 9/11 but job constraints kept me home. I also wanted to write some sort of tribute to my fallen "Firefighter Brothers" but didn't get it done. Thanks to people like my friend Kirby Jonas, there were tributes written. Hundreds of them were posted on the internet. I think some of them are still on the web somewhere.
If any of the readers of this message board are family or friends of those lost on 9/11/01...... I want you to know that you have extended family thinking about you.
And as for those Emergency responders who gave their all..... May God be with you....and may you be with God!
Dell M. Mangum
Fire Marshal Retired
City of Blackfoot, Idaho
On 9/11 I was at work when a fellow worker told me the news. Cold chills went all over my body and I thought "Oh my God several thousand people could lose their life." Then when the news came that a second plane hit the other tower it was total shock. It was kind of erie to see the look of sorrow on so many of my fellow workers. When I called my wife to see if she had heard the news she said she was watching it on TV and that the tower had collasped I just couldn't believe it. I really had a hard time comprending that they both could collaspe.
When I got home and saw it on TV and they showed it coming down that's when it really hit me. I was consumed with sorrow. I justed cried and thought how could anybody be that evil. My heart goes out to all who lost loved ones during that time and since.
I found I had a new respect for firefighters and police officers who put their lives on the line every day that they go to work. We can only thank them for all that they do. So here's to all Firefighters and Police Officers.
On my way to work at Fire Station Three. I wasn't feeling good anyway, even though the day was absolutely beautiful. I turned on National Public Radio and caught them saying something like "has terrorism finally hit America full scale?" I assumed it was some talk show. It took half a minute for the truth to sink in. I reached Station Three and was immediately transferred to Station Two, so even though I saw the fire and smoke I had to imagine what was going on the four miles to the other station.
I arrived twenty minutes or so beautiful the buildings started falling. My friend Kelly Lance was standing beside me and put his hand over his mouth as he came back in the room to see the second tower go down. "Oh my God!" he said. He repeated it over and over. His face was white.
I went home and watched the news with Debbie. I couldn't stay at work that day and be away from Deb and Matthew. I went home and watched the news and cried like it was happening to my own family. I went back that evening, sat down at the computer and wrote my now world-wide poem, "A Tear Fell."
Here it is again, my friends. I have a hard time reading it now, but I'll paste it in. Gina and her husband, Rich, were supposed to fly out to see us that morning. I'm so glad they weren't on one of those planes....
Kirby
A Tear Fell
A tear fell, and was heard around the world.
Morning broke, bright and clear.
A new day, full of hope, full of promise.
Fathers, mothers, sons, daughters—
Family. They kissed, they hugged, they said goodbye.
They would meet again,
Meet when the duties of the day were fulfilled.
Then a tear fell, and was heard around the world.
The unspeakable came to visit America,
Land of the Free.
Human-filled missiles. Balls of fire from the sky.
Twin towers. World icons. Now ominous infernos.
Open mouths, stares of disbelief.
Then, in a moment, the towers were gone.
A tear fell, and was heard around the world.
Piles of rubble remained where hours before
Thousands appeared for a normal day of toil.
Dads, moms, sons and daughters—
If they forgot to say goodbye they never would.
Gone in a moment, gone in horror, hurled to their deaths.
America rallied. More important, the World rallied.
A tear fell, and was heard around the world.
Rescuers by the hundreds died
When the behemoths came down.
The hopeless, the helpless, jumped to their deaths,
Hundreds of feet in the air, plummeting like birds,
Forgotten how to fly.
But they will not be forgotten. Ever.
A tear fell, and was heard around the world.
Broken bodies, broken homes, broken dreams.
The cries of those buried alive went unheard.
But some, by the mercy of God, were saved.
Somehow, some way, their angels found them,
Hovering there, weeping, praying.
Calling on that very God their nation had forgotten.
People died that autumn day.
People died by the hundreds.
Defenseless people died without warning.
From the air, they died. From the towers, they died.
They came to rescue their fellow man, and they died.
A monument will rise there, on hallowed ground,
For a tear fell, and it was heard around the world.
I remember where I was too... I was out riding with some friends. When we went back to the barn and my mom was telling us to put the horses up and get to the house. She was so afraid something bad was going to happen to us. It was so very close to home even though it happened miles away. Everyone was kind of afraid to go about their daily lives. It's kind of hard for her and dad especially now since I'm away at college. I hope nothing else happens like that ever again. It was really, really awful.