Remember when..

[Zack Barresse]

Remember when, 3 years ago, almost 3 thousand Americans died. The morning of September 11th, 2001. Do you remember what you were doing that day? When you heard what happened. When you watched the video. I do. All too well, in vivid detail.

We lost 343 fire fighter's that day. The single most devestating day in fire service history. Triple the average deaths in one year; all in one day, over the span of a few hours. The digging went on for days, looking for any survivors.

I would like to take this opportunity to remember the fallen of that day, the sacrifice that they made, just to try and save some lives. They did not die for no reason. Their reason lives on in me, and you, and every other person who tries to preserve what we know today as freedom. The right to choose, live, vote, give and love. I am living their ultimate sacrifice which they paid with their very lives. I am proud to be a fire fighter, proud to be an American, proud to love my family and give 110% every day of my life. Every day is a gift. Do not make their sacrifice for naught.

I hope you all enjoy your day, and remember. Don't ever forget.

[Jacob Hilderbrand]

I remember I was getting ready for work and just turned on the TV. The first tower had already been hit, but nobody knew what was going on. Some kind of accident? It was just total chaos.

Then I was watching when the second plane hit. Your hear about terrorist attacks all the time, but its a lot different when it happens right in front of your eyes.

I have a lot of respect for all the fire fighters, police officer, and everyone else that ran into the building. It really takes a special kind of person to run into a burning building.

The worst part is that after the first tower fell, helocopters in the air reported that the second tower was buckling, and was going to come down. It was just a matter of time. This was reported to the police units, but the fire fighters didn't get the message to pull out because of a terrible lack of communication.

Although this was a terrible event, maybe some good will come from it. It forced us to take a good look at the level of communication between different agencies. It also let's us know that we have been way too complacent in allowing terrorism to exist, just because it was in some other country.

[golf4]

Hey guys -
Like Jacob, I was getting ready for work and happened to flip on CNN. Having seen the carnage occuring in real time, I found it unbelievable that something like this could happen on our homefront. As well, I found it unbelievable how so many firefighters could enter a situation like that with so little regard for their own safety to save other. Zack and I have discussed the career of firefighter previously because both my younger and older brothers chose the same career. Having experienced "enemy fire" myself in a previous career, I can't imagine the strenghth and courage it takes to do the jobs you guys do.

I would hope that everyone took the time to remember all of the brave individuals that died in New York, DC and Pennsylvania. As well, please take the time to remember those left behind to carry on. With all my heart, I hope that, through the increased vigilence of all the world's citizens, we can prevent something like this from ever happening again.

Take care,

Frank

[Brandtrock]

I was driving to work when the towers fell. I had dropped my oldest two sons off at kindergarten and first grade. The whole thing playing out on the radio as I was driving in slower than normal traffic. Not a lot of accounting went on in the office that day as the 10 persons in our small office were more or less riveted to the television.

I picked the boys up and shuttled them into their room to watch a video while I talked to my wife. A few minutes later my kindergartner came out and asked me "Why did the bad guys do that to our buildings?". I was shocked as we purposely didn't have our television on. I asked him what he meant.

He told me how a father had come into the kindergarten room to get his daughter because the girls mother was supposed to be in Tower 1 that morning. She was running late and didn't get hurt, but the father hadn't been able to get in touch with her. The good news came several hours later.

My wife and I did our best to explain that there are persons in the world who do bad things for bad reasons. We basically had to discuss this with our 5 year old on the fly. Not one of my fonder parenting moments. He seemed to take what we said to heart. A few questions about whether we would be safe and then he went back to his video tape.

They both remembered the people who were hurt or dead in their prayers that night. They still say "God bless"es to the army, the police, and the firefighters to keep us safe.

Up till September 10, 2001 I would regularly acknowledge any police, firefighter, or military person with a smile and a nod. Since 9-11 I have changed that to openly thanking them aloud. I don't want to have our country fight, but sometimes you are left without a choice. When that time comes (and it has), kick ass and take names.

[TonyJollans]

It's a little different for me being British. I had just come back from lunch and someone at the office had the news streamed on the web and when I was told about it and saw the second tower hit I just couldn't believe it. It was almost surreal. I cannot imagine the horror felt by all the people who were much closer to it than me, nor can I imagine the bravery of all the firefighters and others who went in there without a second thought as to their own safety.

I may not be an American but I stand firm with you all in remembering the many dead and in being determined that such an awful event should never happen again. Regrettable as it is there seems to be no alternative to taking the fight to them and I also salute all the soldiers who fight bravely on behalf of all of us and those who have died so that others may be free.

As in the past, so many of us owe so much to so few. We must not forget. It must not be allowed to happen again.

[SJ McAbney]

Remember when, 3 years ago, almost 3 thousand Americans died.
They were not all Americans - there were Americans, Brits, Germans, Australians, Japanese, French, Spanish, Italians, Canadians, South Africans, Brazilians, Chinese, and many more nationalities.

[mark007]

I remember it well. I don't think anyone over the age of 10 then will ever forget it really.

I was at work all day and didn't hear about it till I got home. I came through the door and Vic was sat there on the couch in a trance. She looked up and just said "haven't you heard?" I looked at the tv to see the most incredible pictures. It was completely surreal.

What made it worse was that:

a) I hate flying
b) I was going on holiday the next day

The airport was unbelievable, every flight was delayed by at least 4 hours. We weren't allowed any hand luggage other than what we could put in a clear plastic bag they were handing out.

On the flight back I was nervous all the way as a really dodgy looking guy was sat in front of me. He kept fidgeting and was sat in a strange poistion like he was trying to do something without anyone seeing. I spent the entire 4 hour flight transfixed on him only to discover when we were preparing to land that he was just reading a book but couldn't get comfy!

I couldn't then and I can't now understand why anyone would do anything like that. Taking innocent lives for the sake of religion, or so they say. When you look back in history how many lives have been lost in the name of religion - crazy. At least the Americans do something about it. Here in Britain our government happily lets these crazy fanatics give speeches at mosques and live off the state benfits system too. Don't get me wrong I'm aiming this at fanatics not Joe Muslim. To be quite frank I'm not a fan of organised religion though at all. There are crackpot branches of Christianity too. Personally I follow the force on my path to become a Jedi Knight ;) LOL Actually, I think it has to be an option on the next census in Britain too as more than 10000 people ticked other and put Jedi due to a crazy email campaign. Very funny. I'm going somewhat offtopic here though.

I do salute the emergency services personnel who gave their lives to save others and all who do so on other days. It's incredible bravery that we should all be proud of in all our countries.