Remembering Our Own Today

[Likalizard]

Prayers to the victims and the responders this day, 7 years ago. Very surreal driving to work, all radio broadcasting was silent at 8:46 for one minute. Lets' remember. Mahalo, Lika

[LeeE]

Found this link on the Honolulu Advertiser site.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/04/nyregion/04... >

New York Times
Thursday, September 11, 2008

9/11 New York City Firemen reached the crash site and were aiding survivors...

...at the crash site aiding survivors amidst a towering inferno supposedly hot enough to melt steel beams and cause three towers to collapse into themselves...

"A lost tape of lost voices, ignored until recently by investigators studying the emergency response on Sept. 11, shows that firefighters climbed far higher into the south tower than practically anyone had realized. At least two men reached the crash zone on the 78th floor, where they went to the aid of grievously injured people trapped in a sprawl of destruction.

Until the building's final minutes, one of the two firefighters, Battalion Chief Orio J. Palmer, was organizing the evacuation of people hurt by the plane's impact...

Only now, nearly a year after the attacks, are the efforts of Chief Palmer, Mr. Bucca and others becoming public. City fire officials simply delayed listening to a 78-minute tape that is the only known recording of firefighters inside the towers. The Fire Department has forbidden anyone to discuss the contents publicly

For months, senior officials believed that firefighters had gone no higher than about the 50th floor in each tower, well below most damage. The transmissions from Chief Palmer and others reveal a startling achievement: firefighters in the south tower actually reached a floor struck by the second hijacked airplane.

Once they got there, they had a coherent plan for putting out the fires they could see and helping victims who survived."

[Andrew]

True Heroes.

[Kahunascott]

One of my very good friends back east lost his brother in the towers.
He was one of New York’s Bravest from Engine One. He also lost a cousin who was a paramedic. In my opinion they never found his brothers body but after a few months they gave his parents something to bury. I hope it was his remains.
My sister was working in the United Nations building on 911.
After the first plane hit the towers I was able to call her and advise her to get out of the building. After she watched the second plane hit the towers they did evacuate.
We were not able to communicate with her for over a day and half and she had no way out of NYC. She was able to stay at her boss’s apartment in the city.
From my office in NJ the towers were just below the horizon but I could see the smoke from my window.


"Many dreams come true and some have silver linings, I look for my dreams and a pocket full of gold" Led Zeppelin

[pslamont]

I remember the day well. I was in San Diego. My son, Josh, then 26 years old, worked near the towers. He used to ride the subway to work from the village and walk the last few blocks. He phoned me in distress. He had seen the explosion on the first tower. Phones were down immediately locally but he could call out long distance. I flipped on the TV and related news to him as it came in. He spoke with me as he watched the second plane crash into tower number 2. Said it was like watching a Stephen Speelberb movie.. then that he wanted it to be a movie... Josh told me that the WORST part was hearing the bodies hit the cement as they jumped from high in the building.

He also then called me every day. The spirit of New York blossomed as in the rubble and dust people reached out to one another. Everyone walked in masks for weeks to breathe. Strangers on their stoops would offer a drink of cool water or coffee to pasers by. I remember that Josh had just bought a pair of expensive boots and he gave them to a fireman. He said that as the firemen worked at the site, they would walk out with their shoes smoldering. They changed shoes and socks every couple hours. Locals piled boots and socks up in bins marked with size. Everyone gave what they had. His descriptions gave me hope for our future, belief in my fellow man. His stories kept me doing what I do... living life... believing that things will be better if we all help one another...

Just ramblings of a crazy mom....

[LeeE]

The New York Times piece documenting the lack of a towering inferno at the crash site where the firemen were working trying to save survivors and the EPA then telling New Yorkers that the air was safe to breath when it was in fact deadly makes me think that perhaps one of the greatest ways we can honor the heroes of 9/11 is to have a national discussion reviewing what really happened before during and after those criminal attacks, including the anthrax incidents.

Just my two cents.

There was a showing at the Akibono last night of a film about 9/11 called "9/11 Mysteries" plus a discussion.

Mahalo to the folks who presented it.