September 11

...I am not a great one and may be I am getting to rapped up in it but it seems like it ( 911 ) happened today and it touches home....Thanks for the heads up....Miller

 

I was in Germany visiting my daughter. I was supposed to return to the USA on Sept 12th. I took me 14 days before I was allowed to fly home, and everyone on my flight was a bit jittery. Security in Amsterdam was nothing special...not upgraded at all.

 

I was at work...took my break and went to the break room...clicked on the TV to see the first tower burning....as I watched a plane crashed into the 2nd tower. I turned around to see the entire room was full of people who were silent until that 2nd plane hit.
God bless the people who helped get others to safety and those that didnt' make it.

 

How the world has changed. Makes me sometimes wish I was still a kid, when things were much simpler.

 

I was at work with the others watching it on TV in the breakroom. A coworker and I both at the same time felt that this was a war in the making, and that we would get called back into the military. Outwardly, we all were silent. My wife was a NYC EMS worker, and was in MN at the time. Her ex husband, George, was a NYC Paramedic who got off the nightshift, heard what happened, turned around, and got back some time around when the 2nd tower fell, AFAIK. He dedicates a motorcycle run every year to benefit the families of the fallen.

9 years ago, today, the United States of America became unified as ONE. I hope we all haven't lost that.

After all was said and done that day, we donated our demo equipment to cleaning up the destruction.

 

Hey, you have every right to be emotional...who wouldn't be?
Everyone was hit hard by the events of that day.

I was directly under the approach for all flights coming into LAX that morning setting up for a photo shoot.
All of a sudden....not one airplane.....nothing.
The roar of jets that had been part of that neighborhood for so many years was now silenced.
It was adding a creepy factor to what was already a horrible morning.

 

We live in the Mountain time zone, the radio alarm came on, I heard the news, rolled over and told Carla we were now at war. Opened up the HAMB to see what was going on and turned on the TV. Watched the coverage for about an hour and then went over to a house we were remodeling and worked with the TV on for a while then my pal Ryan said lets shut it off, we have seen enough. I remember I built a really nice fireplace mantle. That night was back on the HAMB expressing emotions with a bunch of ya'all.

 

I was getting ready to leave my house to pick up a guy from American Express who was to leave at 8:30am from LaGuardia...he called me and told me he had to get off the airplane and he walked back to the city. Prayers to all who lost loved ones, friends and heroes who were there to help. Praise to those who assisted at all of the locations that day. I will NEVER forget.

 

I consider it both an honor and privilege to be an American. God bless us all!

 

Absolutely.

 

I was a bike messenger in Boston at the time. I was already an hour and a half into my work day when the first tower was hit. I went to go make a delivery to an office in Fort Point and I walked into to a nearly empty office....no receptionist, no one to be seen. I found them all huddled around a tv in the breakroom after a few moments walking around... From Fort Point I rode back into the down town. All hell had broken loose by this point. With tthe two planes that had come out of Logan the city was on high alert. Rumors had spread that there would be an attack on metro Boston. There was a mass exodus out of the city. Thousands of people left their offices instantanously. It was unreal...

An hour or so later I was sitting on my (at the time) girlfriends's bed watching a live feed when the first tower collasped....I'll never forget that. My heart sank I thought I was gonna pass out... I knew those towers were filled with firefighters. I turned to my g/f and said "we just lost a lot of firemen" I grew up involved in the volunteer fire service. FDNY firefighters are some of the greatest on Earth. This was an incredible blow to the fire service.

Now 9 years later I sit in type this in my firehouse. I can tell you there isnt a day that goes by I dont think about the 343 brothers that lost their lives that day.

 

That's a beautiful flag! GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!

 

I awoke first that day and the weather was fabulous, I turned on the TV and the first broadcast was that a small plane had hit the first tower, the news team and the onlookers were not sure what had happened and it all progressed from there. My wife came in and as we watched I said I think this is it, the beginning of the end. As the footage repeatedly had shown the planes and the towers I watched as my two year old was building towers with blocks and flying his toy plane into them, it was what he saw unknowing of how powerful a time he witnessed. My one son leaves for the Army next month and I am proud that he wants to serve our country. We all must reflect and value our family and friends. I am grateful for the Hamb members I have come to know, it is sort of our own community of people with similar interests but at times different tastes in cars. A diversity that is reflected in America itself, living a free life with choices! Although some push and shove on here and others spout off there is growth from reading and listening. I am not offended by things on here. Heck, if everyone had the same car with the same paint and the same engine.......the Hamb would become mundane. God bless those who served, soldiers and public servants and those who were taken. I remain CGM.

 

Never Forget

 

Amen to that B&S..

 

i'm a retired demolition worker..came to michigan to run the largest "planed" implosion....in between jobs, i would work doing high end fire and water restorations..i was going back between cincy and detriot at the time...

on the morning of 911, i was at my home in cincy, between jobs....the girl freind was in michigan..i was mowing the grass..had Good Morning America?? on the tube for background noise...walked in to see them break in and say a small plane may have hit the WTC....a few seconds went by and they had live feed showing it...about that time Deb, my gf rang the phone..said did ya hear about it???the buildings where still up then..i told her yes, standing there watching it...she started to ask what i thought they would/could do to put out the fire....i told her they couldn't..that the building would colapse before they could get water to it....about 10 seconds later if started to colapse...i remember her yelling "don't go!!!!!!please don't go!!!" then .i just hung up on her...for 30 minutes my phone rang..whn i got back into the house she was still ringing it...i knew it was her...

for 3 months prior to 9-11 i had ben bugging her to get married..we had been together living in mich for 3 years...she always said it was a bad idea...finally i told her i was going home to cincy....maybe then it would seem like a "good idea" to her...

i finally picked up the phone..figured i'l tell her i would call her from NYC when things settled down a bit...first thing i heard when i picked up the phone was..."i'll drive down there and we'll get married today..if you come to michgian with me and promise not to go to NYC..

structural demo experts are rated per NADA....i was currently rated as one of the top 5 dismantelers in the USA at the time...during the 30 minutes between the calls with my now wife, i was loading all my demo gear into my truck...

9 years later, i still have mixed feelings over not going...worse thing to happen in this country during my lifetime...demo man's holy grail of jobs....very very dangerous job working in such a mountain of debris...but right up an implosion and dismantlers alley...think iron worker in reverse...

i had and have many freinds who went there...they all came home different people...many have died from lung and cancer dease related issues since....others are suffering thru their last days with terrible health issues...
...

.out of respect for those lost there we waited and got married on oct 16th after 9-11....

i love my life as it turned out due to not going to NYC on that day 9 years ago....the wife, my dogs..boating on lake erie...my topolino,,the Hamb...

my health isn't good these days..i've been up for 100% disability since the feb after 911...pretty much with the same health issues as many of my freinds who went there have succumb to..........

it has never quit eating at me every year on this date...that maybe i failed my calling...maybe i might have made something better for someone who was there..if i had gone....


god bless and rest their souls...all who have been crushed by the debris from 9-11..on site that day and ever since....it is still falling....

 

With each passing year, the events of 9/11 are just as heart-rending as the day they occurred.

I was working on a defense contract in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia that day. We were just getting off work and on the way back to our compound when the first aircraft struck the WTC. Our normal routine, once to our villa, was to turn on the TV and make dinner plans. I'd turned the TV on initially to CNN International, then Sky News, and then FOX, where they showed Tower One in flames. I distinctly remember seeing the clear blue sky and thinking "who the hell crashes into a skyscraper on a clear day like that?", and thinking also that is was no accident. Moments later, I watched as the second jet slammed into Tower Two and immediately thought "G------ Saudis!" (yes that's exactly what I'd thought!). We stood in stunned silence for a few moments as this was unfolding. And here we were, American civilians in what really IS a hostile nation, and wondering what's next...

The next day, after enduring a rather harrowing 20-mile drive to the base, and after one of the Saudi students started verbally lashing out about how "America deserved it!" and all that bullshit, I just turned around and walked out of the room, went to my manager and asked to be sent back to the US. I refused to remain any longer. The Middle East has always been stuck in a Sixth Century mindset. I was ready to go home.

And I did not regret my decision for one moment. A few weeks after that, our compound was attacked by terrorists, in which three Saudi guards were killed, and several of the guys on our contract were seriously injured. The villas in which were were staying originally had been firebombed.

God Bless America. And may our enemies be crushed like cockroaches.

 

Thus my Avatar.

 

I was in my first week of college on that particular morning, and I'll never forget it. Long live the American ideal! Today is a day of remembrance, and not a day for political and conspiracy garbage.

 

Hate to backtrack, but I have to lay the groundwork for how it affected me. Stationed in Great Lakes during boot camp. I was on patrol when I walked past Officer's watching the Space Shuttle explode. During boot camp there is no contact with the outside world. I was hauled inside and told to forget what I had just seen. The next day the whole company was informed. The morning of 9-11 I was driving to work. It came on the radio as a small plane hitting the tower. I thought "How could you not see a tower". I went inside and the TV was on in the office. I relived the shuttle moment, and experienced the towers collapse. Ironically, I was supposed to be on a plane to Chicago for my friend's Fathers funeral. Still brings up a lot of bad memories. Remember the past, Live to improve the future.

 

IMHO, Not a good comparison. Pearl Harbor was at least a Military target. The WTC was a senseless loss of life. Not that it changes my perspective...but I was born in and spent most my youth in New York. It was a horrible thing to watch on TV that morning. Just as I realized it was really happening, and not a movie, the second tower was struck, right before my eyes. Fucking horrible

 

I was working at my shop, Rocket Auto, in NC. Had a CD on, and was working away on a customers car when my buddy called me. He said "are you watching TV?" I said, "WTF are you talking about, im at work...what are YOU doing?" Having no idea, I thought he was just asking me a dumb question.
I didn't have TV at the shop, so I went online....this was way before I had highspeed or a decent computer. Took a few minutes, but then I saw it. Switched on a car radio (no reception in my shop/no antena)...sat there for a long while. Couldn't believe it. Some people called asking if Icould fix this/fix that...I told the last guy to walk in asking my change his oil "are you kidding me?!" are you not aware of whats going on? This was before we knew if there would be more...expected more attacks. There was a huge gas storage (largest on the east coast) about 15 miles from the shop, and everyone KNEW it would be a target...it supplied all the fuel to all the military on the east coast. I sat on my shop floor on a creeper seat, cried and watched photos online. Went home early of course, flipped on cable, called and woke up my future (now ex) wife...told her to watch Tv...mental overload. I cried today watching tributes...a few times...

 

I completely agree, at least the Japs had the guts to wear a uniform.

 

I had been invited to a breakfast business meeting there that day at Windows on the World, on the top floor of the north tower.

It was the most incredibly beautiful day. Clear blue sky, not too hot, low humidity and a gentle breeze - a perfect day, much like it was today.

It was so nice out that I did something I had never before done in my career....I blew off the meeting.

I would have been there and if I had, my youngest might not have been conceived.

Let's never forget the principles of FREEDOM that our country was founded on. We should all occasionally reread the Bill of Rights to remind ourselves that greatness and freedom are synonymous.

 

I'l NEVER forget! God bless America and her allies.

 

Understood, but if the loss of life was for Japan's imperialist motives does that make it much better? Did the soldiers who died 12/7/41 not bleed because the entity doing it had a supposedly more noble cause? In a perfect world, there is no war and we could all hash out our differences with words. 9/11 was a call to arms. Though the enemy did not wear a uniform, the loss of life was no less real. The enemy was united by it's hatred for the US instead of by a flag. 9/11 was the first time a foreign enemy had come onto our soil and inflicted damage since Pearl Harbor. I hope I never live to see another time.

Living in northern central NJ, it's a 30 minute train ride into NYC. 9/11 was no foreign concept, it hit home. Several people from my small town of 14,000 didn't make it home from work that day. One kid I went to high school with lost 2 close relatives. A woman my dad is friends with was horrifically burned in the Towers, but miraculously lived through it. I've spoken to her several times, her will to live is incredible.

 

she was hurt real real bad, but she is still strong as she will allways be. i will never forget the scream and footsteps of a good freind running down the hallway after the cruel realization that his old man was not coming home. a sick stupid day

 

Without trying to be political, this country lost a brave soilder yesterday in Afganastan from Virginia . That young man bravely volunteered his life so we could have the oppurtunity to even have a H A M B her on the net . While I didn't know him , I wish to convey my sincere condolences to his family as wel as to all of the families who have loved ones fighting this endless remake of a Korea over seas. If it were up to me , I would have ended it with two small atom bombs months ago, one for Iran , the other for Saudi Aribia . scrubba

 

I was waiting for a bus that day (I still lived in England at that time), when it arrived, the driver (who I used to work with) said....

Did you hear what happened in New York?

I said...No...

He replied..The terrorists blew up the WTC

I was all...yeah, right...till I got to the garage to pick the car up, and all the guys were surrounding a tiny B&W portable TV....I got there just as the plane hit the 2nd tower.

I grew up in London during the IRA era, where terrorist bombings were common....almost monthly for many years, and grew accustomed to seeing it on the news, this however is one day that will never leave me.

I love my adopted country.