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9/11/2017 7:12 am  #1


9-11-01 Stories

It is hard to believe that sixteen years have passed since that dread September morn--today's crystal clear and azure skies are a meteorological teleportation to that awful Tuesday morning.

It is even harder to believe that soon there will be a generation of young adults coming of age who have no conscious memory of their own of that day.   The teens who are getting their learner's permits this year were babes in arms in 2001.   The college freshmen were toddlers.

So it becomes increasingly important for us to share our stories of those days.

For our generation this was a Pearl Harbor.   As for our parents or grandparents of the "greatest generation"; we know where we were, what we were doing, and who we were with as the horrific news unfolded.

I was filling up with gas at the now-closed Sheetz at the corner of S. Queen and Ironstone, getting ready to head to a meeting in southeastern Adams County.    When I heard the news of the second plane hitting, I phoned my father and asked him to put VHS tape in his machine and start recording the news...all day.   Meanwhile I switched the car radio to KYW Philadelphia, since that all-news station has a strong signal.   And I continued on to my meeting.

Unfortunately, during the half hour or so that I was in the meeting I missed hearing the newscast about the first tower collapsing and the attack on the Pentagon.


Life is an Orthros.
 

9/11/2017 3:35 pm  #2


Re: 9-11-01 Stories

I was in Yellowstone NP fly fishing that Day. My wife was staying at the dude ranch to ride.
We left well before dawn, and fished all day. I remember it ell. If was just a heart-breakingly beautiful day. As evening approached we left the park, and I noticed that the ranger station had the flag at half staff. We turned on the car radio and heard the news. Now, it had been hours and hours since the attack, so the news broadcasts were in progress. It was hard to understand what exactly was happening. It all had a quality of unreality. I thought about Orson Wells' great hoax. It was all so difficult to believe.

Got back to the lodge and all the other guests had been glued to the TV all day. The kids were back in York with grandma. Crazy stuff was being said on TV. Someone speculated that the last plane had been  headed for Three mile Island.

We gave the airlines about three days,,,,, they said, "Hey buddy, we're trying to get Denver and LA up. We'll get to Livingston Montana when we get to it." So, we, and thousands of other tourists started a caravan of rental cares dring east.  It took 2 1/2 days. The first thousand miles are easy.

I also remember all thru the fall taking my daily bicycle ride around Hellam and Wrightsville. Often you could spot a pair of F-16s in the sky,,, a combat air patrol protecting the Nuke Plant. I learned years later that some of them were planes provided by, and Piloted by our NATO allies. It's good to have friends.

Last edited by Goose (9/11/2017 3:38 pm)


We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists. 
 

9/13/2017 4:59 pm  #3


Re: 9-11-01 Stories

I was at my second to last day in my work-from-home job, hired as a caseworker but hadn't started yet.

I had NPR on while I was working and I heard the report of an aircraft hitting one of the towers.  There was no additional information.  I assumed some fool in a cesna failed his pilot's test.

Then the report of the Pentagon being hit came on.

I ran to my bedroom and turned on the TV.  I'll never forget it.  The picture came on just as the second plane hit the tower.

I watched, tears streaming down my cheeks, as first one then the other tower fell in on itself.

Then I watched in horror as a uniformed police officer said "to hell with civil rights" on national televison.

We lost more than lives that day.


If you make yourself miserable trying to make others happy that means everyone is miserable.

-Me again

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9/13/2017 8:47 pm  #4


Re: 9-11-01 Stories

I've often wanted to photosoap a picture of the twin towers begins struck, with one tower labelled "Fourth Amendment" and the other labelled "Second Amendment".


Life is an Orthros.
     Thread Starter
 

9/15/2017 3:54 pm  #5


Re: 9-11-01 Stories

I often think of FDRs speech and the Norman Rockwell paintings of the four freedoms when I look back


We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists. 
 

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