9-11...Please Remember

That day my Son called me to tell me he was ok. At the time he was a Homicide Detective with the NYPD and was called down to the WTC. Since he was a Homicide Detective he was assigned to sifting through the rubble for body parts and cataloging them and fingerprinting fingers. I remember him telling me there was not one single whole body...it was just body parts. He worked on the site for quite a while and then went over to Staten Island which was where all the rubble was sent to after it was moved out to continue looking for body parts. This went on for over a year.

He was a tough Irish Cop that grew up in the Bronx and wasn't afraid of anything. I remember at a BBQ at his house the following Spring he asked to make a toast to all the fallen cops that he new (and didn't know). First time I ever saw this tough kid totally breakdown and cry. It has taken a toll on him.

He went on to become a Sargeant and retired and has moved to Florida after doing his 20 years this past January.

I can still remember what I was doing at the time, I called one of my medical suppliers and he told me a plane had crashed into the WTC, at first I thought it was a joke until I got online and turned on the TV in my office. Everybody was in shock and then the second plane hit. I thought it was a computer animation because the plane looked black and went by extremely fast, but then it became a bigger nightmare when the second plane crash was confirmed.

The routine at the workplace went into slow motion a surreal feeling. News reports drove fear even higher because we did not know exactly what was going on, reports from the Pentagon made matters worse. When the first tower came down I had left my office and made my way to the pharmacy, since nobody knew if the attacks where going to continue or full out war was going to follow I bought insulin, syringes and medications for a long time and then headed for the grocery store to buy food and supplies, The Johnson Space Center was being evacuated but traffic in the streets was virtually non existent.

After dropping all my stuff at home I headed back to my office. We where all in a very somber mood and actually thought that the casualty numbers where going to be a lot higher. I cannot think about this without getting goosebumps, the people in the planes and towers, the heroic members of the NYFD and NYPD hurtling toward the site and running up the stairs and giving their lives in order to help and save people and I am willing to bet all I know that they knew the danger of an imminent collapse of the buildings because of the damage and the fires eating the structure.

This is a date that will always be present in my mind and heart, I have to deal with death many times a week or even in the same day, but one can never be prepared to deal with a catastrophe of this magnitude. The families are always in my thoughts and prayers.

We Will Remember....

I Met A Soldier On The Plane....

I had a chance to talk to a soldier,sitting right next to me on the plane today. He has spent 4....Yes 4 Tours of duty in Iraq. A very well mannered, boy and yes a boy of 28, who enlighhtened me to all the good we are doing over there, and it's not what we hear in the press. He is assigned to a Aircraft group that flys the "U2" and one other aircraft, can't remember the name now, and he has seen a lot.

We can not forget 9-11, that is why we have men giving their lives, in defense of freedom.......

My son has done 2 tours and will most likely be doing a third. What we are told goes on over there and what does is in many cases two totally different things, based on political bs

The day 9/11 happened I was do deliveries. I heard on the radio that they were evacuating the federal building in Chicago, didnt really hear why so I assumed there was a nut case. Get to my first stop and some of the pieces began to fall into place. That was about noon and I didnt get home till around 4 pm.

When I got home my kids asked if I had heard what happened. Not really fully up to speed I began to watch tv like most people were at the time. Thats when they showed the replay of the 2nd plane hitting. I couldnt say anything, I sat in stunned silence.

A little while later they were in either Iraq or Iran where people were dancing and cheering about what happened. They talked to this one guy and I'll never forget what he said. "I think its great, I wish more people had died". And we have bleeding heart people in our own country who have sympathy for them.
These people would stab you in the back and not even think about it.

The people that died that day, their only crime was that they lived in the United States of America. The same people who did this are and will try to do it again....they have said they will. Do you remember what happened to the Roman Empire. It wasnt defeated on the battle field, but it crumble from within. Sounds like a country we live in doesnt it.

Osama Bin Ladin has declared war on us and we just seem to want to push it under the rug. This is a war of attrition, and he knows it. Everytime we get a bloody nose we want to turn tail and run because the cost is getting high. And he is counting on it. So what happens the next time they smash a plane into a building or blow something up. They keep attacking we keep telling them bad boy take a time out. Well diplomacy doesnt work on these idiots. We need to draw the line in the sand and not back down. If they cross the line we kick their a$$ up around their teeth till they get the message.

We arnt the bully that the media wants to protray us as. Bin Ladin and his flunkys are. There the ones who kill innocent people, there the ones who have no concern for life. The next time they want to give us a bloody nose we need to wipe the blood off and jack his jaw good.

I believe that those disturbing memories will live with us for the rest of our lives.

Jihad was declared long before 9/11 and we ignored it. Keep the memory alive and keep our freedoms alive.

Please read "Future Jihad" by Walid Phares. I believe it may enlighten your awareness of the dangers that we are in.

I, too, will never forget that day. We were living in Mt. Vernon, IL. at the time. My wife was on a 2 week business trip at the time. She was in Allentown, Pa. for the week. Their group had decided to drive a few hours away to NYC on the night of the 10th and stay over, but decided at the last minute to drive over to Philadelphia instead. They had to keep their rental car and drive to Chicago at the end of the week and then drive down to St. Louis the next week.
The world changed on 9/11 and I could not be with or hold and comfort my wife until a week later.
My major concern is that as the years go by, many will see this day as just another day. That sounds harsh, but look at memorial days such as Dec. 7, 1941 and June 6, 1944. Pearl Harbor was "a day that lived in infamy" yet most Americans don't even take time to reflect on monumental events in our country.
Sept. 11, 2001 is seared into my conscious forever and I pray that I will always take time to reflect and remember that day and other days when our country was shaken apart, but drawn closer together.

God Bless Our Fallen!

Amen, Eddie!