Hey Everyone,
September 11th 2001...One of the darkest days in the history of the United States Fire Service...
I can still remember that day like it was yesterday. I was at work on fireboard. It was a fairly slow morning and we had the Today show on and I can remember Matt Lauer saying that a plane had crashed into the WTC Tower 1. My first intial thought was, how could that happen on a beautifull day like that Tuesday was that morning. There was not a cloud in the sky at all. My second thought was, wow what a horrific accident as I thought that the pilot maybe had a medical problem or the plane had some type of mechnical problem. Terrorism was the farthest thing from my mind at that point. When they showed the first live footage of the tower and the gaping hole in the side of the tower. I had a bad feeling something was just not right.
We were glued to the TV when I can remember seeing the second plane come into the picture and I remember saying to a coworker, "Holy S$!t, It's gonna hit the second tower!!" I can remember the sicking feeling I got in my stomach watching the second tower get hit.
My boss walked into the room, he's been in the fire service over 30 years and was a former chief officer. We started talking about the tactics and hoping the FDNY would be able to get everyone out of the towers.
I can remember talking with my cowokers when pieces of Tower 2(correct me If I am wrong) started to fall and the tower collapsed. I can remember litteraly wanting to throw up watching that live and saying that the FDNY just lost alot of men.
I can remember a coworker saying that she is hoping the other tower would hold and I can remember saying that If one tower can collapse, the other one can most certainly come down as well.
At the end of the day, It was one of the most emotionally draining days I have ever worked.
My point to all this rambling I have been doing. I have not forgotten and neither should anyone else EVER forget what happened on that day and the sacrifices that were made that day. While the losses were huge by the FDNY, NYPD and other emergency services. It has also been listed as one of the most successfull rescue operations as over 25,000 people were able to be evacuated from the towers.
People have said to me that I should move on and forget about the day., but I can't. As long as I am a proud member of the fire service in some capacity. I cannot and will not ever forget and I will always remind people to never forget.
People say Derek Jeter, Kobe Bryant, Terral Owens are their Hero's..
Not me..I'm 34 years old and Firefighters are still my hero's. Along with my brother in law who is currently serving in Iraq.
Ok, now a little about the photos.
This is at the FDNY Fire Museum. This is the 9/11 Exhibt section of the museum. If you ever get the chance, Take a day and go to the Museum. It is well worth it.
A little info about the 3rd photo..
The camera is a Nikon camera that was recovered from the rubble. It belonged to a member of the FDNY Photo unit who was lost that day. The photos in the display case were taken from that camera. The camera still worked when it was recovered.
I will be posting a few more photos from the FDNY Fire Museum. At the end of our trip. We all stopped at Ground Zero and paid our respects. I did not post any photos of the site, simply because they don't do it justice. We also went over to the 10/10 house located across the street from Ground Zero and saw the beautifull bronze memorial wall along the side of the firehouse. If you go to NY, you simply have to see it..
God Bless the FDNY 343
God Bless all the fire service brothers, past, present and future...
