Remembering 9/11

Can't believe it's been 13 years already, how the time flies.

Really one of the few where you were, and what you were doing moments in my life. I still remember the whole day like it was just last week.

 

I wish 9/11 was made to be known as "National First Responder's Day".

 

A 9/11 'Miracle' for Family of Fallen Firefighter
By Murray Weiss on September 11, 2014 7:36am

NEW YORK CITY — James Boyle's son, Michael, was a New York City firefighter who died on Sept. 11, 2001.

The memory of his son weighed on his heart so heavily in the years since the terror attack that Boyle, 75, a former firefighter union president, never thought there would be a day when another event would budge it.

But that day came this summer when Boyle received a call that his granddaughter, Amanda, was seriously hurt when she fell and hit her head in a playground. The 17-year-old child of one of Boyle's daughters had trauma to her skull and brain. Three days later, she suffered a seizure and her heart stopped beating while she was in the hospital.

She was literally dead for nearly four minutes before doctors were able to jolt her back to life, albeit in a coma.

Boyle's heart sank. For him, it was worse than 9/11.

"It was like taking a bullet," Boyle recalled. "She was dead. Her heart had stopped. It was the worst feeling. So quick and so unexpected. There was pandemonium. And seeing my daughter in pain."

Boyle has a photo of his son by his nightstand and says a prayer for him every night before he goes to sleep.

“He’s the last thing I see at night and first in the morning,” Boyle said.

But when Amanda fell into a coma, he found himself praying not for his son, but to his son for help.

“Oh God, was I praying for him to help find a miracle for Amanda,” he told “On the Inside.”

Michael Boyle worked at Engine Company 33 on Great Jones Street. He had the day off on Sept. 11, 2001, but raced in to help after the planes hit.

He made the ultimate sacrifice at 10:28 a.m., Boyle said — the time when the North Tower collapsed.

Following 9/11, Boyle, a life-long New Yorker, and his wife, Barbara, eventually packed up and moved to Rochester to be closer to their two daughters, Jeanne and Mary, and their five grandchildren, including Amanda, the eldest.

After a gut-wrenching week of prayers, Amanda, 17, suddenly opened her eyes.

“It was an absolute miracle,” said her mother, Mary Lynch.

But she was not out of the woods.

There was a fear of brain damage when she could not remember family names, dates and important events, but she recovered over the next week or two.

Finally, doctors told Boyle it was OK for him to bring Amanda food, preferably bagels with salt for the calcium. Like clockwork, he brought them every morning.

“I'd work out at the local Y and then I’d call her and tell her I’d be coming by with the bagels,” Boyle recalled. “Then one morning, after a week or so, Amanda looked down at her cell phone and says, 'You know Grandpa, you keep calling me every morning at 10:28.'"

“I never realized it,” Boyle said of the incredible coincidence. “I swear Michael must have been with us, all along.”

Boyle and his wife say they will attend the 9/11 ceremony as usual to hear their son’s name read aloud and attend mass at Engine Company 33.

Amanda, meanwhile, is back in high school, but remains too weak to make the trek this year. She will instead spend the day memorializing Michael at a 9/11 ceremony in Rochester, where Jeanne will speak on behalf of the Boyle clan.

“The doctors never thought Amanda would make it,” her mother, Mary, said. “But Michael was our hero. I have no doubt my brother was her angel and pulled her through this.”

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/201.../911-miracle-for-family-of-fallen-firefighter

 

Ari Fleischer's twitter feed is an interesting read this morning.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>8:40am, 9-11, 2001: I was in the motorcade 4 the drive from the Colony Beach &amp; Tennis Resort in Sarasota, FL 2the Emma Booker Elem. School.</p>&mdash; Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) <a href="https://twitter.com/AriFleischer/status/510046251497558016">September 11, 2014</a></blockquote>
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I was in elementary at the time. Didn't fully understand it at the time; was too young, so wasn't fully distraught then. Its weird. My reaction to the Boston bombing was much, much different.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>FOne Capt. Mark Tillman told me 10 yrs later that we took off at unusually steep ascent bcause he had a report of a sniper at end of runway.</p>&mdash; Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) <a href="https://twitter.com/AriFleischer/status/510063272557805568">September 11, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Colonel Tillman also told the media years later that the control tower told him that an unidentified plane was descending toward AFOne.</p>&mdash; Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) <a href="https://twitter.com/AriFleischer/status/510063756026863616">September 11, 2014</a></blockquote>
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With Boston, my honest thought was - how do things like this not happen more often here, it's so easy? And thank God they don't.

With 9/11, I was and still am shocked something of that scale could be put together right under our nose.

 

I was in elementary at the time and late for school. Because of that I was hearing what happened on the radio (only the first plane). Once people started leaving school, and the teachers would not tell us what happened, I told them that I heard about the plane hitting a tower in new york when I was coming to school. My class probably had about 25-27 kids and we went down to less than 15 by lunch time.

 

10th grade for me, but I didn't realize the seriousness of the situation until like the second period class of that day. Every single class probably stopped functioning as everyone in school was glued to the TV.

Then we had those kids who/parents who made excuses so the kid could take off from school early because they were "distraught" although they had no relations whatsoever to anyone in NY.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>The first report we got on AFOne was that Flight 93 crashed &quot;near Camp David.&quot; The locations are some 100 miles apart.</p>&mdash; Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) <a href="https://twitter.com/AriFleischer/status/510068546848972800">September 11, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>After the 3rd plane hit the Pentagon, we were told there were 3 aircraft &quot;missing&quot;. After Flight 93, we thought 2 more attacks coming.</p>&mdash; Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) <a href="https://twitter.com/AriFleischer/status/510068888332427264">September 11, 2014</a></blockquote>
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I've got very mixed feelings about today. I agree we should always remember it but at the same time if 13 years after this still dominate our national psyche then in many ways OBL accomplished what he set out to do. Al Qaeda wanted us to be afraid by doing something the world would never forget. Even though OBL is dead his shadow still reaches from beyond the grave to remind us of the blow he dealt to America.

I think the best thing we can do today is while remembering what happened is to go about our daily lives without fear. The World is always going to be a dangerous place and as ISIS shows there are still those twisted people who want to carry on the legacy of fear and terror that caused 911. If we live in fear we are just giving them more power than they deserve.

 

I'm honestly starting to wonder the same thing. As time goes on though, it has been getting less coverage. Just a few years back, MSNBC use to rebroadcast the entire morning on TV. I think some other stations did the same thing. People aren't as dominated by this day as before, but the recent ISIS stuff has made things different this year.

 

I disagree. I personally never lived in fear, and when I look back at 9/11, I remember the strength Americans had to come together as a nation. I would argue most people were angry, not afraid. Really the only time 9/11 was given significant coverage recently was in 2011, which was the 10 year anniversary.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>At 10:32, the Pres. reported an amazing phone call. POTUS was talking to the military aide while he (Bush) was on the phone with the VP.</p>&mdash; Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) <a href="https://twitter.com/AriFleischer/status/510073635357605888">September 11, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>&quot;A call came into the switchboard saying 'Angel is next,'&quot; Bush said. 'Angel' was the codeword for Air Force One.</p>&mdash; Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) <a href="https://twitter.com/AriFleischer/status/510074014715609089">September 11, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Col. Tillman, upon hearing the news, posted an armed Air Force Security Officer at the base of the steps leading up to the cockpit of AFOne.</p>&mdash; Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) <a href="https://twitter.com/AriFleischer/status/510074359281893376">September 11, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Think about that. Aboard one of the most secure spots on earth, with nothing but trusted aides/Secret Service, the fear was an inside attack</p>&mdash; Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) <a href="https://twitter.com/AriFleischer/status/510074734877618176">September 11, 2014</a></blockquote>
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What was it like flying commercial right after the attacks?

 

Considering I was flying back and forth to Saudi Arabia... It sucked.

I recall one day at Dallas love field airport, where they were so nice to me (security at airport while checking in etc) and then they asked what branch I was in..... They thought I was going for the military. As soon as I said I wasn't, I was handed a red card and told to go in the other line.

 

I wish people would stop remembering by posting pictures of the buildings falling. I'm sure those who lost loved ones on that awful day love seeing that.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>12:25 (1/3) Bush calls Cheney in the PEOC: &quot;I think it's important for the people to see the government is functioning...&quot;</p>&mdash; Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) <a href="https://twitter.com/AriFleischer/status/510101613542113281">September 11, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>(2/3) &quot;...because the TV shows our nation has been blasted and bombed. Government is not chaotic. It's functioning smoothly.&quot;</p>&mdash; Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) <a href="https://twitter.com/AriFleischer/status/510101746862288897">September 11, 2014</a></blockquote>
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