Remember 9/11/2001

DonnyMost · Sep 11, 2009

JBIIRockets said:

The worst memory I have of 9/11 actually happened a few years later when I heard the voice of a man on his cell phone, as the building was collapsing, then it went silent.
Click to expand...

Dennis Cosgrove.

Can't believe I still remember that face and name, but then again, how could I forget.

Bone chilling.

*edit

Apparently it was Kevin, damn.

JBIIRockets · Sep 11, 2009

DonnyMost said:

Dennis Cosgrove.

Can't believe I still remember that face and name, but then again, how could I forget.

Bone chilling.

*edit

Apparently it was Kevin, damn.
Click to expand...

Yup Kevin Cosgrove.

Hope he is partying in Heaven.

DonnyMost · Sep 11, 2009

This is a picture from the international space station, apparently.

Astronauts actually had to watch this.

Can you imagine how insane that would make you? Trapped in space, with what looks like a smoldering nuclear crater in the middle of New York below you with no explanation?

Rocketman95 · Sep 11, 2009

DM, amazing pick, but how would they not know? do they not have any contact with earth?

ItsMyFault · Sep 11, 2009

I'll never forget that day... I remember I was getting ready to go to school, it was just a dark day in the morning. Then at like 9:30 they turned on the Tvs in all the classrooms to show everyone what's going on.. Came home.. Finally understood what was happening.. Very sad day.

RIP to all the the victims as well as all the firefighters and folks who tried so save lives that day and risked their own.

Proud to be an American!

DonnyMost · Sep 11, 2009

Groogrux said:

DM, amazing pick, but how would they not know? do they not have any contact with earth?
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I'm imagining that some non-americans were probably up there.. so they were probably some of the last to know, unless NASA was on top of things for them.

Either way, imagine if you're floating around in space and that happens. You could realistically assume WW3 is about to break out and the known world is toast. You could be about to see a spectacular fireworks show of countries blasting each other off the face of the earth.

Scary thoughts.

CrazyDave · Sep 11, 2009

I never watch TV in the mornings... and for some reason, that day, I flipped it on before work, and couldn't believe my eyes and ears.

Sick and with some anxiety over the known and unknown, I went in to work... dumbfounded and in a daze. Our accountant and I were the only ones there, so, not wanting to go home and be alone, we went to Guadalajara and watched on the TV there and drank. Billy Gibbons was there. It was surreal.

I remember the resolve of 'we the people' afterwards, the solidarity and national pride in the face of such great tragedy. It would serve some of our leaders well to remember that as we go forward, and not lose sight of doing what's right for our country and citizens by putting petty differences aside in a perspective relative to a greater good. (no inflammatory)

rimrocker · Sep 11, 2009

I posted this in D&D earlier...

Oral history of the last guy out of WTC 1...

I made sure there was nobody from EMS still in the lobby because we were moving our entire operation. I was the last one out of 1 World Trade Center.

I made it about halfway across West Street and I was just stepping into the street off the center median when I heard what is going to be instilled in my memory forever; a sound that combines a railroad car, an airplane, a fighter jet and thunder. I looked up and I saw the World Trade Center falling down. Number 1 World Trade Center was coming down. Number 2, I couldn't even really be sure at that point. One of the buildings was falling on my head. I said oh, my god.

You really only had a split second to make a decision. I could have ran left, I could have ran right, which would have been north or south on West Street, but I looked right in front of me and I was looking at the command post where I saw all the senior Chiefs. I saw Chief Kowalczyk. I saw Chief Gombo and there was, in the American Express building, in the World Financial Center, there was actually an underground garage and I don't know why I chose that garage, but I chose to run straight ahead for the garage. I must have made it in --I don't know whether I was in 10, 20, 30, 50, 100 feet. I know I wasn't in far, but all of a sudden just a woosh and a thrush, just, I started getting hit by debris. I got picked up and started being thrown. We were tripping over each other; firemen, Chiefs, Captains, Lieutenants, EMTs. I don't know if there were any EMTs, I should not say that.

We just got thrown, and everything went black and it was almost silent. Right at that moment I saw
my two kids. I saw my father who passed away. I was actually in the air flying along and it was only, I guess, maybe a second, and I said to myself my god, that's it, it's over, because it was black and it was silent.

Then I hit the ground. Then stuff was just piling on top of me. As soon as I hit, I fell on my shoulder. I got an excruciating pain. So I said to myself --this is all within a second this is going on through my mind. I said to myself, I said, you are not dead because there is no pain in heaven. I feel this excruciating pain running down my arm. Now I'm getting hit in the back of my head and everything and thank god I had my helmet on.

Another interesting thing was that I wore my turnout coat that day. I don't wear my turnout coat too often. Forever I will wear my turnout coat every day. I wore my turnout coat, so everything was just hitting me in the back. I said all right I'm not dead, because I'm not in heaven. Then I said wait a second. Maybe I'm in hell. Right at that moment I just decided there's no way I'm staying in hell. I don't belong here. I just stayed down for a another few seconds. I know that was a conscious decision I made just to stay down and try and let things subside a little bit.

It was still pitch black. Dust was flying. I couldn't breathe at that point. I couldn't see anything. I couldn't hear anybody else around me, so I'm just assuming that there really is nobody else around me, that, you know, the worst has come. I didn't want to come to that realization yet. While I'm thinking it, I didn't want to believe it.

I waited another few seconds and then I --it was sort of like it subsided a little bit, because I didn't hear any more rumble, but it was still quiet. I managed to get up, clean some stuff off me and start figuring that I had to search my way out of here. I think of a few things really quick. Back to years and years and years ago when I went to basic fire training in Suffolk County Fire Academy, I said you know what I got to do.The first thing I got to do is I got to breathe, otherwise I will be dead in no time. So I actually took my head and I took my turnout coat and I disengaged. I pulled the snaps off and I disengaged my liner and everybody always made fun of me because I always left my full liner in the coat even in the summer. I disengaged the liner and I actually used that to shield me to breathe. Probably one of the two things that saved my life.

The other was after we started going I remembered that coming from SOD, you always had Nomex hoods, because when we suited up we had to wear hoods. I said, well, I got my hood in my pocket. I pulled my hood out and I used that also. So I had at that point, which was a double filter, to allow me to breathe. So it had to be like --I'm estimating, probably another 10 minutes, that I couldn't find anybody. I was just--I guess sort of just wandering around in there, just trying to find my way out.

Then I saw a light and it was a fireman. He was calling out to people. I said yes, I'm over here. Now it's just the two of us. We started moving down. We made a pact that we were both getting out of there alive. I don't know who this guy was. I believe that he saved my life, because without that light, without the two of us reassuring each other, I'm not quite sure I would have made it out of there. I would love to know who he was. The two of us together, we said we stay together no matter what happens.

Another few minutes later we found another firefighter, another firefighter. Nobody was injured. My shoulder wasn't really a concern at that point. I had sprained my knee, I had hurt my shoulder, but that wasn't like a concern. We found a few more guys. I don't know how long it was. It was a while, but everything was still pitch black. Nobody could breathe down there. A few firefighters had masks. They were passing them off to help some people out. Some firemen didn't have masks. There was a real spirit of --this was at the time like 5 or 6 guys, that we were just fighting for our lives.

I don't know, it could have been two minutes, it could have been two hours. It could have been 20 minutes. Best guess that I can imagine was like 20
minutes. We searched our way and we had an orderly search that we all just held on to each other and we found a wall and we essentially just searched our way out of the building.

...

At that point I said out loud, I said, okay, let me get my thoughts together. We got to go back to work. One of the firemen looked at me and he said are you stupid. I said yes. In this case I must be. I remembered clearly at that point --I mean some people were jumping on boats at that point, because there were boats lined up along the Hudson. People were just jumping on boats and I thought of doing that at a point.

But I remember specifically that I remembered Chief Kowalczyk, that I left --that he was the last person that I really physically saw. I ended up making my way back to Vesey Street. I was actually over at West End Avenue. Is that West End?

Q. North End?

A. North End, right. I was at North End Avenue and Vesey Street, where I met with Chief Goldfarb. At that point we didn't know really what the outcome of this whole thing was going to be, but we decided real quick that we needed to put together a plan because there is still a monumental incident ahead of us. I was just trying to keep my composure at that point, because I still had a job to do. Being a Captain, there are still many people that are under me who are going to look to me for guidance and support. There is also Chiefs that really need me to function.

...

We were standing in the corner of West Street and Vesey Street, and I heard that rumble again, that roar, that thunder, and I said dear god, I almost died once. God can't be letting this happen to me again. I looked up. This is how I know 2 fell first. I looked up and it was happening again. 1 World Trade Center was falling on my head now.

I said holy cow, this really can't be happening. Again you have that decision, do I run north on West Street or do I run to the water. I said screw this, I'm just --I'm going for a swim in the Hudson. That's where I'm going to run. It hit this time, but the difference was when it hit was because we were outside, it was just a deep dark gray rather than pitch black. Things were hitting us, but it was more dust, just more of the construction dust at this point.

I was still running but I couldn't see and we were tripping and while we were running, I thought I lost Chief Basile this time because we were running side by side. I later found out that he actually ducked into a doorway, but I just kept running until I hit North End Avenue again and then all I did was I just took a sharp right and it all just sort of just passed me. I was standing there almost in the clear. Everything was much thinner, the dust and you could breathe over there.

I walked up towards Murray Street and then I walked up to the West Side Highway and I just turned around and looked back at the Trade Center and I said oh, my god, because I'm sure that everybody has heard a million times, whoever in their right mind would have thought that the World Trade Center would ever fall down.

I was at the first one, the first incident in '93. I think we were all lulled into really a false sense of security that they couldn't take it down with a bomb, that this would never happen. A lot of emotion hit me at that point. I saw Rabbi Birnhack at that point. He said a prayer for me.

I started walking north on West Street. I didn't know how far I was going to go, but I was --I just didn't know what I was going to do at that point. I didn't know what my thoughts were. I was just sort of in a daze. Two 110 story buildings fell on my head so to speak. I was trapped before. I don't like using the word trapped because the fallen firefighters, police officers, they are trapped, and they are dead.

That's not a good word. I was just entangled for a little while. Then I was able to thank god extricate myself from, you know. I mean I lost a lot of friends, a lot of people I worked with over the years, coming from SOD. I worked with a lot of guys in specialty units. Being in Manhattan I worked with a lot of guys. The names of --you work with all the Battalion Chiefs and all the first line Battalion Chiefs who got killed. Terry Hatton, from Rescue 1 who I know for many years, he got killed. There were many other guys, Dennis Mojica, all the rest from Rescue 1 who we deal with on a regular basis, because being a Captain, a lot of first line supervisors deal with Engine companies, but I knew these guys.

I know a lot of these guys. Couple of guys I grew up with. One happens to be a police officer, Joe Viggiano, who was in truck 2. His brother John
Viggiano was a Firefighter in Ladder 132. They are both still missing. Just a tremendous amount of people that I would find out about later.

...

Then I met with Chief Hirth, who is Division 1 commander and Grace Cacciola, Lieutenant in the Division, were in the Academy or so I thought, in
refresher. Right at that moment they appeared. I just grabbed Grace and I hugged him. We both cried. I didn't know they were there, they thought I was dead.

Because just my personality and where I have been in SOD, they assumed that I was in the building. The only reason I got out was God has determined that it's not my time yet.

We just held onto each other for a few minutes. Then we said okay. What are we going to do. It was time to head up to the piers. We started
regrouping. We head up to the piers and they started putting things together. At that point I was pretty well limping because my knee was hurting me and my shoulder. I was still in a lot of pain. So Chief Hirth actually ended up driving me in a command car.

We had a command car. He drove me over to Bellevue Hospital where I was evaluated. We found out nothing was broken. It was some just sprains and stuff. They took a chest x-ray because I must have eaten 50 or a hundred pounds of construction dust, asbestos, and everything else that was in the air that day.

They said --Bellevue signed me off from work. I said that's great, but there is still a monumental job to do. I mean we weren't even close to getting a hand on anything at that point.

So I took a few minutes. I washed my face. I cleaned myself up. I put my turnout coat and helmet on. Back to the Trade Center I went.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packag...HIC/9110076.PDF
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Many more stories here:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packag...es_full_01.html

oomp · Sep 11, 2009

If you have a DVR and the History Channel, set it to record "Witnesses to 9/11". It's just ending now. It will re-air from 1:41 to 2:00 am Sat morning. It's short, but has some STUNNING footage. Worth watching.

Fatty FatBastard · Sep 12, 2009

oomp said:

If you have a DVR and the History Channel, set it to record "Witnesses to 9/11". It's just ending now. It will re-air from 1:41 to 2:00 am Sat morning. It's short, but has some STUNNING footage. Worth watching.
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Actually, I didn't think I saw anything in that that wasn't in 102 minutes to disaster.

justtxyank · Sep 12, 2009

If you are a baseball fan, 9 innings from ground Zero is a good documentary.

oomp · Sep 12, 2009

Fatty FatBastard said:

Actually, I didn't think I saw anything in that that wasn't in 102 minutes to disaster.
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It was just the shorter version with interviews of the people who filmed it. In case you missed it, the website for 102 minutes has the footage.

http://www.history.com/content/9-11/102-minutes#/home/

Nice Rollin · Sep 12, 2009

oomp said:

It was just the shorter version with interviews of the people who filmed it. In case you missed it, the website for 102 minutes has the footage.

http://www.history.com/content/9-11/102-minutes#/home/
Click to expand...

i cant get myself to watch this...

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