9/11

[Welder]

Remember when you couldn't find a flag anywhere to buy to stick on your window because your neighbors had already bought them all?

Nearly two decades ago, and nothing was ever the same after. Here's to those who paid the ultimate price, and to those who were left behind with a hole in their lives where their loved ones used to be.

[Cookie Monster]

Never Forget, Never Forgive.

ToddG taught me that.

[Seven_Sicks_Two]

A story that has stuck with me over the years:

Today marks the anniversary of a national tragedy... but also thousands of personal ones.

Randy Scott worked for Euro Brokers Inc. on the 84th floor, very close to the plane's point of impact. The family took some comfort believing that he might not have suffered.

A decade after his death on 9/11, DNA tests positively ID'd the bloody thumbprint on the note. It had been written by Randy Scott. It is believed that he broke a window and dropped the note in the hope that he and the 11 people trapped alongside him might be rescued.

The note reads, "84th floor west office 12 people trapped."

Scott left behind a wife and three daughters.

[AKDoug]

Posted by Mike Rowe on FB in 2018

Mike Rowe
September 10, 2018 ·
"We're Going to Do Something."
You’ve been very quiet about the Kaepernick PR disaster at Nike. Any thoughts? - Sam Wilder
Hi Sam. Nike's free to celebrate whomever they wish, and Kaepernick is entitled to his opinion - kneeling, standing, or lying down. But if I was going to put someone's face on a billboard - someone who epitomized bravery and sacrifice - I might have gone another way, especially this time of year. I might have gone with this guy - Tom Burnett.
Tom's last act on earth was one of the most courageous things imaginable. And his last words to his wife, Deena, are among the most inspiring I've ever heard. Those exact words are at the top of this page, and the bottom. They were spoken seventeen years ago, under conditions I hope to never experience. I'll never forget Tom's last words. I hope you won't either.
Transcript of Tom's Last Calls to Deena
6:27 a.m.( pacific time) First cell phone call from Tom to Deena
Deena: Hello
Tom: Deena
Deena: Tom, are you O.K.?
Tom: No, I’m not. I’m on an airplane that has been hijacked.
Deena: Hijacked?
Tom: Yes, They just knifed a guy.
Deena: A passenger?
Tom: Yes.
Deena: Where are you? Are you in the air?
Tom: Yes, yes, just listen. Our airplane has been hijacked. It’s United Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco. We are in the air. The hijackers have already knifed a guy, one of them has a gun, they are telling us there is a bomb on board, please call the authorities. He hung up.
6:31 Deena calls 911
6:34 The phone rang in on call waiting, Tom’s second cell phone call.
Deena: Hello
Tom: They’re in the cockpit. The guy they knifed is dead.
Deena: He’s dead?
Tom: Yes. I tried to help him, but I couldn’t get a pulse.
Deena: Tom, they are hijacking planes all up and down the east coast. They are taking them and hitting designated targets. They’ve already hit both towers of the World Trade Center.
Tom: They’re talking about crashing this plane. (a pause) Oh my God. It’s a suicide mission…(he then tells people sitting around him)
Deena: Who are you talking to?
Tom: My seatmate. Do you know which airline is involved?
Deena: No, they don’t know if they’re commercial airlines or not. The newsreporters are speculating cargo planes, private planes and commercial. No one knows.
Tom: How many planes are there?
Deena: They’re not sure, at least three. Maybe more.
Tom: O.K….O.K….Do you know who is involved?
Deena: No.
Tom: We’re turning back toward New York. We’re going back to the World Trade Center. No, wait, we’re turning back the other way. We’re going south.
Deena: What do you see?
Tom: Just a minute, I’m looking. I don’t see anything, we’re over a rural area. It’s just fields. I’ve gotta go.
6:45 a.m. Third cell phone call from Tom to Deena
Tom: Deena
Deena: Tom, you’re O.K. (I thought at this point he had just survived the Pentagon plane crash).
Tom: No, I’m not.
Deena: They just hit the Pentagon.
Tom: (tells people sitting around him “They just hit the Pentagon.”)
Tom: O.K….O.K. What else can you tell me?
Deena: They think five airplanes have been hijacked. One is still on the ground. They believe all of them are commercial planes. I haven’t heard them say which airline, but all of them have originated on the east coast.
Tom: Do you know who is involved?
Deena: No
Tom: What is the probability of their having a bomb on board? I don’t think they have one. I think they’re just telling us that for crowd control.
Deena: A plane can survive a bomb if it’s in the right place.
Tom: Did you call the authorities?
Deena: Yes, they didn’t know anything about your plane.
Tom: They’re talking about crashing this plane into the ground. We have to do something. I’m putting a plan together.
Deena: Who’s helping you?
Tom: Different people. Several people. There’s a group of us. Don’t worry. I’ll call you back.
6:54 a.m. Fourth cell phone call to Tom to Deena
Deena: Tom?
Tom: Hi. Anything new?
Deena: No
Tom: Where are the kids?
Deena: They’re fine. They’re sitting at the table having breakfast. They’re asking to talk to you.
Tom: Tell them I’ll talk to them later.
Deena: I called your parents. They know your plane has been hijacked.
Tom: Oh…you shouldn’t have worried them. How are they doing?
Deena: They’re O.K.. Mary and Martha are with them.
Tom: Good.
(a long quiet pause)
Tom: We’re waiting until we’re over a rural area. We’re going to take back the airplane.
Deena: No! Sit down, be still, be quiet, and don’t draw attention to yourself! (The exact words taught to me by Delta Airlines Flight Attendant Training).
Tom: Deena! If they’re going to crash this plane into the ground, we’re going to have do something!
Deena: What about the authorities?
Tom: We can’t wait for the authorities. I don’t know what they could do anyway.
It’s up to us. I think we can do it.
Deena: What do you want me to do?
Tom: Pray, Deena, just pray.
(after a long pause)
Deena: I love you.
Tom: Don’t worry, we’re going to do something...
http://www.tomburnettfoundation.org/

[Suvorov]

Let's Roll!

I will never forget.

[rd62]

Posted by Mike Rowe on FB in 2018

Ive never read that particular story before. Thank you for sharing. It hit me square in the feels this morning.

[RJ]

Never forget.

[HCountyGuy]

Hard to believe it’s been 19 years. Can’t even recognize the country we have today vs what it was on September 12, 2001.

I remember being in middle school, and somehow me and my classmates knew nothing until we were on the bus home that afternoon. Teachers kept us pretty well in the dark, but the high-schoolers were abuzz about it (middle and high schoolers shared the same buses because at that time we only had one middle and one high school for the whole county). I got home, turned on the TV and a bit later got to watch Building 7 collapse.

[Inkwell 41]

Hard to believe it’s been 19 years. Can’t even recognize the country we have today vs what it was on September 12, 2001.

This.

I remember the day vividly. I can tell you where I was and what I was doing. I remember the tone in my wife's voice when she called to tell what she was seeing on the news. I remember the days that followed and the huge rush of pride in America. I remember the weeks and months afterwards, where cheap US flags were in the ditch along the roadways, having fallen off of the many cars that the owners had gone out and bought in a fit of sunshine patriotism. I remember the years following, where America made crummy leadership choices and the pride that turned into apathy, turned into division. As if the memories of the day weren't terrible enough, the thoughts of the potential future are not hopeful.

May God continue to Bless America

[farscott]

Like many Americans, where I was and what I was doing when I learned about the 9/11 attacks are indelibly etched in my memory. I was working on a PCB layout making changes to meet an UL requirement when my ME colleague told me a plane had struck one of the WTC towers. In a matter of minutes, it went from "Accident?" to "Under attack!!" when the second tower was struck. We also someone "knew" that bin Laden was the reason. We talked about it before it was official.

Our workplace had a 24/7 client monitoring facility with a satellite TV feed, and I went in there to see the first tower collapse. I walked out of that room beyond angered. I activated the business emergency protocol when Atlanta was reported as a possible target of a missing Delta airliner, uploaded everything to our remote storage, dismissed employees, and finally left myself. My first stop was for gasoline and my second for groceries. Then I went home to watch cable news.

I also remember the mobile phone system collapsing under the weight of phone calls and texts taking hours to be transmitted. I was not able to get a response from my father until late that afternoon. ESPN.com ran news as the ABC News website crashed under the traffic.

It was a horrible day.