I was flipping channels on my tv and suddenly saw one by one almost all tv programs being interupted to show the event. Mind you I was living on the other side of the globe when the local programs were interrupted to show 9/11 .
I was a senior in high school on 9/11. I lived on Long Island, maybe only 35 miles east of Manhattan. My father was an ironworker in NYC. He watched the towers fall from the roof of the building that he was working on.
Shortly after the buildings fell someone from Mayor Giuliani's office came to the construction site he was on and asked for ironworkers to go down to Ground Zero to assist in the recovery efforts. Without hesitation they all went down. They were taking torches and cutting steel columns, removing debris by hand, etc.
It took him hours to get home that night because no trains were running and all of the bridges were closed. He had to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and eventually make contact with someone to get a ride home.
I can remember exactly where I was when he walked in the front door. He was absolutely covered with dust and had no words for my mother, my younger brother, or myself. I can't remember anything else from that night except for the moment he walked through the door.
For the next couple of weeks both he and countless other union ironworkers didn't go to their regular jobs. They went to Ground Zero every day and did whatever they could do help. I remember him talking about the staging ground where he would meet up with the other volunteers. They would get picked up and driven to the site. He always spoke about New Yorkers lining their route, offering words of encouragement, giving them water, etc. He beamed when talking about how the city came together.
I'm 36 years old now with a wife and 3 kids. They never had the pleasure of meeting my father. I'd give anything to be able to ask my dad questions about that day. Dad died at the age of 46 from a 9/11 related cancer. Christine Todd Whitman lied to everyone about the air quality in lower Manhattan. She reassured everyone that it was safe. Maybe she thought that's the only way they'd have enough volunteers to help in the recovery effort. If she knew anything about my father and the rest of the volunteers then she could have kept her lies to herself. They were down there because they wanted to be there. They were New Yorkers. Born and raised in that city and they weren't going to let anyone stop them from helping their city in its ultimate time of need.
The NYPD, FDNY, and PAPD are always mentioned when the recovery effort is brought up but I hope these few paragraphs can help to show that they weren't the only ones who paid the price. I'm an ironworker now and have worked with dozens of guys who were down there that day. Some were luckier than others when it came 9/11 illnesses but each of them was changed in some way by their efforts on September 11th and the months that followed.
Nutteria on June 29th, 2021 at 22:30 UTC »
I was flipping channels on my tv and suddenly saw one by one almost all tv programs being interupted to show the event. Mind you I was living on the other side of the globe when the local programs were interrupted to show 9/11 .
gingeropolous on June 29th, 2021 at 23:41 UTC »
The real end of the 90s
SeriousMH on June 30th, 2021 at 01:29 UTC »
I was a senior in high school on 9/11. I lived on Long Island, maybe only 35 miles east of Manhattan. My father was an ironworker in NYC. He watched the towers fall from the roof of the building that he was working on.
Shortly after the buildings fell someone from Mayor Giuliani's office came to the construction site he was on and asked for ironworkers to go down to Ground Zero to assist in the recovery efforts. Without hesitation they all went down. They were taking torches and cutting steel columns, removing debris by hand, etc.
It took him hours to get home that night because no trains were running and all of the bridges were closed. He had to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and eventually make contact with someone to get a ride home.
I can remember exactly where I was when he walked in the front door. He was absolutely covered with dust and had no words for my mother, my younger brother, or myself. I can't remember anything else from that night except for the moment he walked through the door.
For the next couple of weeks both he and countless other union ironworkers didn't go to their regular jobs. They went to Ground Zero every day and did whatever they could do help. I remember him talking about the staging ground where he would meet up with the other volunteers. They would get picked up and driven to the site. He always spoke about New Yorkers lining their route, offering words of encouragement, giving them water, etc. He beamed when talking about how the city came together.
I'm 36 years old now with a wife and 3 kids. They never had the pleasure of meeting my father. I'd give anything to be able to ask my dad questions about that day. Dad died at the age of 46 from a 9/11 related cancer. Christine Todd Whitman lied to everyone about the air quality in lower Manhattan. She reassured everyone that it was safe. Maybe she thought that's the only way they'd have enough volunteers to help in the recovery effort. If she knew anything about my father and the rest of the volunteers then she could have kept her lies to herself. They were down there because they wanted to be there. They were New Yorkers. Born and raised in that city and they weren't going to let anyone stop them from helping their city in its ultimate time of need.
The NYPD, FDNY, and PAPD are always mentioned when the recovery effort is brought up but I hope these few paragraphs can help to show that they weren't the only ones who paid the price. I'm an ironworker now and have worked with dozens of guys who were down there that day. Some were luckier than others when it came 9/11 illnesses but each of them was changed in some way by their efforts on September 11th and the months that followed.