I spent a few hours last night going through and reading stories and watching a documentary. I was a bit wrecked.
Does anyone else remember the Fox News story with the wife of the window washer? She was frantically searching for him and was walking everywhere with a picture asking if anyone had seen him. I bet they ran that segment a dozen times in the week after it, and I probably saw it a dozen times. Of all the heart-breaking stuff I saw, this one just really, really got to me. I have no idea if he survived, the only window washer I can find referenced that day spoke with his wife before the towers crashed. But man, other than seeing it for the first time when I walked down the stairs, that is one of the only other images seared into my brain from that time.
Went to early class, and was listening to some AM radio national sports call-in show on the drive in. Had class, didn’t hear a peep (this was before iPhone, Twitter, etc.) about anything, knew nothing. Left class to head to work, while the same type of national sports radio show droned on as background noise, and which I wasn’t really listening to. Heard caller say something about some player being traded / hurt / whatever, and the host said something like, “Listen buddy, given what’s going on in New York right, nobody cares about stuff like that right now!”, hung up on him and they immediately went to commercial break. It surprised me that he was so abrupt and I wondered why anyone called those shows. I assumed the host’s mentioning “What’s going on in New York...” just meant like some team dysfunction, an injured player, the normal shit. Got to work, walked in the back door, only to find everyone in the office was standing and silently staring toward the door I’d just come in. I immediately stopped, because for a split second, it seemed like they were all just standing there in silence, waiting for me. They were just watching the tv mounted on the wall beside the door. Almost as soon as I asked what was going on, the second plane hit. Even though I intellectually knew that my 6-year old daughter was hundreds of miles from NYC, and from danger, I was almost frantic to have her physically with me, and to make sure that she was safe. That I was so immediately and utterly unreasonably terrified, only further scared me. She was safe. I watched the news non-stop for two days, and 12-16 hours a day for a week afterwards.
I've got the "In Memoriam" doc and I've watched it countless times. The people so helpless that they jumped are haunting images. The story about the fire chief's wife in that documentary is like being able to transmit emotion via broadcast. You just feel her sorrow.
I think about "falling man" often, and what it must have been like up there, to jump head first, staring as the ground got closer. Not flailing his arms or screaming.
Glad I'm not the only one. It's haunted me for 18 years. I went to the 9/11 memorial when we went to NYC earlier this year, and I looked at every name to see on the .0001% chance that if I saw it it would ring a bell.
I haven't had any luck finding his 9/11 story since the site migration. Search feature doesn't hit anything before that time.
You are not alone. The images over that sad day and those that came out in the weeks after ranged from agonizing loss to those of great heroism. And the images of the loss were the ones that stick with me also. I am trying to plan a trip to NYC soon and that the memorial site is a must see for me.
It incredibly moving to be there on somebody’s birthday, and see that flower placed on their name. I can’t even describe the feeling standing at the FDNY 10 House, thinking about that day. What their men were doing, those that didn’t get to come home. I encourage everybody to visit.
Last time I was in NYC (other than a few hours during a layover) was 03 I think... was still a big hole. Even that was moving. Statue of Liberty was still closed.