9/11 Commemoration at WVU

I was unable to post any blogs yesterday, so will do my annual commemoration to that day today.

From the Sptember 11, 2022, DA, West Virginia University's Independent Newspaper "WVU observes 21st anniversary of the 9/11  attacks with annual vigil" by Christina Rufo.

To commemorate the 21st anniversary  of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, West Virginia University held its annual wreath laying ceremony Sunday morning.

As part of the ceremony, cadets with the Army and Air Force ROTC will stand for a 24-hour vigil at the University's 9/11 memorial site, located at the University's 9/11 memorial site, located in front of the Downtown Campus Library.

Cadets played "Taps" and observed a moment of silence Sunday morning in recognition of the exact time that the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.

The vigil will last until 8 a.m., Monday.

Interviews With First Responders Tells the Story-- Part 3: 'I Gave Everyone General Absolution, and I Kept Running' Toward the Burning Tower

Among the units arriving from outlying boroughs was a Staten Island battalion commanded by Chief Thomas Vallebuona.  "The thought in my mind is, we were going to end up like the people in Pompeii, totally buried in ash and dust," he recalled.

The Rev. John Delendick, a fire department chaplain, had just finished saying mass at St. Michael's Church in Brooklyn when he heard about the attack.  He arrived at the site as first responders and civilians were fleeing for their lives.

"We were running along, and a cop is running next to me," Delendick recalled.  "He says:  'Father, can I go to confession?' I looked and said:  'This is an act of war, isn't it?' He said:  'Yeah, I believe so.'  I said:  'Then I'm giving general absolution.'  I gave everyone general absolution, and I kept running."

Interviews With First Responders Told 9/11 Story-- Part 2: Oral History

I stop my blogs every September 11 to remember.

"For those who survived that day it was luck, not skill," according to James Canham.

Why would anyone accept those odds in return for a first responder's modest paycheck?

Fortunately, survivors can speak for their for their lost comrades, and recount what happened, thanks to interviews made by the New York Fire Department shortly after 9/11.

Of course, the sooner you can get a person's recollections on paper, the more accurate they are.

Interviews With First Responders Told the 9/11 Story

From the September 10, 2021, Chicago Tribune by Ron Grossman.

New York firefighter James Canham was supposed to have off on September 11, 2001.  His wife worked in Manhattan, not far from the World Trade Center, so he drove her to work and headed back to their home in Brooklyn.

Once home, finding an answering machine message about an airplane hitting the north tower of the World Trade, he grabbed gear from a nearby firehouse and got a lift back to Manhattan.  Working his way up to the 11thfloor, he rescued a woman and an exhausted cop and found an office with a working phone.

"This is real bad, I'm going to be here for awhile," he told his wife.  "Go home, get the kids, stay out of Manhattan."

Canhan got out of the tower just before it collapsed.

Remembering 9-11

 I put up no flags today because of the rain off and on all day.  We are surely having an Asian monsoon after many days of drought.

But, I would have had it been dryer.

This is a date I will always remember and will write about it in all my blogs but one..

--Old Secesh

9-11 Disease Deaths Grow

From the September 11, 2018, Chicago Sun-Times "Deaths from 9/11 diseases will soon outnumber those lost on that day" by Nancy Cutler, USA Today Network.

In the 17 years since September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, nearly 10,000 First Responders and others who were at the World Trade Center in New York City have been diagnosed with cancer.  More than 2,000 deaths have been attributed to 9/11 illnesses.

And, this article was a year ago.

And, these figures will get worse.  By the end of 2018 some expect that more people will have died from their toxic exposure from 9/11 than from the attacks.

Robert Reeg of Stony Point, New York, is a retired New York City fireman who was seriously injured in the South Tower collapse.  In the past 17 years he's seen many fellow First Responders fall victim to those illnesses.

"You lose track, there's so many of them," he said.    As for his own health risks, he said he doesn't dwell on it.  "It's at the back of your mind.  But you can't let it control you."

Continued On My Running the Blockade Blog.  --Old Secesh

"Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)?"-- Part 5

This was supposed to have been posted yesterday on the actual anniversary, but unfortunately we lst our internet access, so I will go with it today.

I am doing the lyrics to the song that really sums up that day 18 years ago, "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)' by Alan Jackson.  I already had four parts yesterday on my blogs.

***************************

Did you lay down at night and think of tomorrow

Go out and buy a gun?

Did you turn off that violent old movie you're watchin'

And turn on "I Love Lucy" reruns?

Did you go to church and hold hands with some strangers

Stand in line to give your own blood?

Did you stay at home and cling tight to your family

Thank God you had somebody to love?

****************************

When they put out the desperate calls for blood for the Twin Towers, I greatly doubted taht there would be any survivors from that catastrophe.

9/11/01: Such A Beautiful Day Until...

Here is one blogger who isn't forgetting.

On just a little while, I am going outside to put up my United States flags.  Hope you will be doing so as well.

And, it was an absolutely beautiful day both here and in New York City, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania.  How could something so horrible happen on such a beautiful day?

Not Forgetting.

Where Were You 9-11?

Yesterday, I asked several people where they were on 9-11.  Most said at work.  Most said they would like to go to the ceremony in McHenry, Illinois' Veterans Park today, but, alas, they had to work again.

Today, my waitress at Steak 'N Shake in McHenry said she was at work.

The checkout person at Wal-Mart said that she was in the Marine Corps in an aircraft hangar and watched the events unfolding in the sergeant-major's office.

Then, at the Spring Grove Walgreens a lady stocking the Halloween aisle said she was at home and her daughter called to say she had to turn on the TV and watch.  Unfortunately, 9-11 is also her birthday so that kind of ruined the day for her.  I wished her a happy birthday and sang one verse of "Happy Birthday" to her.

Most of the time I could remember Mom's birthday because of its closeness to 9-11.  Her birthday was September 14.

I am devoting all my blogs to 9-11 today.

15 Years Ago

From the September 11, 2016, Dogs of C-Kennel comic strip.

1.  Picture of a dog and the words:  "This is Bretagne the service dog, along with her handler.
2.  9-11 ruins:  "She searched the rubble for two weeks..."
3.  9-11 ruins:  "sadly, they were not able to find anyone."
4.  Being petted:  "She then became a therapy dog comforting those who had lost loved ones."
5.  "She was the last living service dog who had served on 9-11."
6.  The dogs of C-Kennel:  "We thank our first responders..."
7.  Dogs of C-Kennel:  "Both two-legged and four."

Remembering 9/11 in 2015: "Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue (The Angry American)"

Continued from my Cooter's History Thing blog.

Lyrics to Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue."

Continuing with the spoken words.

Never heard him cry about it one time
he was glad to go, do it, that's why we're free today
And it's our turn to stand on what our fathers and forefathers did for us
And make sure we don't let 'em down.

I wrote a song in the following days after September 11th.
It's called the angry American
I wanna send this out to my father tonight.


American girls and guys
We'll always stand up and salute, we'll always recognize
When we see Old Glory flying, there's a lot of men dead
So we can sleep in peace at night when we lay down our head.

My daddy served in the Army where he lost his right eye
But he flew a flag out in our yard 'til the day that he died
He wanted my mother, my brother, my sister and me
To grow up and live happy in the land of the free.

Continued on my Running the Blockade Civil War Naval blog.

My Flags Flying for 9-11

I am writing about 9-11 in all my blogs today and getting ready to drive to nearby Johnsburg, Illinois, for the annual "Circle of Flags" ceremony by the library at 9 a.m..

Then, I remembered that I hadn't put my U.S. flags out.  I just got back in from doing just that.  They are flying from the front porch, front sidewalk flower bed (two of them), the mailbox and the deck.

I was teaching school 13 years ago and found out about it between 1st and 2nd periods.  The rest of the school day, this was my new lesson plan.  For the five years I taught before retirement in 2006, every year my students wrote a 500-word essay on their experience with 9-11.

It was Their Pearl Harbor and JFK Assassination.

9-11, Ten Years Later

Just about every where we went yesterday, people were asking each other where they were ten years ago when they found out about the horrific events unfolding that day.

This was my second of the Big Three of the past 70 years. The other one I remember being President Kennedy's Assassination. I wasn't born when Pearl Harbor took place.

Others that rank up there in the "Where Were You" category were the Challenger Explosion and Man on the Moon.

For what we observed yesterday, see today's blog on my Down Da Road I Go blog at http://downdaroadigo.blogspot.com, or my RoadLog at http://roaddogsroadlog.blogspot.com.

Not Forgetting.

Observing 9-11

We're here in Lebanon, Missouri, and people are talking about where they were this date ten years ago.

Like the firing on Fort Sumter, over 150 years ago, this event was one of those where were you when you found out ones.

Not Forgetting. Won't Forget.

Death of Bin Laden

OK, this is a Civil War blog, but when something this big happens, it will be recorded.

We were in Springfield, Illinois, at an old Route 66 roadhouse called the Curve Inn, so-named for its location along a curve on the road as it left the city on its south side.

The place had a good crowd, music was loud, beer cold and games on TVs. One TV was changed to CNN which was saying that the president was going to have a news conference. Being this late, it must be important. We were thinking perhaps something was going to be done to Big Oil because of the gas prices or help was on its way to those poor people in Alabama and the South after last week's tornadoes.

We were caught completely unaware when the bottom of the screen flashed that Bin Laden was dead. After a moment for it to sink in, there were cheers all around with many toasts and smiles.

We left and went back to the TraveLodge on 66 and tuned in to CNN for Obama's speech. Ended up staying up quite late so am a bit tired this morning.

Last night, I was switching to other stations (like I had after 9-11) and found C-Span was showing Arabic station El-Jazeer(?). Mostly interviews with US officials, but there was an interesting one with a member of Pakistan's government. I took from it that they didn't know at all.

No Closure Yet, But Justice Served. --Old B-Runner