September 11, 2001 - in my own eyes
I've told this story to some people time and time again, and once again I will divulge what I went through on the darkest day this country has seen since the assassination of President Kennedy, if not the attack of Pearl Harbor 65 years ago.
The morning started out innocently, lots of fog in L.A., and I was planning to depart early so I can get the water route done before the sun came out. As I used to do in the past, I went on AOL to see any mail that came in, and the first image I saw was a huge fire on one of the World Trade Center towers. I was thinking at the time, that a terrible accident happened, and a commercial jet hit the tower, probably because the pilot may have suffered a fatal heart attack. That obviously was not the case. What happened was the plane was hijacked, and the hijackers in all probability killed the pilots prior to the tragedy.
It was shortly after 6 in the morning, and once I turned the TV on, I saw that the OTHER tower was on fire. What's going on?? This was no accident. This may have been a TERRORIST ATTACK in progress.
My friend in Florida, who is Angela, was also online, and I sent her a message to please be careful today, as a terrorist attack was in progress. Obviously, she was frightened at what was going on, and told me to do the same, since L.A. is also a huge target for terrorism, especially LAX. So I left around 6:15 or so, and flipped on the radio to what was going on. Pete Arbogast, who was the morning sports update reporter on KMPC, became news reporter that day as he calmly alerted the listeners to what was going on. KNX was providing non-stop news coverage, and what really scared me was the fact that other airplanes were being hijacked, and one of them were targeting the White House, if not the U.S. Capitol building.
The thoughts in my head were simply, "World War III may have just began".
By the time I got to Pomona, I simply hopped into the water truck, took off and began my route. I had a police scanner, thank goodness, so I know exactly what was going on. I delivered water in the San Bernardino-Redlands area, and got it done around noon or so. Ed, my supervisor at the time who is also a close friend, told me to just do the route and go home. Ed knows very well what was going on, and he was mad as hell, as you might expect. He was a Vietnam War veteran, so he's seen just about everything.
After the day, I headed towards Los Angeles, and what I saw was unbelievable. The streets in Downtown Los Angeles were deserted. A few cars were here and there, but everybody was gone. I'm thinking at the time everyone was told to evacuate all of the towers and go home for safety measures. Smart decision too, since the Library Tower was also a target during that horrible day. I was hoping to find any newspapers with "EXTRA" editions, but unfortunately there were none, perhaps because there was a limited supply of them, and if there were any extras in the newsstands, they were gone in a heartbeat.
I also remember the freeways were light, hardly anything was open that day, and the torch at the L.A. Coliseum was lit.
One thing that really puzzles me to this day is why the Emergency Alert System was not activated when the attacks were occurring. The EAS (and before that the EBS) are used to specifically alert the public of any impending danger. This country was under attack, and a National Emergency was in progress. Once the second plane hit the WTC, every EAS system in the United States should have been activated, including all NOAA Weather Radio transmitters and local and television outlets. Why that never happened is beyond me.
This was one of those days when the world just stopped. It happened on December 7, 1941, and it happened again on November 22, 1963. I contacted family back home in Vegas, and told them I was OK here.
It was sad, because I actually lived in New York, albeit for a year, back in 1968 when my dad was in Korea. I haven't been back in NYC since '77, but one day I will go there again.
For me, it was an experience I have never felt before. I've always heard people talk about the JFK assassination, as to where they were, how they heard about him being shot, what they were doing, and so on. Even some talked about where they were when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. But to experience a life-changing, and a world-changing event like this, I never experienced it before until then. The 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster was also one of those days in which life in the nation stopped for several days, as did the 2003 Columbia disaster.
Interestingly, at first, some believe the Columbia tragedy was the result of a terrorist attack. That was fortunately not the case.
One of the best stories I read about 9/11 was from Jerry Coleman, the longtime voice of the San Diego Padres. Coleman, as you know, served in World War II and the Korean War, and won numerou medals and was honored countless times for his call to America. He was so furious at what happened in New York and rightfully so, that he really wanted to go back and fight again. Go out there and bomb em all, that's what he said. He also made a point as to how World War II ended when the two atomic bombs were dropped in Japan.
Anyway, that's the way it was, as the great Walter Cronkite would say. September 11, 2001 -- a date which will certainly live in infamy, just like December 7, 1941 and November 22, 1963. Is the world safer now than it was five years ago? In some ways it is. There are more security laws, you have homeland security, soon everyone's going to need a passport to travel anywhere in and out of this country, and the whole lifestyle before 9/11 will never return again. Should the war in Iraq end? It should've never started in the first place, even though Saddam was a threat. The same could be said about Iran today, with that dangerous man running the country, whatever his name is.
I always believed that Jimmy Carter did one thing right in his four years as President: he never believed in going into war, and always felt that there were other ways to solve certain issues without firing a single shot. While some believe that Carter was weak in handling the Iranian hostage crisis, he never considered military action. He carried these traits with him to this day, and actually went to Cuba to convince Castro to change his ways. Reagan was the same way.
Well, I hope you enjoy your day wherever you are. Be safe as always. And to the victims of the World's worst act of terrorism, as well as the families of the these victims, you are all in my prayers.
The morning started out innocently, lots of fog in L.A., and I was planning to depart early so I can get the water route done before the sun came out. As I used to do in the past, I went on AOL to see any mail that came in, and the first image I saw was a huge fire on one of the World Trade Center towers. I was thinking at the time, that a terrible accident happened, and a commercial jet hit the tower, probably because the pilot may have suffered a fatal heart attack. That obviously was not the case. What happened was the plane was hijacked, and the hijackers in all probability killed the pilots prior to the tragedy.
It was shortly after 6 in the morning, and once I turned the TV on, I saw that the OTHER tower was on fire. What's going on?? This was no accident. This may have been a TERRORIST ATTACK in progress.
My friend in Florida, who is Angela, was also online, and I sent her a message to please be careful today, as a terrorist attack was in progress. Obviously, she was frightened at what was going on, and told me to do the same, since L.A. is also a huge target for terrorism, especially LAX. So I left around 6:15 or so, and flipped on the radio to what was going on. Pete Arbogast, who was the morning sports update reporter on KMPC, became news reporter that day as he calmly alerted the listeners to what was going on. KNX was providing non-stop news coverage, and what really scared me was the fact that other airplanes were being hijacked, and one of them were targeting the White House, if not the U.S. Capitol building.
The thoughts in my head were simply, "World War III may have just began".
By the time I got to Pomona, I simply hopped into the water truck, took off and began my route. I had a police scanner, thank goodness, so I know exactly what was going on. I delivered water in the San Bernardino-Redlands area, and got it done around noon or so. Ed, my supervisor at the time who is also a close friend, told me to just do the route and go home. Ed knows very well what was going on, and he was mad as hell, as you might expect. He was a Vietnam War veteran, so he's seen just about everything.
After the day, I headed towards Los Angeles, and what I saw was unbelievable. The streets in Downtown Los Angeles were deserted. A few cars were here and there, but everybody was gone. I'm thinking at the time everyone was told to evacuate all of the towers and go home for safety measures. Smart decision too, since the Library Tower was also a target during that horrible day. I was hoping to find any newspapers with "EXTRA" editions, but unfortunately there were none, perhaps because there was a limited supply of them, and if there were any extras in the newsstands, they were gone in a heartbeat.
I also remember the freeways were light, hardly anything was open that day, and the torch at the L.A. Coliseum was lit.
One thing that really puzzles me to this day is why the Emergency Alert System was not activated when the attacks were occurring. The EAS (and before that the EBS) are used to specifically alert the public of any impending danger. This country was under attack, and a National Emergency was in progress. Once the second plane hit the WTC, every EAS system in the United States should have been activated, including all NOAA Weather Radio transmitters and local and television outlets. Why that never happened is beyond me.
This was one of those days when the world just stopped. It happened on December 7, 1941, and it happened again on November 22, 1963. I contacted family back home in Vegas, and told them I was OK here.
It was sad, because I actually lived in New York, albeit for a year, back in 1968 when my dad was in Korea. I haven't been back in NYC since '77, but one day I will go there again.
For me, it was an experience I have never felt before. I've always heard people talk about the JFK assassination, as to where they were, how they heard about him being shot, what they were doing, and so on. Even some talked about where they were when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. But to experience a life-changing, and a world-changing event like this, I never experienced it before until then. The 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster was also one of those days in which life in the nation stopped for several days, as did the 2003 Columbia disaster.
Interestingly, at first, some believe the Columbia tragedy was the result of a terrorist attack. That was fortunately not the case.
One of the best stories I read about 9/11 was from Jerry Coleman, the longtime voice of the San Diego Padres. Coleman, as you know, served in World War II and the Korean War, and won numerou medals and was honored countless times for his call to America. He was so furious at what happened in New York and rightfully so, that he really wanted to go back and fight again. Go out there and bomb em all, that's what he said. He also made a point as to how World War II ended when the two atomic bombs were dropped in Japan.
Anyway, that's the way it was, as the great Walter Cronkite would say. September 11, 2001 -- a date which will certainly live in infamy, just like December 7, 1941 and November 22, 1963. Is the world safer now than it was five years ago? In some ways it is. There are more security laws, you have homeland security, soon everyone's going to need a passport to travel anywhere in and out of this country, and the whole lifestyle before 9/11 will never return again. Should the war in Iraq end? It should've never started in the first place, even though Saddam was a threat. The same could be said about Iran today, with that dangerous man running the country, whatever his name is.
I always believed that Jimmy Carter did one thing right in his four years as President: he never believed in going into war, and always felt that there were other ways to solve certain issues without firing a single shot. While some believe that Carter was weak in handling the Iranian hostage crisis, he never considered military action. He carried these traits with him to this day, and actually went to Cuba to convince Castro to change his ways. Reagan was the same way.
Well, I hope you enjoy your day wherever you are. Be safe as always. And to the victims of the World's worst act of terrorism, as well as the families of the these victims, you are all in my prayers.
posted by Robert @ 9:47 AM
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