Home Free - God Bless the U.S.A. (featuring Lee Greenwood and The United States Air Force Band)

My best friends son, was supposed to be volunteering at St. Paul's that day, but got a call just before he was to leave not to come because of some problem at the church. (Water I think). He would have been in the PATH station just before or just after the first plane hit. A friend lost a sister on one of the planes that hit the towers. She was a stewardess, and apparently tried to stop them. The family was told she was dead when the plane hit. Another acquaintance should have been in the Pentagon E ring in the section where the plane hit, but was delayed by a broken elevator and missed the bus.

I think about them, and as a firefighter for many years, the many brave responders who gave their lives helping others. Then I recall that they did not die in vain, as they helped over 20,000 escape and live. I also remember watching the towers go up, and seeing them completed while i was stationed at Governor's Island and later at ESMT Moriches. Having spent as much time as I did in and near NYC, with family, friends and co-workers over the years, I sometimes wonder if any of them were there, and if so what their fate was.

I doubt that any of us do not remember exactly where we were on that evil day, and I suspect we have all been touched in some way, and are determined to never forget, and that it will happen never again.

I was standing in the middle of a road here looking Toward New York,PO1 Kevin Dougherty

My friend's son was on the patio of the dormitory he was in looking across the river. I can't even begin to imagine. At 48 I looked for a way to go back in.