9/11 Boatlift

[Delancey]

9/11. Sigh.

I think most people remember where they were on that day fifteen years ago. I was on the roof of a twenty story building down in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I remember a lot of things about that day and the weeks and months that followed but a few things stand out in my mind more than others.

I remember how when the South Tower collapsed everyone just sort of stood there confused about what was happening, then there was just this big cloud of dust that was like a cloud in our minds obscuring the unimaginable. However, when the dust settled and revealed the tower was gone, what had happened began to slowly register our brains so that when the North Tower finally collapsed we all knew and understood full well what was happening.

When it did we all screamed and I think it was the most terrible scream I have ever heard. It was the scream of millions of people crying out from the rooftops and sidewalks in unison. It was a scream that was louder than the sound of millions of pounds of concrete and steel and people collapsing as they smashed into a pile of rubble shaking the ground and filling the air with billowing clouds of dust and smoke. I'm not sure but I don't think that scream was something that came through on the TV for those who were watching.

I remember afterwards, when there was nothing left to see and most of the dust cloud had drifted over Brooklyn, we left the rooftop and went back down into the apartment and watched the TV. My friend's roommate was asking if we should go and give blood. I remember telling her I didn't think they needed any of our blood since there were probably few survivors.

As if the day itself wasn't bad enough, I remember how lower Manhattan smelled like the burning of computers, fax machines, and dead people for months afterwards. It was a sickly and pervasive smell. If you haven't smelled that smell before it's a smell that lingers. I remember one night late in October a friend and I thought we would go to a park and throw a frisbee around just to get out of the apartment and go do something. It wasn't any fun. The smell ruined it. I think we went and got drunk instead.

Years have passed since then but the memories remain. I have a friend who painted an old set of sails with the stars and stripes. He puts them on his boat and goes out every year to lay a wreath in the waters off North Cove Marina at the base of the World Finacial Center. I am not with him today, but like him my thoughts are with the people who died as well as with the people who did what they could on that day to help those who needed it.

Some of those people participated in a massive evacuation of more than 500,000 people from lower Manhattan that was conducted by various ferries, tugs, tour boats, and commercial vessels under the direction of the USCG. It was an evacuation by sea that was greater than that of Dunkirk during World War II. Here is a video about that evacuation.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MDOrzF7B2Kg

[Delancey]

https://news.usni.org/2014/07/23/coa...bigger-dunkirk

[Delancey]

9/11 Tugs

[Delancey]

Robert F Wagner Jr Park

[Delancey]

NY Waterways.

[Delancey]

Staten Island Ferry

[chris mac]

Very moving, thanks Delaney.
It's so easy to focus on and remember the evil in the world. It is so much better to remember the greatness of the common heroes.
Too many people lost their lives that day. But look how many found theirs that same day. For people to comment that it was their best day, or proudest moment, is amazing.

"Do not go gentle into that good night"

[redhead]

Thank you for that.

I have a hard time with today. I was working as an international HF radio operator which was the long distance communicator for the FAA. I was based on Long Island. Since we were delivering clearances to change course, altitude, etc., there was zero time to get upset, lose concentration - anything that would endanger the traffic in the North Atlantic.

We were instructed to contact every single airplane in the North Atlantic and say the following "Due to a national emergency all airports in the United States are closed. What are your intentions?" 200+ planes. Most misunderstood and just gave their alternate airport - "OK we'll go to Newark". We were not allowed to explain, we could not deviate one word from that advisory. Massive confusion - many pilots have basic English and were not equipped to understand.

We said it over and over and over all day as we watched police come and stand in front of our building. We said it over and over as phone calls came in to tell one or another of us that a family member or a friend had been lost. We said it over and over as word trickled out to the flight crews and their voices were subdued or trembling. We said it over and over again as Gander Radio in Newfoundland advised their airport was open to as many planes as they could hold.

We said it over and over and over.

All the fun went out of the job that day for many of us. Personally, I never enjoyed it as much again. I quit about a year and a half later. Something about buying that boat we had been putting off and going sailing. Let's do it - who knows what life holds?

I'm sitting here on my boat, savoring life because of what happened that day.

[Delancey]

Originally Posted by redhead

I'm sitting here on my boat, savoring life because of what happened that day.

A very dear friend of mine was halfway across the Atlantic that day on a flight from Vienna. You may well have been the one to turn her flight back. Savor every minute.

Peace

[redhead]

The planes that were just beginning their journey could just turn around and go back to Europe. The ones that were beyond their turning back point were concerned about fuel - a real concern since no airport in the US was open to commercial or private traffic. A few went south but Gander opening their airfield to all flights, regardless of clearance, regardless of flight plan, regardless of everything saved many, many lives that day. Heroes also.

[Delancey]

Can't imagine how stressful that must have been for you to sit at your workstation repeating the same script over and over when you knew much more than you could say.

It says a lot that that day robbed you of the enjoyment you took from your job. I know it sounds silly but I doubt I would ever pick up a frisbee again and not think of that time in the park, not think of that smell.

Life is short. I know it's a bit of a cliche but I think people should go cruising now. Don't put it off and enjoy it as long as you have the priviledge to do so. The dead do not have that luxury. Show them respect by not taking life for granted.