Posted on 01/07/2002 6:31:18 PM PST by Sir Gawain
Death is
nothing at all.
I have only slipped away into
the next room.
I am I, and you are you,
Whatever we were to each other,
that we are still.
Call me by the old familiar name.
Speak of me in the easy way
which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity
or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed
At the little jokes that we
enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me,
pray for me.
Let my name be ever the
household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without an effort,
Without the ghost of a
shadow upon it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was.
There is abslolute and
unbroken continuity.
What is this death but a
negligible accident?
Why should I be out of mind
because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you,
for an interval,
Somewhere very near,
Just round the corner.
All is well.
-Henry Scott Holland
"It's my calling."
--CAPT. TIMOTHY STACKPOLE, Division 11, Brooklyn. Severely burned and near death after a 1998 fire, he insisted on returning to full-time duty. Perished in the Twin Tower collapse. New York Post
"Every fire is scary. That's the way it is. You're a damned liar if you say you're not scared."
--LINCOLN QUAPPE, Rescue 2, Brooklyn. Perished. New York Times Magazine
"We'll see things today we shouldn't have to see, but listen up, we'll do it together. We'll be together and we'll all come back together."
--ANONYMOUS FIRE LIEUTENANT. New York Times
"Guys, be very careful, because firemen are going to die today."
--CAPT. DANIEL BRETHEL, Ladder 24, Manhatten. Perished. New York Times
"I saw a piece of metal the size of a football field coming at us..."
--RICHIE MURRAY, Engine 205, Brooklyn. Men's Journal
"We were greeted by a frantic mass of people, covered in gray soot, fleeing the city. Many of them reached out to touch our coats, and a woman said, 'God bless you and may He watch over you.'"
--DANIEL BIVONA, Ladder 84, Staten Island. Staten Island Advance
"I was praying to die fast."
--RICH PICCIOTTO, Commander, Battalion 11, Manhatten. Survived collapse of North Tower. Times Herald-Mirror, Middletown, N.Y.
"Sometimes in this job, good-bye is really good-bye."
--RAY DOWNEY, FDNY Chief. Missing. New York Post
"Anyone who had any hand in this should go straight to hell."
--JIMMY CANHAM, Battalion 31, Brooklyn. Albany Times Union
"Most guys want to be here. If they can find one person--cop, civilian, it doesn't matter--it's worth it."
--ANONYMOUS FIRE MARSHAL, Manhatten Base. U.S. News and World Report
"I said to myself, Oh my God, they're all in there. All the firefighters are in there. This can't be happening."
--ROBERT CHYRIWSKI, Engine 3, Manhatten. Men's Journal
"They killed all my friends, guys who I grew up with. We were all kids together."
--LT. BRIAN GILLEN, Ladder 34, Manhatten. Philadelphia Inquirer
"I know I will probably relive this every day of my life."
--BILL SPADE, Rescue 5, Staten Island. Saten Island Advance
"I said 'Thank you' to the volunteers. 'Thank you' to the skilled ironworkers and wreckers. 'Thank you' for all the firm handshakes and the much-needed hugs."
--DANIEL BIVONA, Ladder 84, Staten Island. Staten Island Advance
"In the first one hundred years we filled a wall with the names of fallen firefighters. On the eleventh of September we created a new wall."
--KERRY KELLY, Chief Medical Officer, FDNY. Opening Statement to U.S. Senate
You know, my Dad is retired Air Force. He served 27 years, almost all of that was in "Crash Control" on the flight line. That means that they were protecting the planes when they were coming in. If one was in distress, they rolled the trucks out "just in case." He was lucky they never had a major disaster on his watch - the planes always landed safely or with minimal problems. Funny how something like September 11th changes your outlook of things. I guess I never really thought about how dangerous that work really was. . .
Thanks for the post, Sirgawain. . .and for the ping, ST!
Night keeps all your heart
Who can say if your love grows
As your heart chose?
Only time
And who can say where the road goes,
Where the day flows?
Only time
Who knows? Only time
Who knows? Only time
Stay well - stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
WE WILL NEVER FORGET
It is however, IMHO more important to remember with clarity and purpose September 11 so as to harden our determination and resolve to see that terrorist scum are removed from this earth and shoved into the deepest bowels of hell.
#25 is the words to the song they used.
--Peter J. Ganci, Chief of Department, FDNY, at a 1999 memorial service. Perished 9/11/01.
To me it is the embodiment of standing tall proud defiant courage and overwhelming love for mankind.
Well said.
bttt
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