Vanity - September 11 - in our memories, in our hearts

Smithsonian Institute ^ | The Center for History and New Media/American Social History Project

[Alkhin]

Help the Smithsonian commemorate the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks by sharing your September 11 experience. Submissions will be permanently archived in the September 11 Digital Archive and will be made available online on September 11, 2002, when the exhibition "September 11: Bearing Witness to History" opens at the National Museum of American History, Behring Center.

[TomServo]

I will in no way support the Smithsonian. They're nothing more that a bunch of historical and social revisionists.

[OXENinFLA]

Thanks ,

[Sam Cree]

"How do we prevent it? - "

It actually may not be possible to prevent all of it. But if we can destroy the leadership, wherever it exists, in decisive, forceful, repetitive and unmistakable ways, I believe we will prevent and demoralize most of it.

As a side note, I believe adhering to our traditions of individual liberty and free markets is also pretty essential to our victory.

[Dog]

I will never forget that morning as long as I live.

I was on the phone with my older Vietnam vet brother as reports came in of the Pentagon being hit.....and the hurt in his voice was overwelming.

I will also remember that silence of no planes overhead.

Never forget my friends .......never forget!!!!!!

[HairOfTheDog]

I was on the phone telling Dad to turn on the TV... There had been an accident. A plane had hit the WTC... Watched the second one come in live, and know it was no accident. Heard reports of the Pentagon hit. Terrified that there were many more all over the skies. Remember all the reports of planes they couldn't contact and didn't know about? Gives me chills.

[tomkat]

this is an outstanding idea for an archival thread, alkhin !

i was home, working on drawings for a piece of furniture,
with foxnews playing on the tv in the background...

when i saw the pics of the first tower, something immediately 'smelled' funny,
and when i stood here, right where my desk chair is now, and watched those
indescribably evil bastards turn the second plane into tower two, there arose in
me a cold, cold hatred that has not diminished one iota since.

i made a trip to the site three weeks later, and inhaled the
literal dust of the dead on the streets of lower manhattan.

if it's still in the FR archives, i'll append that narrative later on ...

thanks again for your excellent post.

NEVER FORGET !

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[Alkhin]

Thanks Tom! Did you add your story to the Smithsonian archive?? TomServo, I am with you, hon in not wanting to give any credence to the socialists that run the Smithsonian...but the way I see it is they've opened the doors for people like you and me to insert *our* account of history...and they would be stupid to exclude it once we have entered it in. Not much I can do about that...but if you go to the special collections section, you will find a tribute by someone who does not pull the punches. If the Smithsonian is willing to include that, I doubt they would do anything to exclude your point of view...and I think anyone reading those stories would quickly come to the realization that EVERYBODY knew...instantly, collectively, and with razor sharp clarity what September 11 was.

[TomServo]

but the way I see it is they've opened the doors for people like you and me to insert *our* account of history..

Last I heard, "our" account(s) didn't matter anymore. Didn't ya hear? Pearl Harbor was our fault, being the Yankee Imperialists dogs that we are. And we were equally at fault for nuking Japan. Screw the Smithsonian. You may get your account in now, but the truth will eventually be erased and our grandchildren will blame us for what happened on Sept 11th. All courtesy of the Smithsonian.

[tractorman]

I heard it live on the radio as I was eating breakfast before work in a McDonald's parking lot. I rushed home and flipped on the TV and sat in shock for a while. When my 12 year old son got home from school, we went to the store to buy some ammo.

It was about 3:30/4:00 PM on our way to the store, and after all day of no planes in the air, we looked up to the sky and saw a lone big body jet heading East. I said to my son, "there goes the President of the greatest country in the history of the world. God bless him!".

[tomkat]

no, i've not seen the Smithsonian site yet;
do you intend to place this thread there ?

while hoping this isn't too off-topic, here are a couple
of my FR posts after the manhattan trip on 30Sept.

i can still taste the air from that day,
and the cold hatred has only grown ...

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To: newwahoo; Hillary's Lovely Legs

what wahoo says is the absolute truth.

the dust of the dead is still in the air.

i inhaled the remains of some of them in a five hour
walk through lower Manhattan on september 30.

as no amount of National Geographic browsing can prepare one
for the magnificence of the Rocky Mountains,
so can no tv camera convey the atrocity that we have suffered.

33 posted on 10/28/01 2:39 PM Eastern by tomkat

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To: newwahoo

prior to seeing it first-person, it all had the feel of a movie.
a documentary, but a movie nonetheless.

the wind was coming in off the river that day, at times quite gustily,
and occasionally, while walking to the north of the towers' site,
that unmistakable odor was in the air...

i've tried to explain to others the sense i had of the
people around me down there on that day, and the closest
i've been able to come is being at a viewing with
thousands of fellow mourners.

it was quite somber, without being at all maudlin.
there were few tears.
part of that dust of those dead will travel with me
until it's my turn to join them ...

66 posted on 10/28/01 3:22 PM Eastern by tomkat

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To: Starrgaizr, all

Here are three photo albums I posted last September.

The first two are the work of others;
the third is of my own pilgrimage to lower Manhattan on a grey and rainy Sept. 30th.

May we never forget ...

Ground Zero - New York City - Anonymous Album 1 - 30 September 2001

Ground Zero - New York City - Anonymous Album 2 - 30 September 2001

Paying Respects at Ground Zero - New York City - 30 September 2001

138 posted on 4/3/02 4:05 AM Pacific by tomkat

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[tomkat]

remember being on this thread that day ?
it seems like yesterday, or half a lifetime ago ...

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To: all

I'm speechless, and shock was given a second helping when I heard about Barbara Olsen.
I met her when she came through Houston on a tour to promote her first book "Hell to Pay" ...

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

Thank you SO much for posting that 'movie'-I had lost in when I switched internet servers, and am glad to see it again.

:)

[Alkhin]

WOW...thanks for everyone responding...

If you click on the lick that is at the top of the page, you will be re-directed to the Smithsonian thread...I didn't *look* to start an archive thread here because I figured there were other Freepers smarter and faster than me in getting it going...and much sooner...

If we just keep our voices to this thread ONLY...to this SITE only...only the choir we are all so familiar with will ever hear it. I have a love of museums and history and archaeology. The Smithsonian site appeals to all of that. And I don't think the America Attacked video would have been added if the folks at the Smithsonian were THAT interested in Political Correctness. The man who put it together was quite to the point about what he thought of those who tried to 'reform' his point of view.

God bless you all!

[Alkhin]

Tomkat,

I have no idea if this particular thread can be inserted into the archive. The format the Smithsonian has set up is for each individual to insert their particular story of what they were doing on that day. Some are VERY long...some are VERY brief...all are filled with sorrow.

I had only thought that such a large contingent that comes to the Free Republic could also find representation their, individual by individual. So those who were miles away don't feel so cut off from what happened. It is easy to compartmentalize it and think "oh it happened to THEM...not to us..."

But that is not what I have been feeling.

And I don't want to forget how it felt to be a New Yorker that day.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

I was going to post my memories of 9/11 here... but I'm not sure I can gather them all into one post. I'm going to have to think about a while. In the meantime, here's a bump.