The day is here again - seven years ago the twin towers were hit and broke hearts all across America and beyond. Today let us just pray for the faithful departed and those who were affected by this tragedy.
Can you remember what you were doing that day? I lived in Washington state and didn't have a t.v. that worked so I didn't hear anything about it until I got to work and saw it on the big screen at 6:00am. I can remember sitting there with everyone in shock.
My co-worker, Nathan Bruckenthal was going nuts because he has family that lived in New York. We had worked together for almost 2.5 years at the same isolated duty station in Neah Bay. He took leave and went to NY to help with the clean up. You could see the pride beaming off of him when he came home in his NYFD t-shirt.
Nathan, later was transferred to a security team and went on tour to Iraq twice.
Bruckenthal, or DC3 as we called him, was severely wounded while defending the Iraqi terminal. DC3 was the first Coast Guardsman killed in combat since the Vietnam War. For his actions, he was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, and the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal in April 2004. He left behind his wife Patty, who was pregnant with their first child. Patty is also the sister of my brother's fiance. So DC3 would have been semi-related to me he had lived.DC3 wasn't killed on 9-11 but was killed because of our actions after it. So on this day I try to remember him and the family he left behind. God have Mercy on your soul Nate.
1 comment:
Can I remember where I was that day? Yes. I was in the NY metro area at work at 6:45 am and remember, quite vividly, exactly what happened that day. I was at work in a building that had to evacuated as it was deemed an at risk target. I worked with ex Vietnam Vets who called in on their Nextel's to notify us at that very early hour that we were under attack, that it was not an accident, and to get down to Engineering and turn the TV on. We made it in plenty of time to see the second plane hit the tower. Once evacuated, I drove home on I 95 where we could physically look across the LI Sound and see the towers burning with our own two eyes. I quickly called my Father to tell him I was ok and asked him to get a hold of my Mother as we all knew, due to the amount of fire, that the towers were going to come down, and we would not have a way to communicate after we lost cell phone service. I worked with people who lost Sisters and Brothers. Many from our community were lost that day. It is not something any one from our area of the country will ever forget. It is forever burned in our memory as the personification of the word HATE. It is why our economy is currently collapsing. Real Estate propped us up for a while, but a Band Aid can't hold back the inevitable bursting of the dam. For every action there is a reaction, somewhere, somehow.
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