An Engineer Remembers September 11th – Part 2 (Final)

Sylvia and I were physically separated from the rest of the engineering and production departments. We were in a quieter part of the suburban tech-park building where our president's office and billing departments were located. We were also isolated from the televisions that were rumored to be on so employees could watch the non-stop coverage of the morning's still-unfolding events.

As usual, my co-worker had on her radio ear-piece while she handled some invoicing. As I tried to keep working that morning, now convinced that the first crash was some kind of horrible accident, Sylvia called me to her desk a second time. With a serious look on her face, she let me know that a second plane had just hit the World Trade Center's South Tower.

At that point, the reality of what was happening finally sunk in. Memories began to flood my mind, but I tried to continue working.

THE OUTSIDE WORLD COMES CRASHING IN
Suddenly, years of shortwave and streaming-Internet radio reports (primarily from the BBC's World Service) became extremely personal and relevant. No longer, I thought, was listening to the international news just a curious hobby for me. Things had changed for others, too – like those people I knew who often felt that news from outside the United States just wasn't very important.

What came to mind next was an email I had written to my elected U.S. representatives in the late 1990s, expressing remorse with the Taliban's pending destruction of 1,500 year-old Buddha statues in Afghanistan. The statues held World Cultural Heritage-site designation with UNESCO. I was, and still am, a strong believer in the idea of "digital democracy", but I definitely felt let down on September 11th, 2001. Had emails and letters like mine, voicing concern with the Taliban, been ignored?

A more pleasant memory followed. I then remembered working one summer in the mid-eighties for a food concession in front of the World Trade Center's North Tower. As a perk of that brief job, I enjoyed the privilege of the most scenic lunches of my life at the top floor (106th) restaurant, Windows on the World, with its incredible view of downtown Manhattan!

Memories from my limited knowledge of Islam and related history now came to mind. A picture of an Islamic shrine, one that an exchange-student friend had shown me in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia), came into my head. So did thoughts about the remnants - human skulls among them - of Ottoman invasions that I had seen during a trip to some ruins on Chios, a Greek island near Turkey.

Finally, there was a junior-high memory of watching the completion of skyscraper construction – complete with helicopters and massive cranes - at the Empire State Plaza in Albany, New York. I witnessed completion of Rockefeller's project from a classroom with a window that overlooked the Hudson, directly across the river from Albany.

Later, after watching one of the many documentaries about the construction of the World Trade Center towers, I would learn that my grandmother had once lived and worked in a working-class Irish-American neighborhood, near to what later became the WTC construction site, back in the 1940s. This is now a future topic for personal exploration, when I have more time.

THE REALITY OF THE "NEW NORMAL"
As I left my backward-looking thoughts behind, events began unfolding around me in the office. Before lunch, the U.S. government had officially grounded all non-emergency aircraft, leaving the skies over upstate New York eerily quiet. As a result, my colleague Danny and boss Steve had to cancel their industrial I/O controls promotional efforts suddenly and mid-way through an important, three-day industry show. They had to find some way to get home from Texas.

Danny and Steve now arranged new travel plans with Sylvia, who booked them a rental car. The two drove non-stop from the ISA Show in Houston for approximately 27 hours. Simultaneously, my parents-in-law, who were returning from their yearly "snow-bird" residency in Florida, were stranded at an airport on the East Coast. They were forced to make similar, spur-of-the-moment rental car arrangements. This was also true for thousands of other travelers around the U.S. and abroad.

When lunch arrived on September 11th, I was finally able to make direct contact with my sister and confirm that she was OK. Cell phone communications had been jammed-up and worked only intermittently. Thankfully, my sister was working in Albany that day. When I spoke to her, she told me she was working frantically to find out if any of her colleagues were harmed. Amazingly, none were. They'd left their New York office early enough on the guidance of a good manager.

FRIENDS FROM OLD EUROPE VISIT GROUND ZERO
Two months later my friend Florian from Germany, who had planned prior to September 11th, along with his Munich-office colleagues, to participate in the New York City marathon, flew to New York.

Florian had coordinated his trip with me prior to the WTC attacks, and I had (and have) much personal gratitude - both to my friend from Germany, and to his banking-industry colleagues - for not getting cold feet and canceling their trip. Florian's colleagues, who came from Germany, Finland, and other parts of Old Europe, were part of a U.S.-headquartered global banking/investment company.

Partly inspired by the fearlessness of my European friends in choosing to come to New York so soon after the attacks, not to mention the absolute bravery of the amazing first-responders of the New York City fire department, I made a decision not to chicken-out, and to travel to New York to show my personal support for the city. A sense of personal obligation also came from my eight years of prior service in the New York Army National Guard, during which time I had even proudly marched in the St. Patrick's Day parade with New York's historic Fighting 69th infantry regiment.

I traveled by Amtrak train from Albany to meet my friends at Times Square, where we decided to walk to the still-burning remains of the attack. Upon witnessing this, I realized that, with this event, New York City had changed profoundly since my first visit there in the early 1970's.

I will never forget seeing the remains of the attack. Nor will I forget the gratitude I felt for my friends from Europe, who chose to visit New York at that time.

- Larry Kelley

Editor's Note: Click here if you missed Part 1 of this two-part series.

Resources / Further Reading:

http://www.isa.org/isa2001

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhas_of_Bamyan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_on_the_World

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Plaza

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/69th_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)

Afghanistan Historic Timeline:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1162108.stm

2001 NYC Marathon details:
http://money.cnn.com/2001/10/31/saving/q_marathon_costs/