9/11: 10 Years Later, Like Yesterday

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I was going to write my memories of the attack on our country on 9/11, in my New York, that occurred 10 years ago to the minute that this post was published, but I can’t. Each time I tried the emotions overcame me and I just cannot relive the details of that day and its aftermath. So let’s just say that living in the NYC area that day deeply affected me — and still does.

If you’re not from here (or D.C.) you may think you know what it was like — but you don’t. I don’t mean to belittle your personal 9/11 experience but for those of us who live near where the planes hit the effect was, and continues to be, devastating.

But I do want to mention one name to you today. Ernest James. What’s that? You don’t know him? Not surprising, he was a night janitor, one of the 2,753 average people for whom that sunny September morning who at the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan would be their last day alive. Why mention him? His remains were just identified August 23, 2011. That’s right, almost 10 years later the identification effort continues. Most people don’t realize that even now, over 1,100 victims have yet to found.

The pain remains. So, God bless the victims, including the first responders (343 New York City Fire Department firefighters, including FDNY Fire Chaplain (and childhood friend of my father and uncle), Franciscan Fr. Mychal Judge,, 23 New York City Police Department officers, 37 Port Authority Police Department officers, 15 EMTs and 3 Court Officers. God bless their families.

And God bless the U.S.A.

Related articles

• Video: 9/11 photojournalist relives footage (cbsnews.com)
• AUDIO: Cantor Fitzgerald staff recall 9/11 (bbc.co.uk)
• Never Forget: NYC’s Empire State Of Mind On 9/11 Tenth Anniversary (923now.radio.com)